Golf: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson advance at the Accenture Match Play Championship. 6C
F R I D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 22 , 2008
Sports
SECTION C
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
ALABAMA GYMNASTICS
SEC records fall, UA’s Fleshner takes second on 1-meter dive
Tide hits the road for LSU
By Aaron Suttles Special to The Tuscaloosa News
By Tommy Deas Sports Writer
TUSCALOOSA | An open date in the middle of the season is a bit unusual for the University of Alabama gymnastics team. The Crimson Tide will find out tonight just how well the concept has worked out. Alabama will visit fifth-ranked LSU tonight in Baton Rouge, La., after taking last weekend off from competition. “It kind of just fell that way,” Alabama coach Sarah Patterson said of the schedule break. “Really it comes at a good time for us.” Alabama’s schedule is built around the league schedule put out by the Southeaster n Conference. Each school fills in out-of-conference meets around those set by the SEC. Alabama elected to squeeze in two meets (on a Friday and Sunday) during a West Coast swing in early March rather than fill last weekend’s open date with a non-SEC competition. Instead, Alabama used the gap in its schedule to get healthier and add more difficulty ALABAMA VS. to “routines. That was LSU kind of nice for e v e r y b o d y, ” ■ When: 7 p.m. Patterson said. tonight “I think we ■ Where: Baton used this week Rouge, La. to tr y and rest ■ Records: our legs. We’ve Alabama 4-1 worked hard LSU 4-2 to improve our skill level, but we’ve tried not to do any hard landings so some of the lower leg and ankle problems we have now can heal up. “In terms of general health, this is just a time of year where we’re paying close attention to any nagging or lingering problem they’re having.” Patterson said junior Brittany Magee and sophomore Casey Overton have been working through ankle problems and junior Ashley O’Neal, who sat out Alabama’s most recent meet with a foot injury, has been limited in practice. “She’s doing a little bit more,” Patterson said. “She’s not taking any hard landings. They key is to make sure she gets over this foot problem she has so we have her down the stretch.” The team’s most troublesome health situation has surrounded senior Terin Humphrey, a two-time Olympic silver medalist who has competed only on the uneven parallel bars this season and who has missed two of the Tide’s five meets entirely due to back soreness. “We’ve tried a bunch of dif ferent things,” Patterson said. “It’s just whether it tightens up again. “It’s a cat-and-mouse game. It’s frustrating at best for her and for us too.” Patterson indicated that Humphrey might sit out the LSU meet. “My guess would be no, and if she did it would just be bars,” the coach said. “Her status is day to day.” If Humphrey is unavailable, sophomore Jacqueline Shealy will likely take her place in the bars lineup. Shealy is wearing a knee brace after two offseason surgeries and is expected to compete only on bars this season.
STAFF PHOTO | DAN LOPEZ
Alabama’s Agustina De Giovanni swims during the 200-yard IM at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships at the Alabama Aquatic Center. She qualified for the finals and finished eighth.
TUSCALOOSA | Fueled by orange slices, bananas and Gatorade, SEC swimmers attacked conference records Thursday night with the same ferocity they attacked the pool on day two of the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships at the Alabama Aquatic Center. The Don Gambril Olympic Pool lived up to its reputation as one of the fastest in the nation with three SEC records falling.
ALABAMA SOFTBALL
Florida’s Caroline Burckle swam the secondfastest time in collegiate history and set a new SEC mark while taking first place in the women’s 500 freestyle with a time of 4:34.87. Burckle finished more than five seconds ahead of Auburn’s Maggie Byrd, who swam a 4:40.72. Burckle’s swim was the fourth fastest in U.S. history. SEE SEC | 4C
TENNESSEE 85, ALABAMA 58
University of Alabama’s Kelsi Dunne is off to a hot start this season with a 4-0 record and an 0.55 ERA, and it’s thanks, in part, to a pitch that has opposing hitters...
Knuckling under By Tommy Deas
Tennessee’s Candace Parker, left, blocks a shot by Alabama’s Courtney Strauther on Thursday in their game at Coleman Coliseum. Parker, who declared for the WNBA Draft, had 19 points to lead the Vols past the Tide.
