Friday, April 27, 1990
THE BENNETT BANNER
PAGE THREE
New spring spoil
Inaugural softball season
is a challenging venture
by Monetta Brown
The new kid on the block
always gets some rough treat
ment. So does a start-from-
scratch softball team. Just
ask Bennett coach Herb Jack
son, whose team has lost its
first seven games.
“When you start any inter
collegiate program, you’re
going to suffer and take some
hard knocks initially. It takes
time to build a competitive
program. I want people to
know that and not get down
on our young ladies when
they don’t perform up to their
best.”
Bennett has never had a
softball team, and it has been
competing against some
schools with scholarship
athletes—a. fact which puts
the Belles at a tremendous
disadvantage. The team was
the brainchild of President
Gloria Randle Scott, who en
visioned softball as part of a
spring sports package and
asked Athletic Director Leon
J. McDougle to develop a
team. McDougle hired Jackson
because of his experience on
the diamond. Jackson played
second-base and shortstop for
four years at North Carolina
A&T State University and is
now the baseball coach at his
alma mater.
Despite the rude initiation
that the Belles have received,
Jackson is proud of the re
silience of his squad and ex
cellent contributions by sev
eral of its players.
Junior shortstop Erica
Salter gets high marks from
the coach. “She’s a top-rate
baseball player,” Jackson, the
director of student activities
at Bennett, says. “She can
play with the best of them.”
Freshman outfielder Crys
tal Reynolds has also been a
mainstay. “Reynolds has
played very well,” the coach
says. “She hit a home run at
Noco Park that cleared the
fence against A&T.”
The coach also cites the
versatile Jeaninne Thomas
for meritorious s e r v ic e .
Thomas, a sophomore, has
pitched, played second base
and centerfield.
The team also includes in
fielders Regina Artis, Karyn
Weaver, Zandra Allen, Bro-
netta Walker, Alfredia Moore
and Cynthia Payne; catchers
Jennifer Chollette and Candy
Bentley; outfielders Kimyatta
Vinson and Robin King-
Hoard, and pitcher-infielder
Inez TYiplin.
One of Jackson’s most dif
ficult tasks has been to main
tain the team’s morale.
“I wish that we had started
with a club team first because
it is really discouraging to
the ladies to try to compete
with teams that have been
playing for years,” says
Jackson.
One of the season’s delights
has been strong attendance
at some home games.
“Student support is very
important,” Jackson says. “On
warm days, it’s been pretty
decent. I think it’s great, be
ing that we don’t have our
own field. The students walk
down to see us perform.”
The coach hopes that one
day soon the field behind
Goode Gymanasium will con
tain a well-groomed softball
diamond.
“That will make a great
difference to the program,”
he says.
A little more experience for
his players and patience by
the fans will help the new
team in town get acclimated.
Yaung tennis team shows spunk
Basketball fortunes rebound during Raleigh tournament
by Rosellen Durham
The basketball team saved
the best for last.
Bennett enjoyed its most
important victory of the year
on the final weekend of the
season, defeating Mary Bald
win College in the first round
of the North Carolina-Virginia
Women’s College Basketball
Tournament in Raleigh. The
next day, the Belles nearly
won a close encounter with
tournament champion Mere
dith College.
“We ended the year on a
good note,” said Coach Joyce
Spruill. “We’re looking for
ward to next season.”
The Belles almost swept the
tournament. They were losing
by only three or four points
with two minutes left in the
Meredith game, according to
Spruill. Bennett fouled in
order to stop the clock and re
gain the ball, “but when we
put them on the free throw
line, they hit every free
throw,” the coach recalled.
The squad, which finished
4-20, placed center Valencia
Floyd on the all-tournament
team, to which point-guard
Hyler Jones received honor
able mention.
The upbeat ending had the
team walking tall and the
coach “rejoycing.” “We played
good ball in the tournament,”
Spruill said. “The whole team
stood out. (Frontcourtplayer)
Debra Dilworth had a good
tournament, and Valencia
Floyd did a fantastic job of
fensively and defensively.
