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WANTING THE BALL
ubspectrum.com
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Volume 63 No. 68
Speckman emerges as softball team’s ace, one of most dominant athletes on campus OWEN O’BRIEN Sports Editor
Khalil Mack. Javon McCrea. Tori Speckman. Tori Speckman? Anybody who even remotely follows University at Buffalo Athletics has certainly heard of the first two names listed above. Mack could be the No. 1 pick in May’s NFL Draft and McCrea is being scouted by teams throughout the NBA as a potential draft pick or at least a training camp invitee. They are two of the greatest athletes in the history of this school. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they are the two most dominant athletes at UB. Speckman, a senior, is the ace of the Buffalo softball team. She has started 21 of Buffalo’s 31 games and has posted an 11-9 record with a 2.24 ERA. Speckman has 143 strikeouts in 131 1/3 innings and 16 complete games. But even more than the numbers, it’s her position that demonstrates dominance. Looking to avoid Mack? Triple-team him and let your offense operate on the other side of the field. Looking to stop McCrea? Put three defenders on him every time he touches the ball in the paint and force other players to score. How do you contain a pitcher in softball? You can’t. The game doesn’t begin until the pitcher throws the ball. Then the catcher throws it back and the at-bat doesn’t resume until the pitcher throws it again. Speckman can’t be avoided – unless she’s in the dugout, which seldom occurs. She has been one of the Bulls’ most feared pitchers since stepping on campus. Speckman started 58 of Buffalo’s 140 games (41 percent) over her first three seasons. Including this season, she has started 46 percent of the games since she’s been in a Buffalo uniform.
Yusong Shi, The Spectrum
Senior Tori Speckman has started over 46 percent of Buffalo’s games since her freshman year. She has 146 strikeouts in over 131 innings this season and has thrown complete games in 16 of her 21 starts.
She’s been pitching the majority of her games since before she was 10 years old. When her 10-and-under team won nationals, Speckman pitched the final two games – which took place at 3 and 5 a.m., respectively, after beginning at 10 a.m. the day before. When describing herself in one word, she opted for “domineering” after about 30 seconds of pondering. “I’m literally going to dominate each batter,” Speckman said. “It’s something I work really hard for. Every game, I have the ball. And I plan to have the ball a lot.” *** Before you step into the batter’s box, Speckman has already struck you out. Maybe not on the scorecard, but in her mind. She attempts to keep her head clear and thoughts simple while warming up in the pregame. Once she steps on the mound, however, it’s a different story. “[I do] so much self talk, it’s crazy,” Speckman said. “I sound like a mental case.” She visualizes the entire at-bat – pitch by pitch – and how she plans to attack the hitter. Speckman has already recorded at least eight strikeouts in nine games this season – which is more than one per inning. “She knows her skills,” said junior catcher Alexus Curtiss,
who’s caught for Speckman the majority of the past three seasons. “She knows that she’s basically going to head on out there and take everybody down. That’s her mindset.” This “self talk” has helped Speckman tremendously throughout the season, but it wasn’t always this way. During her first few seasons, she referred to this process as “stress talk.” Rather than thinking about how she would strike a batter out, she thought about avoiding failure. Now, she visualizes success. Speckman only operates at one speed on the mound – fast. If her catcher doesn’t return the ball almost instantaneously, she will hold her glove out in anger and just wait. “I am bossy and I’m very bossy on the mound, too, and it’s bad,” Speckman said. “They get so irritated with me when I do that.” She loves the competitive nature of pitching. It’s like a constant one-on-one with a new batter throughout the game. It also allows her to remain in control. “I love to be in control,” Speckman said. “I’m a control freak, and I always tell people that’s why I’m a pitcher – because I need to have the ball every pitch.” In the second game of the team’s doubleheader against
Florida A&M this season, Speckman went up to head coach Trena Peel and asked for the ball. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal. But Speckman had just come off a nine-inning, 11-strikeout performance in a 3-2 victory. A regulation softball game is only seven innings. She thought to herself, I could totally pitch again. And when she told Peel, the coach gave her the ball. “From a coaching standpoint, I love her competitiveness because that’s something you can’t teach,” Peel said. “That’s just kind of something you have. I wish I had her for four years and not just one because I think now she’s just starting to peak in her career.” Speckman pitched another complete game and recorded eight strikeouts while only surrendering two unearned runs in Buffalo’s 2-1 loss. “I tell people I would rather pitch until my arm falls off than not be in the game,” Speckman said. With Peel as the coach, Speckman said she doesn’t feel the need to ask for the ball often. She knows the game is hers, unless she tells Peel otherwise. *** Speckman went into her game Saturday feeling “rusty” – she had a four-day break from games. Yet she did something only two other pitchers in Buffalo softball history had ever done: She pitched a no-hitter. Speckman wasn’t even aware she was flirting with a no-hitter until the game was over. It’s considered taboo to discuss a no-hitter on the bench, so none of her teammates mentioned anything. The pitcher, however, didn’t find anything weird about the avoidance. She often keeps to herself between innings. “To be honest, I kind of do that to myself in every game,” Speckman said. “I don’t like to
