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Linfield’s identity crisis

Posted by :jprokop On : May 15, 2012
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Hey ’Cats. After two years of being blessed with a weekly column in The Linfield Review, time constraints are finally catching up to me. With two stressful, busy semesters on the horizon for my senior year, I had to finally acknowledge that there are only so many hours in the week.

Hence, this is the last column I’ll ever write for the Review. Some of you might find it sad, but mostly, I expect jeering remarks across Facebook and online from those who I’ve somehow offended in the last two years. If that’s what you wish to do, so be it, and I don’t bear you any ill-will.

Two years seems like a pretty long time, but in the grand scheme of things, it really isn’t. That’s only about 24 football games, 100 softball games and a dozen or two track meets. Life seems shorter when you measure it in games rather than days and weeks, doesn’t it?

In the span of those games, I’ve learned a lot about Linfield’s rich sports culture, and it’s through writing this column for the Review that I was able to identify something rather interesting that I was only able to put my finger on as early as last Friday.

Theatre arts professor Janet Gupton, a mentor and role model to me, made a peculiar comment while discussing a theater alumnus that has been openly gay for many years. She said that Linfield wasn’t always the easiest place for members of the GLBT community, which baffled me. Linfield is a small, private liberal-arts college in the middle of Oregon. Everything about this place, from the accepting faculty, to the many green initiatives, to the liberal flavor of Linfield’s culture would at face value seem to be a welcoming and supporting environment for such people.

Despite the attempts of Linfield public relations to pitch our beloved college as epitomizing the liberal arts experience, that’s really not what Linfield is at its core. Because alongside all these proclamations of the joys of the liberal arts education there exists a deep-seeded, deeply entrenched sports culture that lives in constant combat with these values and ideals. Linfield is, to put it bluntly, a college in crisis.

I don’t mean to say that these two different groups are universally mutually exclusive, but it doesn’t take a genius to see that the world of sports and the world of the liberal arts have some glaring differences in core fundamentals. Consider the GLBT community and its relationship to sports programs. Do you really think that a homosexual male athlete is going to be welcomed by every single one of his teammates with open arms? How often are the words “faggot” and “homo” used as trash talk among “the guys?” I can’t say with any expertise that such language is used in locker rooms at Linfield, but I can say that I hear it pretty often from athletes around campus in casual conversation. That’s not uncommon in the world of male sports, but for a private liberal arts college it’s appalling.

And what about the idea of the role of the press? In a liberal arts setting, journalism by students would strive to achieve levels of excellence and accuracy akin to a professional publication. This means reporting the truth, whether people want to hear it or not. Yet at Linfield, I wrote one critical column last spring that caused a firestorm of hateful speech on the Internet.

For daring to presume that the softball program isn’t perfect, I was advised by one player to stick to things a theatre major is good at, such as “chess or math team.” Other students went further, saying I ought to stick to “watching Harry Potter” and “jacking off.” Athletes from other sports joined in recently, with one graduated football player saying to me online that “Dude, you need to figure out that whole writing in a school newspaper thing…dogging on your own team isn’t really the way to go.”

It’s true that history and success breed many positive words, which each program absolutely deserves when their achievements on the field merit it. However, in a sports-centric college environment, athletes fall into the trap of feeling that they are entitled to nothing but glowing reviews from their student publications due to their consistent success and rich history. This  is of course nonsense but explains the hateful speech directed my way after that column more than a year ago. In a sports-dominant culture, this kind of thing would make sense: attacking someone who undermined one of the school’s programs. In a liberal arts setting, not so much.

While that attitude is playing out among athletes on the field, the Review continues to strive toward the liberal-arts ideal of honesty and professionalism. It’s a minor miracle a major mess like this didn’t happen far sooner, because with two vastly different mindsets rooted in different student groups, this tension is always bubbling right below the surface, ready to burst when somebody like me stirs the pot.

