Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 19, 1992 TAG: 9202180210
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
THE BEGINNING IS WHERE YOU START, AND THEN . . .
Jeff Woods and Matt Suphin are not famous chefs. But the two Radford University coaches know a lot about starting from scratch.Each has had the task of building from the ground up a new varsity sport for the Highlanders. Woods coaches women's softball, which has been elevated from a club sport. Sutphin is starting the women's golf team.
Of the two, Woods probably has had the easier time putting a squad together. He coached baseball in the Navy and helped with the Highlanders baseball team in 1988, his first year at Radford.
The existing club team gave Woods some players to draw from. And it meant the school had some softball tradition as well as an existing supply of balls and bats and a lighted field - albeit one shared with intramural sports.
Club players who have made the varsity roster include outfielder Terry Brinkley, catcher Heather Browning, infielder/pitcher Patty Gavin, infielder Mitzi Griffith, outfielder Nadine Robinson, and pitcher Jennifer Williams.
Probably Woods' biggest deficiency is knowledge about the other Big South teams.
"One thing about not being associated with softball at the college level [before] is I'm not sure what to expect from the other team," said Woods. "The club team has faced other Division I programs. But I don't know what some of the teams will be like out there or how competitive we will be at that level."
The club team has played competitively against Division I foes in the past, Woods noted. But because Radford pitching lost its top two recruits - one transferred and the other was declared academically ineligible - it will be up to the former club-level pitchers to carry the load.
The Highlanders will find out how good their collection of 16 former club players and walk-ons are Tuesday, when they travel to Campbell for their first-ever game. The first home game will be Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. against Charleston Southern.
The season continues through mid-April. Along the way, the Highlanders will play in the UNC-Wilmington tournament (March 13 and 14), the University of Virginia tournament (Match 27 and 28) and the UNC-Greensboro tournament (April 3 and 4).
The campaign concludes with the Big South tournament on April 17 and 18 at Charleston Southern. Winthrop is the three-time defending conference champion.
Sutphin came into his job because of his reputation of helping people with their golf swing. For his first task last fall, the former baseball assistant had to find five women golfers to field a squad.
"We had our first meeting and we had five show up," said Sutphin. "I asked them if they had their own clubs and they said yes. I told them they had just made the team and they would all go on the first trip, no matter who came out later. I had to have something to keep them interested."
Four of that quintet stayed interested enough to return for the spring season - Diane Bryant, Heather Hartley, Dot Kilcarr and Christine Tutwiler. They have been joined by Kristie Everman and a pair of field hockey players, Caryn Conboy and Compton Hunter.
Of the group, Conboy is the best golfer. Sutphin said she has the ability to break 80.
But competition is not what this squad is worried about this season. After all, after the first day of their first tournament last fall in Greensboro, the Highlanders were 160 strokes out of next-to-last place.
The objectives this year are getting the word out that Radford has a women's golf team and they are having fun.
That three new players came out for the spring season shows more and more people on campus are learning about the team.
As for the fun, the players gave Sutphin a personalized Burger King crown after that first tournament. Each player signed it and they added messages - for example, the good things about traveling with a women's team include (1) you don't have to count off (because the team is so small) and (2) the team always has shampoo.
But no matter what the outcome on the course, the team has met its NCAA minimum requirements with six matches this spring plus two last fall.
The spring season starts Monday with a match against William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth at Ford's Colony in Williamsburg. It winds up with the Big South Conference championships at the Colonial Charter Golf Course in Conway, S.C., on April 6 and 7.
Winthrop has won the previous three conference titles.
\ UPCOMING EVENTS: Men's basketball: Saturday, vs. Davidson, 7:30 p.m.; Monday, at Winthrop, 7:30 p.m., Feb. 29, at UNC-Asheville, 7 p.m.\ Women's basketball: Saturday, vs. Winthrop, 4 p.m.; Feb. 29, at UNC-Asheville, 5:15 p.m.; March 2, at Winthrop, 7:30 p.m.\ Men's gymnastics: Feb. 29, at North Atlantic Championships, 12 noon.\ Women's gymnastics: Feb. 26, vs. Eastern Michigan, 7 p.m.; March 1, at William and Mary, 12:30 p.m.\ Baseball: Sunday, at UNC-Greensboro, 1 p.m.; Feb. 28, at Virginia Commonwealth, 3 p.m.; Feb. 29, vs. Bucknell (2), noon; March 1, vs. Bucknell, 1 p.m.; March 2, vs. Juniata, 3 p.m.; March 3, vs. Holy Cross, 3 p.m.\ Softball: Tuesday, at Campbell, 2 p.m.; Feb. 28, vs. Charleston Southern, 2 p.m. March 1, at Winthrop, 2 p.m.\ Women's golf: Tuesday, at William and Mary; Feb. 27-29, at Campbell Invitational.\ Men's tennis: Feb. 29, at Charleston Southern, 10 a.m.\ Women's tennis: Friday: at Virginia Tech, 1 p.m.; Feb. 28-29, at East Tennessee State tournament.\ Lacrosse: Feb. 29, at North Carolina, 2 p.m. March 3, vs. Holy Cross, 3 p.m.; March 4, vs. Greensboro College, 3 p.m.
M.J. Dougherty is a correspondent for the New River Valley bureau.