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F R I D A Y , J U N E 8 , 2012
Sports
SECTION C
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BALL
ALABAMA SOFTBALL
Championship teams have special qualities
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Alabama’s Kaylon Eppinger looks to clear a hurdle during the 100-meter hurdles in the heptathlon competition at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Thursday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.
UA athletes compete in track championships
DES MOINES, IOWA | The University of Alabama track and field team continued competition during the second day of events at the NCA A Outdoor Championships with Kaylon Eppinger in the heptathlon and Tyler Campbell in the high jump Thursday at Drake Stadium Eppinger finished the first four events of the heptathlon in 14th place. However, her score of 3,303 points is just 121 points out of eighth place and a spot on the podium. Campbell finished 16th in the men’s high jump with a clearance of 71⁄2 . Eppinger opened her day with the fi fth fastest 100-meter hurdle time at 13.64 – into a slight headwind, followed by a height of 5-41⁄4 in the high jump. She then recorded a mark of 39-3 in the shot put and closed out competition with a strong 200-meter time of 25.47. Campbell easily cleared on his fi rst two heights of the day before missing on his fi rst attempt at 71⁄2 . He cleared that height on his next attempt to push the bar to his personal best of 7-21⁄2 . With the bar at 7-21⁄2 , he missed on his fi rst two attempts and appeared to have cleared on his fi nal attempt, but just barely clipped the bar with his leg on the way down to end his season.
Alabama’s Macfarlane earns All-America honors SKILLMAN, N.J. | University of Alabama sophomore tennis player Mary Anne Macfarlane earned AllAmerica honors in singles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association on Thursday. She becomes the third member of the Crimson Tide women’s tennis team to be recognized on the All-America team in singles and fi rst since Robin Stephenson in 2005. Macfarlane quickly jumped into the No. 1 singles position as a freshman. Macfarlane led the team in overall singles victories with 34, while adding another 29 wins in doubles. Macfarlane is a two-time All-SEC fi rst-team selection, the winner of the 2011 SEC Freshman of the Year Award and the 2011 ITA Southern Region Rookie of the Year. She fi nished the 2012 season ranked 15th, which is the second-highest fi nal mark in program history and highest for a sophomore.
Honors continue to roll in for Tide’s Pancake TUSCALOOSA | University of Alabama senior golfer Brooke Pancake is wrapping up her Crimson Tide career in grand fashion as she begins play in the Curtis Cup today in Narin, Scotland. The Chattanooga, Tenn., native also qualified for the 2012 U.S. Open before leaving for Scotland and on Thursday was named the 2012 Capital One Academic All-American of the Year on the women’s at-large team. Pancake, who is competing for Team USA in this weekend’s Curtis Cup, will be challenged by her Alabama teammate Stephanie Meadow, who is playing for the Great Britain and Ireland team.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Alabama softball team holds up the national championship trophy following their 5-4 victory over Oklahoma early Thursday morning in the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
CRIMSON REIGNS IN THE RAIN With Alabama trailing Oklahoma and struggling against USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Keilani Ricketts, a 13-minute delay fueled a furious comeback to help earn the Tide its first national title By Tommy Deas Executive Sports Editor
INSIDE CHAMPIONSHIP MOMENT:
OKLAHOMA CITY | It was played out over the course of a week. It was decided in 13 minutes. Break down the University of Alabama softball team’s 5-4 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners early Thursday morning in the decisive game in the Women’s College World Series best-of-three championship series, and it comes down to a span of less than a quarter of an hour when light rain halted play. Just that quickly, the Crimson Tide snatched the momentum away from an Oklahoma team that had cruised to a 3-0 lead over the fi rst three innings. Just like that, Alabama turned the tables on USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Keilani Ricketts, who had struck out five batters in the fi rst two innings to set UA’s hitters on their heels while looking like an untouchable force.