These are only two examples of the greater problem I’m trying to get at, but I hope it illustrates the point well enough. Linfield is not really the liberal arts experience it’s billed as, nor is it only the rich sports culture. The two halves can co-exist well enough for a time, but every so often when something emerges that seems jarringly out of place in one culture or the other we’re reminded that maintaining balance among them is not an easy task.

To be honest, I don’t think we’ve done it yet. Neither sports nor the liberal arts deserves a universal claim to define Linfield’s culture, no matter what each may think, and both have concessions to make in order to achieve a more cohesive, balanced college experience.

Hopefully the next generation of students and athletes can succeed where we have yet to. Until such a time comes, Linfield remains a college with a glaring identity crisis.

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Chris Forrer/Sports columnist
Chris Forrer can  be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Records, streaks and playoff berths in spring

Posted by :jprokop On : April 30, 2012
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Hey ’Cats. There’s been a whirlwind of activity in the last few weeks as spring athletics wind down and begin getting geared up for the playoffs. An impressively high number of Linfield spring teams have captured post-season berths or remain close in the hunt, so I’d like to dole out a few shout-outs and take a look at who’s playing through and who’s staying home.

The men’s golf team wrapped up a fourth Northwest Conference title in the past five years April 22. Senior Alex Fitch putted his way to first place in the tourney, his staggering seventh individual tournament title this season. A pair of promising freshmen in Connor Mangnuson and Taylor Klopp also netted fourth and sixth-place finishes, respectively. The team will take its talents to Orlando, Fla., to play for the NCAA title later in May. On the other side of things, women’s golf played hard at the NWC tourney but couldn’t climb any higher than fifth on the second day.

On the same day that the Linfield softball team dropped the NWC tourney crown to Pacific Lutheran, the women’s tennis team took its 13-0 conference record into the NWC Championship match against Whitman and got swatted 5-1. Besides ending an impressive 13-game conference winning streak, it also put the team in jeopardy of staying home for the playoffs despite its solid overall record of 13-5. The NCAA’s most recent release of regional rankings has Linfield slotted at eight, with senior ace Abby Olbrich individually ranked eighth and her doubles team sophomore Caroline Brigham ranked sixth. Keep in mind that the top 12 teams will be selected for regional berths. The regional selections will be announced May 6 for tennis and May 7 for softball.

Meanwhile, senior pole vaulter Catherine Street has captured another record, this time breaking the Division-III national record for outdoor pole vault with an impressive clear of 13 feet, 9.75 inches. The clear secured her fourth consecutive NWC crown and earned her a chance to claim the NCAA outdoor crown to go with her previously earned indoor championship earlier in the semester. While Street was soaring, sophomore Anna LaBeaume tossed her way to a repeat title in the shot put and a first-time championship in the hammer throw. Overall, the ’Cats finished third in the NWC meet and have a few opportunities to qualify individuals and the team for the NCAA championships in May.

Finally, the Linfield baseball team appears to have hit free-fall mode. The team is 2-8 during its past 10 games and currently sits on a five-game losing streak heading for what looks to be its final four games of the season. At fourth place in the NWC and with a 21-15 overall record, things aren’t looking so great for a regional berth. Last week, Linfield dropped out of the NCAA’s Top 30 rankings as well as www.d3baseball.com’s Top 25.

With only a few precious games or meets left on the docket, now is the time to get out for some Linfield sports. Our men and women will be on the road come playoff time, so give your love now while you still can.

Good luck in the playoffs to our post-season qualifiers, and congrats to all for a successful spring season.

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Chris Forrer/Sports columnist
Chris Forrer  can  be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Mental toughness will make or break softball

Posted by :jprokop On : April 23, 2012
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I hate to say I told you so. I really do. But unfortunately, Pacific Lutheran handed the Linfield softball team two more home losses and broke an eight-year streak of Northwest Conference titles. In both cases, PLU’s pitching unit was just too much for the ’Cats to overcome. Just as I wrote about last week, we seem to be unable to beat them at home.