STAFF PHOTO | MICHAEL E. PALMER
No. 3 Lady Vols hammer Tide
Sports Writer
By Cecil Hurt TUSCALOOSA | Kelsi Dunne has a secret weapon. The freshman pitcher for the top-ranked University of Alabama softball team throws all the normal pitches, but she also sports one of the most uncommon pitches in softball. Dunne is one of the few collegiate pitchers to throw the knuckleball. “It’s a rarity,” said Karen Johns, a former UA assistant coach who now works with pitchers and catchers on the U.S. Olympic team. “Most people just don’t know how to teach it. There haven’t been many in our sport that were known for it, that established it and threw it well.” Dunne uses a two-finger tip grip to throw a knuckleball that has virtually no rotation. The result is an unpredictable pitch that floats erratically all the way to the plate. “That thing dances like I don’t know what,” said Alabama freshman outfielder Whitney Larsen, who has faced Dunne in practice. “It will go to the right. It will go to the left. It goes up and it goes down. You’re in shock because you don’t know what it is.” The native of Port Orange, Fla., developed the knuckleball early. She began pitching at age 12, and was taught a fastball and knuckleball. SEE KNUCKLE | 5C
Sports Editor
TUSCALOOSA | University of Alabama women’s basketball coach Stephany Smith said there were “moments” when the Crimson Tide was able to ignore the name on the opponent’s jersey. Most of those moments probably didn’t come with Tennessee’s Candace Parker on the floor. Parker, the nation’s top player, scored 19 points in 19 minutes to lift the Lady Vols to an 85-58 victory over Alabama at Coleman Coliseum on Thursday night. The junior forward — who has already declared her intention to play professionally next season — was just part of a talent gap that was far too great for Alabama to overcome, even with one of its better performances of the season. SEE VOLS | 5C
ALABAMA BASEBALL
‘Revitalized’ Wells begins another season with Tide By Cecil Hurt Sports Editor
Reach Tommy Deas at tommy.deas@ tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-7220224.
Tuscaloosa News executive sports editor resigns
David Wasson has resigned as executive sports editor of The Tuscaloosa News. “David offered us his resignation Thursday. He plans to pursue other opportunities,” said Doug Ray, executive editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Anna Maria Della Costa, assistant managing editor, will lead the newspaper’s sports department during the interim. She can be reached at 205-7220191.
For photos from the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships, visit www.tidesports.com.
STAFF PHOTOS | MICHAEL E. PALMER, DAN LOPEZ STAFF ILLUSTRATION | ANTHONY BRATINA
To see video of Kesli Dunne throwing her knuckleball, visit www.tidesports.com
Alabama pitcher Kelsi Dunne was taught how to throw a knuckleball when she was 12. As a freshman this season for the No. 1 ranked Crimson Tide, Dunne has a 4-0 record and an 0.55 ERA. She has 42 strikeouts in 252⁄3 innings.
TUSCALOOSA | Jim Wells could look at the pitcher’s mound and see a hole for this year’s University of Alabama baseball team. He could look at shortstop and see another hole. He could look in centerfield and see the same thing. But Wells — who almost left a hole in the dugout with his own depar ture, which he reversed ALABAMA VS. after one week last spring — isn’t CAL POLY looking at things ■ When: 6:30 p.m. today that way. ■ Where: Sewell-Thomas Saying he is “re- Stadium freshed, revitalized, all ■ Records: Alabama 0-0 those things,” Wells is Cal Poly 0-0 looking ahead this season. ■ Radio: 1420 AM He lost All-America centerfielder Emeel Salem to graduation, potential All-America pitcher Tommy Hunter to the major league draft and potential All-America shortstop Cale Iorg to the NCAA transfer rules. But Wells said that he is looking forward to the 2008 season, which begins today as Cal Poly comes to town for a three-game series (currently scheduled as a single game tonight and a doubleheader on Saturday.) SEE TIDE | 5C