get too involved and too amped up when we are hitting because I’ll get too excited.” Her mind was preoccupied with fixing her mechanics to throw stronger pitches. She credited her defense – especially senior infielder Tori Pettine – for the no-hitter. “Everyone else said they were thinking about it during the game, but I had no idea,” Speckman said. “I was totally clueless.” Speckman also has these lapses off the field. She described herself as “kind of spacey,” and Curtiss – who lives with Speckman – said she has plenty of stories about Speckman’s forgetfulness. Just a few weeks ago, the two had to return to Chipotle because Speckman left her bag there. Speckman leaves her bag and glove behind often and would “lose [her] head if it wasn’t on [her] shoulders.” Even when leaving an interview, Speckman had to run back because she forgot her wallet in the dugout. Although this can create more stress for herself and others in her personal life, she believes it’s a strength on the mound. “I’m not going to lie, I feel like sometimes that helps me with my pitching because I’m able to just forget and move on,” Speckman said. “I can forget anything, so I don’t hold onto the negative too much because it’s out of my mind – just like a lot of things are.” *** Young athletes often look to professionals for motivation. After all, their goal is to be like the pros one day. Another popular motivational selection is a parent or older sibling who introduced them to the game and drove them to succeed. This isn’t the scenario for Speckman. She wants to be like her younger sister Rebekah, who has no interest in playing softball. SEE Speckman, PAGE 10
UB offers new master’s degree, A life dictated by Autism Spectrum Disorder certificate program in historic UB students with siblings who have autism share their experiences and time had to be split amongst KEREN BARUCH preservation three children now, but the atSenior Features Editor Yusong Shi, The Spectrum
The School of Architecture and Planning is offering two new master-level programs, a Master of Science in Architecture in Urban Design and Historic Preservation and an 18-credit certificate program in historical preservation, starting next year. Dr. Ashima Krishna (pictured), an assistant professor in historic preservation, will be teaching the new programs.
MADELAINE BRITT Asst. News Editor
You might see them touring the dark caverns of the grain elevators on the bank of the Buffalo River, or catch a glimpse of them in the halls of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House Complex. Historical preservationists, many of whom are also professors, can be found all across the Buffalo area working on conservation projects. By next semester, with the introduction of the school’s newest historical preservation programs,
they will be directing classes in the architecture school. Beginning in the fall, students can immerse themselves in historic preservation with the introduction of an advanced masterlevel certificate in historic preservation and a graduate program, titled “Master of Science in Architecture in Urban Design and Historic Preservation.” The master’s degree is a 1.5year program that combines urban design and historic preservation, and the 18-credit certificate focuses on historical preservaSEE MASTER’S, PAGE 2
Two years ago, in the middle of January, Mikey Bargovsky went missing. His family searched for him, shouting his name through the streets of their neighborhood in Staten Island. But they knew he would not respond to their cries. Half an hour into the search, his family found him in their neighbor’s backyard. He let himself into their pool for an afternoon, mid-winter swim. Bargovsky has autism. He falls high on the spectrum and is low functioning, so he has “no sense of fear or what is right and wrong,” according to Mai Bargovsky, a freshman intended nursing major and Bargovsky’s older sister. April is National Autism Awareness Month. One in 88 American children is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But few studies are devoted to ASD’s effects on siblings of autistic children. Of the 839 studies reported within the past four years in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, four
Courtesy of Mai Bargovsky
Mai Bargovsky (right) sits with her brother Mikey. Mikey has low functioning autism.
were devoted to siblings, but the focus of those studies was genetic risks and not life experience, according to a 2012 Time article. Though there are no statistics, a number UB students have autistic siblings. When Mai was 2 years old, her brother Guy was born. When she was 4, he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. She had to share a lot of her parents’ attention with him, though he was not low functioning. But it wasn’t until she was 5 years old that her world was completely recreated. When Mai was 5, Bargovsky was born. Her parents’ love
tention could not be split evenly. Rather, the demand of having two siblings with autism left Mai with little to no attention, she said. Mai remembers attending her brother’s home instruction when she was 6 years old because she was so jealous of the attention he received. “I never got to have a ‘normal’ family,” Mai said. “I have two autistic brothers. We can’t leave the house without stressing out about how Mikey will behave. He’s almost 12 and he still cannot speak, use the bathroom without assistance or be left anywhere unattended.” Bargovsky needs a home aid seven days a week. This can be difficult for the rest of the family, Mai said. Everyone has to think twice before speaking, as well, as to not trigger any negative feelings in him because they do not know what he is actually thinking or feeling the majority of the time. “Something will tick him off and because he can’t speak we don’t know what it is,” Mai said. “This will lead him to biting himSEE AUTISM, PAGE 8