I was informed of the first defeat Saturday night by a friend of mine, Walt Haight, husband of Linfield professor Dawn Graff-Haight. I shook my head, saying, Well, I guess I’ve got my column for tomorrow. PLU has just got its number this season. Walt looked at me and, with a grin, asked, why? Why do they have their number? Is it pitching? Hitting? I couldn’t answer. There’s your angle, he told me.

Well Walt, when you’re right you’re right. I looked at the box scores of all three defeats and it took time to find any consistent pattern. In the first PLU loss this season, the Lutes piled it on
early and then late to out-score the ‘Cats. In the second, it took until the seventh-inning for PLU to find a six-run outburst to bury Linfield. This time, two close games came down to the final inning and Catball just couldn’t come from behind a 3-0 deficit late.

I’ll admit that I’m not the best at reading softball box scores, but I did eventually manage to find my answer for Walt. In three losses to PLU before Sunday, the ’Cats were averaging 3.3 errors per game opposed to their overall season average of 0.7. That’s a staggering 2.6 errors more against one opponent! And in the NWC match on Saturday, all three of the Lutes’ runs were scored on Linfield errors.

It’s clear to me now that the answer to Linfield’s PLU struggles is 100 percent in the mind. The Lutes have gotten into Catball’s head and shaken the mental toughness that was so key in last season’s championship run. The grit, the focus, the mental fortitude has been rattled by a pair of come-from-behind home losses to a dangerous team in March.

What I saw from PLU this weekend was swagger. They oozed confidence and looked like they were salivating at a chance to send the ’Cats packing in their own house. It looked familiar; it looked like us last season. And they rode that confidence straight to the house for a 3-1 record against Linfield in the NWC tourney.

Here’s the thing though. Sandwiched between these two heartbreaking PLU losses were two impressive wins. A tough 4-2 victory over Willamette was followed by a cardiac-inducing, come-from-behind thriller over the Lutes in which Catball scored the tying and winning runs on their last out in the bottom of the seventh.

When I got to the field at the bottom of the sixth, you could have heard a pin drop in Del Smith Stadium. It was utterly lifeless in the dugout and stands, at least among those wearing purple. It was the first time I’d ever seen this team truly scared.

But by the end of the game, a complete change had come over the Wildcats. They were scrapping, fighting and struggling with every ounce of their ability. The focus was back. The mental toughness, the grit, was back, and the result was a victory for the ages. Sadly, it didn’t take more than two hours for PLU’s bullpen to pitch it back into submission.

Honestly, this loss doesn’t really matter in the scope of a playoff bid. They may have lost the NWC and this may hurt like hell, but they’re going, and that really hasn’t ever been in question. But if this loaded team with title aspirations wants to hoist the D-III title trophy for a second year in a row, they’re going to need to find that mental toughness and focus from last year and hold onto it for dear life. Catch the seventh inning of Sunday’s first PLU game in a bottle and drink it before every contest. Otherwise, it’s going to be a short post-season for Catball this spring.

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Chris Forrer/Sports columnist
Chris Forrer can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Head-scratching home concerns for Wildcats

Posted by :jprokop On : April 16, 2012
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Hey ’Cats. Remember last spring when Mac was so consistently rainy and wet that the softball team spent most of its “home games” at other neutral locations? Back then it was a reassuring thing to know that our team could win on the road, but I still bemoaned the lack of home games.

This year, I’d take the neutral games in a heartbeat. In fact, I think I’d go so far as to say both the softball and baseball programs would be better off spending the postseason on the road come May. Don’t get me wrong, both programs boast quality teams. But Catball has surrendered all three of its season losses at home and the baseball squad has dropped as many at home (5) as they have on the road.

The baseball team was overrated in the preseason. I think that’s clear by now. This club started the year at No. 2 in the nation and proceeded to go 20-10 through the first 30 games; not exactly a stellar winning percentage. The ’Cats have free-fallen 19 spots to No. 21 and left their postseason hopes muddled.

At second place in the Northwest Conference with nine games remaining, a conference title and automatic postseason berth is still possible. But only five of those games come against conference foes and none against top-ranked Pacific.

