5 o F T B A L L 52 Softball Lady Bisons Face a Challenging Season In the third year of women's intercollegiate softball at Harding, the Lady Bisons were up against more than just their opponents. The 1983 softball season was a year of transition from slo-pitch to fast pitch. In regard to.-the change to fast-pitch, Coach Ted Altman said , "This is a major change for the girl s and it will take time for them to adjust. The 1983 softba ll season is going to be a learning experience for the team. " The Lady Bisons not only had the chal - lenge of changing their game, but they also had to rebui ld the team, with only four returning members from the 1982 team. Those returning were Sue Bruns, Tiny Fraley, Theresa Sechler, and Pam Tiner. Only four girls on the 1983 team had had any previous experience in fast-pitch. Lois Goodin, of Roselle, Illinois played four years of fast-pitch soft ball in high school. Coach Altman commented that, "Lois has a lot of ability and is one of the ou tstanding members on the team." Short -stop, Karen Kemp, a junior transfer student from Brevard Community College in Florida played two years of college ball. From Royal Oak, Michigan, Chappy Phillips, joined the Lady Bisons as pitcher wi th four years of experience in high school play. Also Theresa Sech ler playing second base , played four year of fast-pitch for her high schoo l before coming to Harding. The Lady Bisons started off the season attending the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College Tournament. In the first game, the Lady Bisons were up against Wayne State. Wayne State took the game 9 to 2. The Lady Bisons remained sco reless against Oklahoma Baptist University, losing 7-0. Harding took a turn for the worse against No rtheastern State University, losing 16 to 1. In the fina l game of the tournament, the Lady Bisons still couldn't get their offensive attack going, remaining scoreless against Kearney Slate. Kearney State went home 'r\'ith a 9-0 win over Harding. After losing four in a row, the Lady Bisons playing at home for the first time took their first victory over Southern Arkansas University. Harding took a one run lead in the first inning. The Lady Bisons had a rally in the second inning to sco re six more runs. SAU made a challenge for the lead in the bottom of the second by scoring four runs. In the top of the sixth inning, catcher, Lois Goodin connected to send a runner 'home to put Harding up 8 to 6. SAU also sco red in the bottom of the sixth to pull them within one. The Lady Bisons increased their lead in the top of the seventh to win the game, 9 to 7. In the second game of the doubleheader, SAU won the game 6-1 , when the game was called after five innings. Two weeks later the Lady Bisons again played Southern Arkansas University in a doubleheader. The SAU Riderettes took both games. The first game was an eleven inning heart-breaker for the Lady Bisons. In the top of the sevent h, the sco re was tied 3-3. Karen Kemp drove in Tiny Fraley to put Harding up by one. But SAU also scored one in the seventh to put the game into extra innings. Pitcher, Chappy Phillips kept the Riderettes scoreless in the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings. With two outs in the bottom of the eleventh, the Riderettes sco red the deciding run. The final score was 5-4. In the night-cap Harding gave up eight runs in the first three innings. The Lady Bisons scored three runs in the bottom of the third but failed to score again until the sixth. SAU won the game 8-4. With this loss, the Lady Bison's record was one win and seven losses. In their final doubleheader of the season the Lady Bisons went up against Arkansas State University. The Lady Bisons suffered a loss 13-2. The second game of the doubleheader was ruled as an exhibition game - loh" I. Rrlddiffr when Harding pitcher, Chappy Phillips injured her back in the fifth inning and Coach Neville Adams went in to pitch. The Lady Bisons went on to win the game 6 to 1. But the win couldn ' t be coun ted in their season record because it was ruled an unofficial game. The final record for the Lady Bisons was one win and seven losses. Freshman, Loi s Goodin was voted hitting champ for the 1983 Lady Bisons. Most Valuable Player was pitcher, Chappy Phillips. Lettermen for the season were Sue Brutt's, Tammy Combs, Tiny Fraley, Lois Goodin, Brenda Gossett, Teresa Grimmett, Amy Hall, Dara Hallman, Karen Kemp, Lindy Lunceford, Chappy Phillips, Theresa - 101m 1. Rrldcliffr - /01", 1_ Rrlddiffr
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