(Forward) Yvette Williams
played really well, but she got
hurt against Mary Baldwin
and couldn’t play in the cham
pionship game.”
Williams grabbed a rebound
and aggravated a leg injury
which she had suffered ear
lier in the season against
Winston-Salem State.
Although the Belles
finished quite a way below
.500, the team doubled its
number of victories over last
season and gained momentum
during a time when a more
fragile club might have be
come dispirited.
“In spite of our losses, we
improved our overall game,”
said Spruill.
A prime mover in the tour-
around was Hyler Jones, who
“did a fantastic job of handl
ing the ball for us,” Spruill
observed.
What stands out the most
in the coach’s mind from the
season? “The potential that
was on that team,” Spruill
said. “During the course of
the season, they showed what
they were capable of doing,
but they just didn’t execute
consistently at all times.”
Attendance at the games
rose this year, the coach
noted, but “we would like to
have more support. But you
know you get into a thing
where if you win there’d be
no problem with people com
ing to see you play. But if
you lose, you run into the
thing of the typical fan ver
sus the loyal fan. But we
had much better support this
year.”
More wins inevitably mean
more fans. Next season may
very well bring more of each.
by Monica Exum
The tennis squad brought
much more pride than pain
to Coach Leon McDougle even
though, as a team, the Belles
didn’t win a match.
This was the Bennett’s first
full season after playing a
limited schedule last year.
The team was burdened by
inexperience and the loss of
some veterans who didn’t re
turn to school. But there
wasn’t a player who didn’t
improve during the year, and
the Belles held many of their
opponents’ hands to the fire.
“My goal was to make the
team competitive, and in
many matches we were com
petitive,” McDougle says. “We
had a very tough schedule
for a school in its first full
year of play.”
Amazingly enough, several
Belles had either never played
competitively or never played
tennis before this academic
year.
“Four of my kids came
directly out of my beginning
tennis class,” the coach ex
plains. “Even so, in most in
stances they were able to hold
their own. We played schools
that are well known for
women’s tennis teams. Many
of their players come from the
country club set. They’ve had
lessons since early childhood.”
The Belles played some
strong teams from Virginia,
including Lonewood, Ferrum
and Virginia Wesleyan.
McDougle has special plau
dits for Dorcas Matowe, a
freshman international stu
dent from Zimbabwe.
“She had no experience at
all prior to the season,” the
coach says. “She was pro
bably our most consistent
player and the one who was
most praised by opposing
coaches. Dorcas was coach-
able, intelligent and willing
to improve.”
McDougle was also appre
ciative of the contributions
of freshmen Jacqueline Drum
monds from Brooklyn, N.Y.
and Batsirai Mutasa from
Corpus Christi, Tex.; sopho
mores Khea Newby from
Omaha, Neb., Janae Simmons
from Somerset, N.J., Kim
Somerville from Columbia,
Md. and Sharon Turner from
Royal Oaks, Md. and senior
Tracey Lett from Winston-
Salem.
The coach is optimistic
about next season.
“I feel if we can hold this
group together and get one
or two experienced high
school players, then next year
we’ll be even more compe
titive.”
He would like to see greater
participation on the part of
inactive athletes on campus.
“It’s quite disturbing to
me as coordinator of athletic
programs that we have too
many athletes on our campus
with playing experience in
various sports who are not
participating in anything.”
Next spring, the right mix
could bring even more pride
to the courts behind the gym.
Incompetents at vork
Phony leaders
shame nation
(from page 2)
rights and world peace. Young
people never change. They
are always the social and poli
tical innovators of a society.
We are the ones who strive
to bring about change while
politicians hide behind self-
righteous and incomprehen
sible political gibberish when
all their campaign promises
go up in smoke.
I don’t know about every
one else, but I’m fed up with
shallow administrators like
Dan Quayle, Oliver North,
Gary Hart and a list of others
whose unscrupulous ways
have been sensationalized on
the covers of the nation’s
tabloids like spoofs about
UFO’s or Hollywood gossip.