Winning out will help the team’s case for a regional playoff berth, as will the fact that they’ve been selected to host one of the Division-III regional sites for the fourth time in the past five years. But unless they can come on strong in the end of the season, I really don’t know that being home is a good thing. It would beat being left out and having to watch other teams play at Roy Helser field, though.

At the risk of igniting a firestorm around the Catball loyal, I’m also worried about three puzzling home losses and what it means for this team’s postseason odds. Yes, they are the top-ranked team in the nation; yes, they are a solid club from top to bottom; yes, every team loses games.

I’m just surprised and a bit concerned that the odds-on favorite to bag the national title has lost three home contests. If the comforts of home don’t bring in the wins, road games against the nation’s elite could be potentially dangerous.

On the other hand, I hear Willamette has a fantastic pitcher, and PLU has shown they’re worthy of an at-large bid for the D-III regional playoffs, so maybe I’m overreacting. Or maybe its a good thing the school’s bid to host a regional site was denied. We’ll see. Go ’Cats.

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Chris Forrer/Sports columnist
Chris Forrer can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Dirty tricks plague professional league

Posted by :jprokop On : April 9, 2012
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Football is a contact sport. It’s violent, it’s rough. At times it’s downright brutal. Those crushing hits and big-time sacks are a major reason why football is America’s most-watched sport and why the game has continued to grow in popularity season after season. But there are rules and lines that should never be crossed, even in a sport as physical as football. Recently, one story has made me question how solid those lines really are.

Last month, the NFL’s New Orleans Saints found themselves in a whirlwind of trouble when it came to light that head coach Sean Payton and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams had been offering cash bounties to their defensive players to put big hits on certain players from an opposing team during the course of the past three seasons. Assistant head coach Joe Vitt and general manager Mickey Loomis were also implicated and all four men received suspensions ranging from six games to a full year.

Then the rabbit hole got deeper. After being warned by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to cease their bounty program as it was under investigation again by NFL, Payton supposedly instructed Williams to avoid any “inappropriate conduct.” Williams apparently didn’t care. Last Thursday, an audio recording of a pre-game speech before the Saints’ playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers was released. The defensive coordinator calls for his players to lay hits to the head of a concussion-prone receiver, to target another player’s outside ACL and that he wanted running back Frank Gore’s head “sideways.”

I struggle to categorize how much of this is inappropriate rhetoric and how much is just a reality of the game. Calling for players to lay hits on an opposing player’s head, especially one who is concussion-prone, is the most cut-and-dry: the NFL has made it abundantly clear that hits to the head are illegal and subject to penalty by fine.

But what about targeting a part of a player’s body that’s been prone to injury? If you’re a defenseman heading in for a tackle against a player with a reconstructed shoulder, you’re probably thinking that a big hit on that shoulder could take that player out of the game. Is that wrong? You’re making a legitimate tackle in a legitimate way, and if you remove one key player from the opposing team you’ve just given your teammates an advantage.

As far as I know there’s nothing in the rule book that prevents targeting injured parts of the body. In fact, I’m willing to bet that whether it’s openly discussed in the locker room or not most teams have an understanding that it’s just part of the game. Whether you think it’s ethically acceptable or not, players are always going to do whatever they can legally get away with to gain a competitive advantage. That’s just the reality of sports.

If the NFL uses this development to create new legislation that bans any kind of targeting then it’ll be time to change our collective thinking. But until then, it’s just d-fense.

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Chris Forrer/Sports columnist
Chris Forrer can be  reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Support for teams can ensure achievement

Posted by :jprokop On : February 26, 2012
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Welcome back to what is sure to be another jam-packed semester of exciting sports at Linfield. Unless you live under a rock, you’ll recall that our softball team is the defending national title-holder, and its season got underway last week. Is a repeat title in the works?

The baseball program is beginning the season with high expectations as well, and the chance to finally break open the deep playoff run that’s been millimeters out of reach for the past few seasons.