Special poster page commemorating Alabama’s Women’s College World Series championship | 5C
Saban’s charity raises $1.2 million to build 14 homes By Chase Goodbread
It began with a solid leadoff single by UA shortstop Kaila Hunt, who had struggled with Oklahoma’s lefthanded pitcher from the start of the series. Ricketts retired the next two batters on a fl y ball and a strikeout, but threw wild pitches that moved Hunt all the way to third base. Catcher Kendall Dawson then drew a walk, and Hunt scored on the fi rst pitch to Amanda Locke, another wild pitch. As Ricketts struggled with control in the rain, Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso complained to umpires about the weather. After the pitch that scored Hunt, they obliged and called a rain delay. SEE R EIGN | 4C
n Jan. 9 of this year, the University of Alabama football team walked into the Superdome to face a team that had beaten the Crimson Tide on its home field two months earlier, a team that had stormed undefeated through the Southeastern Conference, with the BCS Championship at stake. On April 21, the UA gymnastics team prepared for its fi nal routine of the NCA A Championships, the balance beam. The Crimson Tide trailed Florida, which was set to perform on the floor. On May 24, Alabama’s women’s golf team walked off the 15th hole in the fi nal round of the NCA A Championships in Nashville trailing Southern California by five strokes, having watched a double digit lead dissipate over the course of the day. O n We d ne s d a y night, facing college softball’s Player of the Year in the circle for Oklahoma, the Alabama softball team CECIL trailed 3-0 after four HURT innings — and then the rain came. Every team had already had a great season. Every one could have succumbed to the adversity and been proud of what they had achieved. They just wouldn’t have been champions, not any of them. Instead, they all are. Winning a team championship isn’t just about having the most talented athletes, although that’s a part of it. It isn’t about having the best coaches, although that’s a big part of it, too. It isn’t just about having the classiest facilities or the craziest fans. Alabama — and other schools — have those things, on an annual basis. But it doesn’t always win championships, because they are so hard to win, and because the competition at the elite level gets so tough and because fate sometimes is unkind. In the end, no matter how many of those tangible assets you can claim, being a champion is about something different. It is not just about refusing to lose, but refusing to consider losing even when logic suggests that you probably will lose. It is about being tough, a consistent kind of toughness whether you are a 95-pound gymnast or a 295 -pound offensive tackle, a toughness that transcends pain and fatigue and noise and pressure. It is about facing an opponent that wants to win a championship with every fiber in its being — and then wanting it more than they do. SEE HURT | 4C
ASWA names Richardson top amateur athlete
Sports Writer
By Kirk McNair VESTAVIA HILLS | The Nick’s Kids Fund delivered a No. 14 of its own Thursday at the Old Overton golf course. The charity organization of University of Alabama coach Nick and Terry Saban, Nick’s Kids, held its annual golf tourney, where funding was announced for a new home construction in Alberta City for a tornado victim. Partnered with Habitat for Humanity of Tuscaloosa, Nick’s Kids originally funded 13 new homes to match the Crimson Tide’s number of football national championships, but added a 14th home to the goal after UA won its 14th national title in January. Nick’s Kids has donated $720,650 to the 14 for 14 Project. “I think we gave 1.2 million dollars last Nick Saban year to tornado relief,” Saban said. “Half of that money was actually contributed by the people who are in this group here today, who are sort of our core group of Nick’s Kids supporters, as well as our efforts and many other people.” Habitat for Humanity of Tuscaloosa executive director Bob Johnson indicated 10 of 14 homes are complete with final construction stages under way on two more, and early construction under way on the last two. “We will dedicate to move the family in in August,” Johnson said. “I know the family, and it’s a family that lived right in the middle of Alberta City. They lost everything in the tornado. They’re a hard-working family. It will be SEE F UND | 4C
Special to The Tuscaloosa News
TUSCA TUSCALOOSA | Trent Richardson was Alabama’s No. 1 tailback for only one season, but it was impressive enough tha that the junior from Pensacola, Fla., was selected as the A Alabama Amateur Athlete of the Year by the Alabama S Sports Writers Association. Richardson and other athletes of the year in various categories will be among those recognized at the ASW WA’s annual awards banquet in Birmingham on Sunday. “I am extremely honored to be named the Amateur A Athlete of the Year by the Alabama sports writers,” Richardson said. “I enjoyed working with the writers that covered Alabama, and I’m honored they have recognized me. This is an award that I would not be receiving if it wasn’t for my teammates at Alabama, my offensive line and coaches especially, and I want to thank them.” Although officially the backup to 2009 Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram in 2009 and 2010, it was more appropriate to consider Richardson as Ingram’s sidekick. With Ingram leaving Alabama following his junior year, R Richardson took over as the Tide’s top back and helped Ala Alabama to a 12-1 record and the 2011 national championI his junior season, Richardson finished third in the ship. In Heisman Trophy balloting, behind quarterbacks Andrew Luck SEE ASWA | 4C