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10 I Thursday, March 6, 2003 | The Red & Black
SPORTS
Baseball
spring
training
for fans
Dan Tomayko
sports@randb.com
Pitchers play key role in softball’s success
By ANDREW MOORE
amoore@randb.com
This year’s Georgia softball team
proves the old adage that “It all starts
with pitching.”
The Dogs’ pitching staff has been
the catalyst for the team’s 21-3 record
and high national ranking.
Starting pitchers Michelle Green
and Lacey Gardner have a combined
20-3 record, with a combined 0.42 ERA,
while opponents are hitting just .127
against them.
“I’m most proud of their support
and complimenting each other,” said
Georgia head coach Lu Harris-
Champer. “They’re always the first
ones out there saying ‘Good pitch,
good job.’”
“We feed off each other,” said Green,
a sophomore from Duluth. “Not only
from day-to-day but even from the
beginning of the game to the end.”
Gardner agrees, saying, “The whole
team feeds off each other, but the
pitchers especially.”
Harris-Champer attributes the
staff’s success to the pitchers’ individ
ual strengths.
“Each player has different
strengths that they bring to the table,”
she said.
“We complement each other really
well,” Green said of herself and
Gardner.
Gardner, a senior from Watkinsville,
echoed the sentiment.
“She throws hard,” she said of
Green. “She’s an up pitcher where I’m
a down pitcher. It’s good to have vari
ety, and good to come in and switch it
up.”
Also factoring into the mix is senior
Laurie Davidson, a transfer from East
Carolina, who sports an ERA of 0.00 in
six appearances.
“A lot of times she’ll finish my
games,” Gardner said. “We’re a lot
alike, but she’s a lefty and throws from
the other side of the plate. It gets the
hitters when they see the same thing
coming from another direction.”
Not all credit for opponents’ low
offensive numbers belongs to the
pitching staff, though.
“Half our success is from our
defense,” Green said. “They’ve made
lots of outstanding plays to save our
butts.”
Whatever it is, the softball world
seems to have taken notice. Georgia is
now ranked No. 10 in the NFCA/USA
Today Top 25, the team’s highest rank
ing ever, and Monday, Green was
named SEC Pitcher of the Week for
the second time this season.
“We’re shooting for the top always,”
Gardner said. “We always want to play
at our very best.”
So far this year, the Bulldogs’ pitch
ers have done just that.
COLIN OWENS | The Red & Black
▲ Michelle Green, a sopho
more from Duluth, checks the
signs from her catcher in a
preseason tournament.
This column would not be
complete without the obliga
tory mention of Tony Cole.
There it was.
Moving on to other, non-
scandalous matters, spring is
here, and we all know what
that means: spring training.
That magical time of the
year when every professional
baseball team is filled with the
hope that this year is going to
be their year.
OK, maybe not every team;
the Devil Rays and the rest of
the bottom dwellers in the
Majors like the Royals and the
Tigers, even if they say other
wise, still have no chance
whatsoever.
At least not while the
Yankees, in a “budget cutting”
year increase their payroll to
nearly $150 million by adding
Japanese superstar Hideki
Matsui and Cuban pitcher
Jose Contreras, but that’s
another column
entirely.
However, what spring train
ing offers is an alternative for
the fans.
It’s the average fan’s oppor
tunity to see the game from a
different perspective.
Afterall, injuries like the
one to Pirates pitcher Mike
Lincoln’s shoulder could only
happen in spring training.
Lincoln was running on the
warning track at Pirate City,
Pittsburgh’s spring training
facility in Bradenton, Fla.,
when he stepped on a golf
ball, which had sliced onto the
track from the golf course
next door.
He fell, landed on his shoul
der and couldn’t throw for 10
days.
Golf courses and baseball
diamonds in such close prox
imity are just one of the oddi
ties that add charm to the
whole spring training
experience.
Spring training offers fans a
break from the big crowds
and, most importantly, expen
sive major league stadiums
with the small confines of
minor league sized stadia in
Arizona and Florida.
It also gives the average fan
a chance to get closer to the
generally unreachable major
leaguer, since most players,
especially the veterans who
aren’t fighting for a job, are
more willing to sign auto
graphs and such for
people.
One also gets the chance to
see and interact with whichev
er young phenom is coming
up through the organization
before he gets jaded by the
constant limelight cast upon
major leaguers.
One thing that takes some
getting used to in spring train
ing is seeing all of the super-
stars that have switched
teams in different uniforms.
It’ll take some time to
adjust to Tom Glavine in the
orange and blue of the Mets
and even longer to adjust to
seeing Jim Thome as a Philly.
With its ups and downs,
spring training is well worth a
visit.
If you’re already planning a
trip to Florida for spring
break, you can crawl out of
bed and drag yourself to an
afternoon game at whichever
team’s spring training site is
nearby to take in a game.
Just remember to bring a
Sharpie.
— Dan Tomayko is the
sports editor for the Red &
Black
FOR YOUR
Pets Retreat
during Spring Break
354-8944
BOARDING KENNELS
Tuckston United Methodist
4175 Lexington Kd. *
Tel: 353-1311 «
• 1/3 mile before Walmart
» www.tuckston.org
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SUNDAY 3:00 PM
Attendance is Growing Every Week!
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SEC Home Opener!
#13 GEORGIA vs. Auburn
Bulldogs hold their highest ranking in program history
NICOLE BARBER
Saturday, March B
Doubleheader 1 /3:00pm
First 300 fans receive a softball t-shirt
courtesy of Delldog Sporting Goods in
Georgetown Plaza.
Sunday, March 9
1:00 pm
First 500 tans receive
a Oulldog schedule magnet
courtesy of Georgia Power.
GEORGIA
POWER
A SOUTHERN COMPANY
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