And in sports news, the Trail Blazers had a recent piece of feel-good news that will have Portland fans everywhere bouncing in their seats with joy and excitement.

But first, our softball team. Last Wednesday, the reigning national champion Linfield softball program began its title defense, and what a defense it was.

Catball pounded helpless National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics foe Concordia-Portland in a back-to-back, 7-3, 10-3 beat down at the newly-christened Del Smith Stadium.

From the look of things, the team is picking up right where it left off last season with a full head of steam. Senior slugger Emilee Lepp had a padded stat line, finishing with five hits, six RBIs and a homer.

The fresh pitching tandem of senior Lauren Harvey and sophomore Karina Paavola had an impressive collective performance as well, striking out 14 combined batters.

Make no mistake, folks: even with many returning starters to anchor the team, promising newcomers plugging holes and a unanimous preseason No. 1 ranking, repeating as national champions is extremely difficult.

I think this team is capable of pulling it off, and hopefully come May, it can take its talents to Salem, Va., and play for the national championship.

On the men’s side of sports, the baseball team looked poised to have a breakthrough season. For the past few years the team has been playoff-bound but has always come agonizingly close to a deep run before running out of gas.

This season’s team received a lofty preseason ranking at No. 4 in the nation.

You will recall that last year the team peaked at No. 3 before eventually finishing at No. 9, and this year’s team looks better on paper than it has in years.

If it can play to its potential and stay healthy, Linfield fans might have double national titles to celebrate for the first time in a very, very long time.

Now, about those Blazers. Earlier this week, former Portland center and current retiree Joel “The Vanilla Gorilla” Pryzbilla has decided to return to Portland for the veteran’s minimum contract, a surprising move that has this writer giddy with anticipation for his first game back.

Pryzbilla has been getting back into NBA shape for months, and after passing a physical Sunday, he’ll be eligible to play as early as March 1.

On Feb. 27, the team will sign him and make a choice on which player currently on roster to waive.

If you ask me, put Greg Oden and his two bum knees on the chopping block and finally rid Rip City of his bloated contract.

It’s time to wash our hands of this “era” and the good vibes surrounding Pryzbilla’s return ought to more than compensate for the severance of this once number one draft pick.

When you really think about it, Pryzbilla’s choice is as inspiring and surprising as any I’ve ever seen. The Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, two of the NBA’s hottest teams this season, were seriously courting him to shore up their depth in the middle.

It just goes to show that the love for a city like Portland can trump the desire to join a title-contender, and that Rip City’s fans truly are the greatest on Earth.

When Pryzbilla steps onto the court for the first time this season in a Blazers jersey, the Rose Garden just might explode from the sheer noise Blazers are certainly going to make.

With that feel-good story in your minds, I bid you adieu. Go watch some sports this week, both at Linfield and on television. Remember: fans are half of the equation!

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Chris Forrer/Sports columnist
Chris Forrer can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Blatant power protecting taints 2011 playoff bracket

Posted by :jprokop On : December 5, 2011
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I tried not to write this column. I really did. I sat on my couch and went in circles over it for an hour and a half before realizing that I’d be upset with myself if I didn’t speak my mind. I hinted at it two weeks ago in an article about the playoff bracket. Head football coach Joseph Smith has openly decried it. Analysts across the World Wide Web have scratched their heads. We’ve all come to the same conclusion:

This year’s D-III football bracket is broken and broken badly. Pundits have called this season’s playoff format a ‘Travel Bracket,’ in which teams from far out of region are grouped together, creating matchups between teams who have never before met on the turf.

The few supporters of the bracket say it facilitates ambassadorship between far-off schools in ways that aren’t possible in the regular season. But those supporters are few.

I can understand some of the benefits of building a ‘Travel Bracket,’ like getting to travel to a new region and facing East Coast programs with storied histories. But don’t be confused, folks: this is not a travel bracket. It’s a power protection bracket, no matter what the NCAA says to the contrary.

Perennial powers Mt. Union and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater have met in the NCAA D-III finals for the past six seasons, and their path to the Stagg Bowl has never been simpler than this season.

