Sports Sports
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Wednesday, April 11, 2012
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‘Runners lead series 2-0
Rob Burkett
WASHBURN REVIEW
Blues go 1-1 on NE State Continued from page 1 Not content to just have the lead, the Lady Blues released a barrage of scoring, putting together a five run fourth inning. That would be all Washburn needed as the team cruised the rest of the way, assisted by six errors committed by NSU. With the split Washburn’s record improves to 14-18 on the season. The second series of the weekend was rained out in what would have been a matchup against the University of Central Oklahoma. The Lady Blues now return to a MIAA schedule this coming weekend. The team will travel east on a two series swing that will take them first to Northwest Missouri State University April 13 for a doubleheader before traveling on to Truman State University the following day. The two opponents are currently ranked eighth and eleventh in the conference standings. With just two games separating Washburn from the top four in the conference, the Lady Blues hope to build momentum on the road where the team has struggled this season, going 5-9 on the road so far this year. The team will return to home action April 20 against Pittsburg State University in a doubleheader before ending the regular season against Missouri Southern State University the following day in a doubleheader finale. Rob Burkett is a senior mass media major. Reach him at robert.burkett@washburn.edu.
Photo by Richard Kelly, Washburn Review
Controlling the play: Forward Brian Christie skates past two Texas Tornado defenders on Saturday night. Christie registered an assist in Friday night’s contest and fired two shots on goal on Saturday as Topeka won 2-1 and 4-2 respectively to take a 2-0 lead in the NAHL semifinals.
Richard Kelly
WASHBURN REVIEW
The Topeka RoadRunners are currently sitting in the driver’s seat of the NAHL South Division semifinals. Aided greatly by forward Jake Lynes, Topeka pulled off a dramatic 2-1 overtime victory on Friday night and escaped with a 4-2 victory Saturday to take a 2-0 series lead against the Texas Tornado in this bestof-five series. “[Goaltender] Peter Traber made some huge stops for us tonight, which is so nice to see,” said Scott Langer, Topeka head coach. “Then Jake Lynes again found a way to give us the big one tonight. I like the vibe of our team right now.” Lynes, who had 15 goals in 59 regular season games this year, has three goals in the first two games of the series. His shooting percentage is currently .500, as he has six shots in
the series. He scored the gamewinning goals Friday and Saturday night and also notched the first Topeka goal Saturday. “It’s definitely been good to have the hot stick. I’m just throwing everything on net,” said Lynes. “It’s been a fun playoffs for me so far.” Lynes started the scoring on Saturday at 14:59 of the first period when he fired a wrist shot from the right wing past Texas goaltender Frederick Leisner. Topeka led 5-3 in shots on goal after the opening period. In the second period, forward Sean Gaffney gave Topeka a 2-0 lead at 3:08 when he took a drop pass from forward Kyle Sharkey and fired a wrist shot past Leisner. This would end the night for Leisner, as he was then replaced by goaltender Joakin Jutras. Following a cross checking penalty on forward James Ring at 6:21, Texas forward Mychal Monteith cut the Topeka lead
to 2-1 with a powerplay goal at the 8 minute mark. The rest of the period remained scoreless, despite multiple chances for both teams. In the third period, Texas looked to grabbed the momentum, as forward Drew Mayer slipped a shot past goaltender Peter Traber to tie the contest at two at 2:22. Not to be outdone, Lynes gave the lead back to Topeka at 12:34 when he redirected a shot from defenseman Kevin Patterson that found its way past Jutras. “Luke Veitch did a great job getting that shot through,” said Lynes. “I got a piece of it, and it threw the goalie off. I was lucky enough to find the back of the net.” With just over a minute left, Texas pulled Jutras in favor of an extra attacker. The move backfired, as forward Kyle Sharkey finished off the Tornado with an emptynet goal at 19:49.
Traber improves to 2-0-0 in the playoffs with the victory, as he stopped 20 of 22 shots on Saturday. Jutras was credited with the loss, falling to 0-1-0 in the playoffs, despite stopping 12 of 13 shots to Leisner’s five of seven shots. The series continues with game 3 on Thursday night in Frisco, Texas. Langer said his team must bring its physical and defensive game. “I think we can be a little more physical,” said Langer. “Especially against their two talented lines, I thought we lacked physicality. Our defensive zone also needs to be cleaned up, because some of the chances we gave up this weekend were huge.”
Richard Kelly is a senior mass media and social work major. Reach him at richard.kelly@ washburn.edu.
