Sports
April 29, 1993
Page 10
Early loss
shocks Elon
Erick Gill
The Pendulum
Elon's baseball team played
their last game of the season
Tuesday, April 20, against
Presbyterian College.
The Blue Hose shocked the
Christians 8-5 to eliminate Elon
from going to the South Atlantic
Conference tournament.
Elon started off well by
leading 3-0 in the fifth inning.
After compiling two outs.
Presbyterian retaliated by scoring
six runs in the sixth inning.
In the ninth, Elon was down
5-8 with bases loaded, but could
not get a hit to keep the game
alive and Presbyterian went on to
the SAC tournament.
The qualifications to attend
the tournament were altered from
last year. In the past, the SAC
tournament was made up of the
top four teams from the regular
season. This year to make it to
the tournament, the top ranked
team was matched up with the
lowest and so on and the four
Baseball team watches the season slip away as Presbyterian rallies against Elon
winners battled it our in the
tournament.
After the loss to
Presbyterian, Head Coach Mike
Harden expressed his feelings on
the new system in the
Burlington Times-News b y
saying, "It sucks." Harden was
one of the coaches who voted
against the new tournament
system.
Todd Bechtold, who pitched
the last inning against
Presbyterian, said, "We had the
ability to win. I just think we
were worried about ourselves and
not the team."
Elon opened up the season
strong with a big win against
Limestone College to give Coach
Harden his lOOth win. In just
over three seasons. Harden has
coIlxted a 129-56-1 rccord. The
Fightin’ Christians ended this
season with an overall record of
30-15-1 and 14-7 in the SAC.
Next year's team looks just
as strong. Even though Elon
will lose pitcher Rob Hahne,
who compiled a 7-0 pitching
record, the rest of the pitching
staff still looks strong.
Track team finishes in last place in Pembroke meet
Rogers Harrison
The Pendulum
The Elon College track team
ended its season Saturday by
finishing last in the Carolina
Track and Field Championship
held at Pembroke State
University.
Usually the Fightin'
Christians finish third in the
eight team competition, but this
year was just different.
"I thought maybe I should
just gel out of track and start
coaching swimming or rowing,"
said Head Coach Chris Worst.
Ealicr this season, an indoor
meet at Virginia Tech was
cancelled because of snow. The
roads were so bad, teams could
not get to the meet.
However, it was 80 degree
weather with blue skies on
Saturday at Pembroke. Some of
the highlights included: Elon
-basketball star David Wyrick
getting third in the high jump,
Corey Thompson placing second
in the shot pul, Jason Haftl in
-third and Doug Rayot finishing.
in fourth in the javelin.
"You've got to use all your
energy, so you can plant you foot
and go up," said Wyrick,
explaining his third place
performance. "A lot of guys
don’t believe in speed, but speed
is essential."
High Point University came
in first place in the meet with
178 points, followed by
Pembroke State, and a surprise
third place finish went to
Anderson College. Fellow South
Atlantic Conference member
Presbyterian College also
finished ahead of Elon. Elon
ended up with only 30 points.
Senior Dan Ridley, who has
been with the program since his
freshman year, thinks the track
program is coming along very
well despite their disappointing
finish.
“Wc use our resources to the
best of our ability," Ridley said.
" The team is starting to become
more than just a bunch of
football play_ej.s.''
Corey Thompson prepares to launch a second place shot
Softball ends
with SAC title
Erick Gill
The Pendulum
Softball Head Coach Sue
Leonard finished off the season
earlier than expected. Elon
suffered two losses in the district
tournament to Coker College and
St. Andrews to lop off a 28-7-1
season.
Although the Fightin'
Christians did not go as far as
they expected, Leonard feels that
they played a remarkable season.
"Wc had hoped to make it
pass the districts, but we were
not hitting well," said Leonard.
"It's hard to win games when you
don't hit well."
Elon finished second in the
South Atlantic Conference during
regular season. However,
Leonard said the highlight of the
season was winning the SAC
tournament.
The Fightin' Christians beat
Carson-Newman to make it the
first SAC tournament win in
Elon's four years in the
conference.
A large part of the season's
success can be credited to seniors
Donna Leigh and Laura Case and
junior Velma Degree. All three
players were named All
Conference as well as All
District.
Freshman Hope Rehman
was named to the All Conference
Team and won Freshman of the
Year for the South Atlantic
Conference.
The absence of centerfieldcr
Cheryl Spivey may have been the
catalyst that brought the team
down in the districts.
According to Leonard,
Spivey, a key senior player was
ineligible to play this season due
to a complication with her
schedule.
Without Spivey's
experience in the outfield, Elon s
freshmen were forced to adapt. ^
think we would have done belief
in the districts (with Spivey)-
Lconard said.
Next season will be^
rebuilding stage for the Fighi*’’
Christians. Without power hiit‘^'^
Laura Case or suike out pitchC
Donna Leigh or third ba*®
standout Tracy Shuford, Elo’’
will have some major holes
fill.