Consider their areas of the bracket, in which both received a No. 1 seed. The combined win-loss record of the teams in Union’s bracket is 70-9; Whitewater’s is 70-11. Those brackets feature, excluding the two top seeds, a paltry eight teams in the top 25 and only three in the Top 10.

That’s not a typo: half of the teams in Union’s and Whitewater’s brackets are unranked. They include such teams as 7-3 Benedictine and 6-4 Albion, who only made playoffs by virtue of winning conference titles in two of the nation’s softest regions.

For a perspective check, Linfield’s area of the bracket featured four teams in the Top 10, a combined win-loss record of 69-6 and features four of only eight schools to make the semifinals in D-III football during basically the last decade (Linfield, Wesley, Mary-Hardin Baylor and Trinity).

No team in the bracket has more than two losses and only one of them isn’t ranked in the Top 25. This bracket quadrant is disgustingly and blatantly loaded, to the point that No. 8 California
Lutheran didn’t even get a home playoff game despite finishing the regular season in the Top 10.

How can you call this anything but power protection? The NCAA is looking out for its two top contenders without even trying to conceal it. Beyond that, they’re making half of the playoffs
completely uninteresting by stuffing Union and Whitewater with cupcake teams en route to yet another Stagg Bowl matchup.

Top 10 teams get shafted, half of the bracket sucks and we get a seventh consecutive Union-Whitewater national championship; could this possibly get any worse?

Believe me when I say that this column isn’t a justification for the 49-34 drubbing the ’Cats suffered in Dover, Del.; that game was a winnable one against a talented Wesley team that Linfield just couldn’t close out. This column is frustration that even in Division-III football, where values, ethics and the love of the game trump scholarships, NFL scouts and Heisman trophies. Corruption runs deep.

I hope the NCAA listens to the chorus of ‘boos’ it’s receiving from the D-III community and gets its head on straight next season by creating a more equitable bracket. If Mt. Union and UW-Whitewater are so damn good they can prove it on the field against tougher competition, just like everybody else.

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Chris Forrer/Sports columnist
Chris Forrer can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Sports fans create needed game atmosphere

Posted by :jprokop On : April 30, 2011
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Category: Opinion, Sports

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Hey ’Cats. It’s my favorite time of the year: playoff season. With so many Linfield sports (golf, softball, baseball and tennis) heading to the Division III playoffs and with the NHL and NBA elimination rounds well underway, there’s
never a shortage of good, hard competition to feast on in late spring.

On the subject of playoffs, I was lucky enough to land tickets for Game 4 of Portland’s first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks on April 23. I’ve been to Blazer games before and seen the raucous Rose Garden fans, but this was a beast like nothing I’ve ever seen. Every time Dallas touched the ball, “DE-FENSE” boomed throughout the arena: Every steal, every rebound, every basket was cheered for as if we had just won the NBA finals.

And then, when the game was on the line and Brandon Roy was dropping shots like the hoop was 100 feet wide, the entire stadium flew into a delirium that bordered on complete chaos. Being swept up in that emotion, that overwhelming wave of energy and passion, was a borderline spiritual experience for a long-time sports fan.

But besides going down as a game I’ll remember for the rest of my life, it also got me thinking. Portland is widely considered one of the most loyal sports cities on the planet, and as a result of that, the Rose Garden is among the NBA’s most difficult arenas to play in. But could this mania be translated from a professional sports team to small-school athletics in the middle of rural Oregon?

I believe it can, but not without first eliminating a toxic term from our vocabularies: “spectator sport.” “Spectator sport” is a lie in the highest degree. Sports aren’t meant to observed like a professor proctoring an exam; they’re meant to be participated in. Portland understands this.

When Blazer fans go to games, they don’t sit idly by and let the action unfold without taking a central role in dictating the flow of the game.

We, as supporters of one of the Northwest’s oldest and most storied athletic departments, can no longer afford to be spectators; we must be participators, actively involved in the battles that take place on the field or the pitch or the court.