Washburn women’s tennis cruises past Lincoln University Luke Warnken
WASHBURN REVIEW
Domination. The word pretty much sums up the match between the Washburn Lady Blue tennis team against MIAA opponent Lincoln University of Missouri. “I’ve never been a part of a match that has been that lopsided,” said Washburn head tennis coach Dave Alden. In nine matches consisting of 15 sets, the Lady Blues only failed to win three games. Seniors Jamie Blackim and Alyssa Castillo won 8-3 in the opening No. 1 doubles match 8-3. The Blues would not lose a game the rest of the day. “We still really focused all the way through,” said Alden. “We expected to play well but you never expect to have the scores that we did.” The Blue Tigers of Lincoln came into the match struggling with a 0-7 record on the year. It was a matter of taking care of business for the Blues and not overlooking the Blue Tigers. “Sometimes when you play somebody you outmatch it’s easy to play down. But we didn’t lose focus,” said Alden. Another senior duo of Morgan Rainey and Whitley Zitsch won 8-0 in No. 2 doubles while freshman Casyn Buchman and sophomore Sophie O’Neill blanked Victoria Banks and Gabrielle Quinn in No. 3 doubles. The early lead did not re-
Column: MLB set for wild season
Photo by Alex Voskoboyev, Washburn Review
Cage the Tigers: Sophomore Sophie O’Neill backhands the ball against the Lincoln University Blue Tigers. O’Neill won her singles match in two sets (6-0, 6-0) and her doubles match with freshman Casyn Buchman, 8-0. lax the Lady Blues. Instead of getting complacent Washburn finished singles play with pride. Rainey easily won No. 1 singles while her doubles partner, Zitsch swept Kamaria Brave in No. 3 singles. Blackim, Buchman, and Castillo dominated the lower three singles spots with little problem.
“I’ve never had all singles players win 6-0, 6-0, in my nine years of coaching,” said Alden. O’Neill was the last to finish her singles match as the Lady Blues came away with the sweep in a little over two hours of play. It was an impressive showing and a much needed win for Washburn. The win
brought the Blues back within one game of .500 and game them a comfortable 3-1 record in conference play. “You always want to peak at the right time and it feels like maybe we’re heading in that direction,” said Alden. “For us if we want to do what we’re capable of doing when need to
play well and win the conference tournament.” Washburn will face off April 11 at 2 p.m. at a home match with Northwest Missouri State University. Luke Warnken is a sophomore history education and physical training major. Reach him at luke.warnken@washburn.edu.
With the final horn sounded in March Madness signaling the end of the sprint to the championship, now comes the beginning of the marathon that is Major League Baseball. Just a week into the season, there are many teams and things that have changed in the sport. In the American League East division, there is a logjam There will be intense competition between the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays. When the race is all said and done, experience trumps youth. The Yankees will win the east division for the second year in a row. In the AL central there isn’t much of a race. Despite the improvements by the Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins and the rest of the division, there won’t be any doubt the Detroit Tigers will run away with the division, ending the race not too long after the all-star game. In the AL west, the Texas Rangers, who are reigning pennant champions will be finally overtaken. With the offseason acquisition of Pujols and CJ Wilson by the Angels, the Halos have put themselves in position to move past their division rivals. With the new playoff setup, the two wild cards will come from the same division. The Rays a n d R e d MAJOR S o x LEAGUES w i l l play one more time for a playoff spot. The Angels however will be in its first World Series in almost a decade. On the senior circuit of the National League, diluted offensive talent combined with pitcher’s parks will see a very competitve year. In the east, the Philadelphia Phillies have been the presumptive pick the last couple of seasons. This season they will be pushed harder than they usually are by the new look Marlins and the youthful Atlanta Braves. Despite the two upstarts’ improvements, the Phillies will be too much to handle and will advance. In the central, a new landscape of players will have little effect. Despite losing the perennial all-star first baseman in Pujols, St. Louis will keep winning. In the west, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants are the two teams contending for divisional supremacy. The ‘Backs will be too much for the Giants. In the wildcard race, this will be the most wide open race of the year. With the Marlins, Braves, Nationals, Giants, Dodgers and the surprising Pittsburgh Pirates, this race will come down to the last weekend. When the dust settles, playoff baseball will return to the Steel City for the first time since a rookie named Barry Bonds suited up. The Pirates will meet up against the Braves who will be in the playoffs again after a recent absence from the postseason. In the playoffs, it’ll be another epic fall as the Angels and the Cardinals will march on deep into October. The Angels will hoist its second World Series title.
Rob Burkett is a senior mass media major. Reach him at robert.burkett@washburn.edu.