What this country needs is
real leaders who are concerned
with the problems of this
society. As conscientious citi
zens of a democratic nation,
we should exercise our consti
tutional freedom and vote;
not for the men and women
who dish out the biggest
pieces of apple pie or who
shield themselves in the beau
tiful American flag, but for
people who stand up for the
little man as well as the big,
who will seek changes and
policies that will support the
common welfare of individuals
here and abroad.
Forget the peanuts, jelly
beans, broccoli and fame-
seeking bimbos. We deserve
more out of our paid govern
ment officials. We deserve
true leadership.
Eyewitness remembers Frisco earthquake
a colunm
by Morgan Johnson
On Oct. 17, 1989, the World
Series was being held in San
Francisco in Candlestick Park.
Not only were there x>eo'ple getting
off work early to make it to the
game, but there were people get
ting off early to watch it on tele
vision.
It was a very hot day. My
friends and I went to a park in
Brisbane, Calif., 10 minutes away
from San Francisco. Everything
was calm, including the water
which surrounded the park. We
could see the stadium from where
we were and there were heli
copters circling above.
At 5:04 P.M., the earthquake
erupted. This was my first time
being outside during an earth
quake, and it seemed to be pretty
safe since we were in the open.
There was a building a few feet
away from us, and it looked as
if it was going to fold up, like
when a deck of cards coUapses.
It also appeared to be more dang
erous inside. My friends and I
didn’t think much of it, We just
thought it was another minor
shake. We had no idea of the
extent of the disaster. As we
continued to hang out on the
grass, people who were inside the
building oame running out, got
in their cars and left.
Later, my friends and I took
a walk around the park and we
passed a woman. We asked her
if she felt the quake and she
certainly did. But after we passed
her, she yelled back, “Oh, by the
way, the Bay Bridge collapsed.”
We thought she was joking and
yelled back, “Well, that’s good,
less traffic.” We did not believe
her because of her casual tone.
As we headed back to the car, I
noticed that the lights at Candle
stick were off, which was odd.
When we got in the car and
turned on the radio, the stations
had lost their airwaves. We
turned on the sports station to
hear the game and instead we
heard that the bridge had indeed
collapsed and there were fires in
the Marina District. Later, there
were reports that the Cypress
Freeway had collapsed and the
most damage had taken place in
the South Bay in cities such as
Santa Ctuz and Watsonville.
The next day no one went to
work and people were to stay
indoors. Vice President Quayle
toured the Marina District, which
caused a bit of controversy, and
there were scenes on television
of the bridge, the freeway, shat
tered parts of the city and the
events that followed the quake
during the World Series.
My mom decided that she
wanted to go to the mall and
shop for imdergarments in the
middle of the disaster. The streets
were practically deserted and the
atmosphere had an eerie feeling.
By Friday things were back to
normal but not quite the same.
People everywhere were getting
aftershocks that lasted for a month
and a half. The traffic was vui-
believable. The Bay Bridge was
out of commission for a month,
and commuters had to find other
ways of getting into the city. And
the biggest surprise to me was
tliat most of the instructors at
San Francisco State University
had lost some of their edge. They
had become sympathetic and as
signments were either put off or
done away with.
And far those who think
Bennett has some problems, SFSU
would have most of you suing.
Students who were in the dorms
could not return, even to get a
few belongings. The school gave
everyone a $100 loan, and thait’s
all, if I remember correctly. There
were students sleeping in the
Student Union; there were stu
dents who hadn’t bathed for days.
If students didn’t have a friend
or a relative to stay with, they
were homeless for about three
and a half weeks. And when the
dorms were safe to enter, people
found that the workmen raided
almost every room. One student
was missing $600 dollars.
Another thing that was really
interesting was to see the national
newscasters all rush out to bring
the nation the story. Dan Rather,
Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings
were chauffeured in white limos
to the site of the Cypress Freeway
(see page 4)