If our team goes hard, we must go hard with them. If the players struggle, it is up to us to scream and cheer until they find the will to win. If one of our players gets fouled hard, get up and let the other team hear what you think about it. If one of our players smacks a home run over the far end of the fence, get up and dance in the bleachers like there’s no tomorrow.

Fans play a more dynamic role than I believe most people give them credit for and it is up to us to spread the word that Linfield students and fans will be spectators no longer.

Together, we can make Linfield a place that teams fear entering because they know what’s coming: a wall of sound and emotion that hits them in the gut and keeps on swinging. I get chills just thinking about it.
Our time has come, fans, and we must seize it.

Chris Forrer/For the Review
Chris Forrer can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

Assessing ’Cats wrap ups, prospects

Posted by :jprokop On : April 15, 2011
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Hey ’Cats. I know what many of you are expecting out of this week’s column, but I’m going to disappoint you if you’re looking for a continuation of the hub-bub over last week’s article. I’ve decided, in the words of Paul, John, Ringo and George, to “Let it Be” and get back to basics this week.

There have been some exciting new developments this week in the Linfield sports realm and some sports have just concluded their seasons and deserve mentions here as well.

The women’s lacrosse team wrapped up the 2011 season this week with a tough 19-8 loss at home against Pacific. The game looked close early, with Pacific up 2-1, but a 13-goal explosion put the contest out of reach thereafter.

Speaking of lacrosse, I’ve noticed that interest in forming a men’s LAX team has been on the uptick recently, at least, if the guys who keep meeting over on the field across from the quad with lacrosse sticks are any indication. Another sports program here at Linfield is never a bad thing so those of you that are interested should drop by Riley and see about getting some info.

The softball team continued its steamroller-like run through the regular season last week by belting a whopping six homeruns in a game against Puget Sound this week, raising their season total to 80 homeruns. To put this in perspective, not only is this a Linfield and NCAA Division-III record, but the team still has 13 games left to play in the regular season to better its record, let alone make the playoffs. Wowza.

Junior Emilee Lepp hit her 24th homer of the season, tying her for the most in a single season in D-III history. At this point, outside of setting the top mark in other individual and team areas, there’s really little left for this team to do but keep marching toward the playoffs; it’s looking mighty likely that Linfield may witness the coronation of its first national champion since 2007.

Both men’s and women’s golf teams competed well during the Northwest Conference Spring Classic earlier this month. The annual tournament brought together every golf team in the NWC, and the women finished third while the men shaved off 19 strokes on the final day to capture the tournament title. The men’s team is on a heater this season, also winning the Pacific Lutheran Invitational and placing second at the Puget Sound Invitational as well. The NWC championship takes place on April 22-23, and if the NWC invite final score is any indication, we can look for the men’s team to make a run at capturing the conference title.

Last, but certainly not least, Linfield football landed a whopper of a recruit on April 5 in the form of Truckee High School quarterback Ben Bolton. During the past two seasons Bolton led his team to a 24-0 record and back-to-back state championships. Quoted online in an article from the Sierra Sun, Bolton’s local newspaper, head football coach Joseph Smith said he was impressed with Bolton’s arm strength, frame (he’s a tough 6’4” and 205 lbs.) and ability to escape pressure and move out of the pocket, the last of which being a necessity for head coach Joe Smith’s tricky signal-calling spread offense. Smith also said in the article that he sees Bolton competing with the other half-dozen quarterbacks committed to or currently on the roster.

The heir-apparent to the offensive helm looks to be sophomore Mickey Inns, who has seen mop-up action in his first two seasons and was also one of only a few underclassmen to be on the sidelines in uniform during the playoffs. Smith has stated the position is wide open and will certainly be a battle.

On the alumni circuit, I’ve been loosely keeping tabs on former quarterback Aaron Boehme as he begins his professional career on the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns of the German Football League. Boehme got the start in the Unicorns’ first and only preseason game against the Franken Knights and brought home a 33-23 victory. According to the former Wildcat blog, “Dude’s Days in Deutschland,” it was a solid game but both offense and defense had their issues. Specifically, Boehme threw for two touchdowns and ran in another, although his blog post indicates he didn’t complete as many passes as he’d have liked. I’d get some more specific numbers to put here, but tracking down box scores is a little tough when the team’s website is
entirely in German…

That’s all for this week, folks. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a chess club and math team meeting to attend in Ford Hall. You know, the ones that all theatre majors go to. You stay classy, Linfield, and I’ll see you next week.

Chris Forrer/For the Review
Chris Forrer can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.

D-III deserves post-season tourney

Posted by :jprokop On : April 1, 2011
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Category: Opinion, Sports

Tags:, ,

Hey ’Cats! In the thick of spring, things really start getting hectic, don’t they? I can’t speak for the entire campus, but I sure as hell know I’ve had to slam on the gas pedal right after returning from Spring Break. It might only be the beginning days of April, but the sprint to the finish has already begun for many of us.

Speaking of sprints to the finish, how ’bout my Ducks?

This season, they exceeded expectations with a fresh head coach, some new assistants and a lot of young talent, and they got the chance to compete for a national title. Oh, I’m talking about their basketball team, by the way; Oregon does have other sports teams outside of football, you know.

In his first year heading the program, coach Dana Altman led the Ducks to a .500 win-loss percentage, and the team that is set to play Creighton in a winner-take-all game three of the College Basketball Invitational.

OK, so the CBI may not exactly be a national title but it’s still a post-season experience for a team that played at a level most didn’t expect to see this year. It’s not a secret that Oregon’s basketball program isn’t among the nation’s best, but this surprising run in the CBI garnered some national attention for a program that has taken major steps to rebuild following former head coach Ernie Kent’s dismissal more than a year ago. These kinds of tournament opportunities, such as the NIT and CBI, for schools who don’t make the cut into The Big Dance are hugely positive for all of those involved. The programs get to make statement wins over other teams of similar size and ability; young coaches get some tournament experience to bolster their budding futures; young players get a valuable baptism by fire into a tournament setting, and seniors get to be sent off in style and, possibly for Oregon, with a tournament title under their belt.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Division III sports had something like this? There are zero post-season opportunities for Division III schools that don’t make the NCAA tournament in their respective sports. What happens, then, when a team like Linfield’s women’s basketball or soccer goes beyond expectations but still falls short of reaching said postseason? The parity between what Dana Altman and new Wildcat head coach Robin Potera-Haskins did with their respective programs in a single year is staggering.

I’m talking comparable increases in win-loss percentage, scheduling games against high-profile opponents, garnering regional attention and exceeding expectations for what’s been labeled a “rebuilding period.”

But the sad difference between these programs now is that Oregon was still able to apply for participation in the CBI, and, through their mostly dominant run to their upcoming title match, has put a huge exclamation point on a season of solid improvement.

Where are the CBIs and NITs for small-school divisions? It’s not like Linfield couldn’t put butts in seats to make the tournament organization money. Our school has a rich tradition of athletic excellence and alumni would turn out in droves to watch, not to mention our always-eager student fan base. Plus, with the way junior veteran Gretchen Owens and freshman newbie Kaely Maltman were playing this year there’s a large chance our squad could have made a deep run into a Division III CBI-like tournament. And don’t even get me started on freshman Emily Fellows; that girl is a firecracker on the pitch.

Unfortunately, the small schools that aren’t among the upper-crust of their division have to be content with what they can put together in the regular season and settle for celebrating a good year rather than playing through February and March. If an alternative Division III tournament is ever going to come into existence, it’s likely to do so at the expense of benefactors and generous sports aficionados rather than the NCAA, which makes its odds slim-to-none.
But, as ever, I remain optimistic for the future. Until then, I’ll toast to a banner year for our women’s sports teams and keep laying my bets on our softball juggernaut to bring home some gold this season.

Chris Forrer/For the Review
Chris Forrer can be reached at linfieldreviewsports@gmail.com.