SPORTS The Michigan Daily Saturday, April 17, 1982 Blue softballers advance By JEFFREY BERGIDA Overcoming a torrential downpour which delayed play for three hours and the efforts of a tough Iowa squad, the Michigan women's softball team ad- vanced to the third round of the Big Ten Tournament with a 5-1 victory over the Hawkeyes at Mitchell Field. The Wolverines will next play North- western this morning at 10:00. The Wildcats advanced with impressive victories over Indiana and Ohio State. MICHIGAN, the only team in the field of seven to receive a first-round bye overcame an early 1-0 deficit on the strength of clutch hitting by Lisa Panet- ta and Sue Burk plus solid pitching), from Jan Boyd and Laura Reed. Starter Boyd got off to a rough first inning as the first three Iowa hitters she faced all reached base, loading up the bags with no one out. But she settled down after that, allowing only one run to cross the plate in that inning and blanking the Hawkeyes over the next three. Reed got the save, finishing up with three scoreless stanzas. The Wolverines tied up the game in the bottom of the second as shortstop Missy Thomas worked her way on with a two-out walk, stole second, and scored on Panetta's single to center. MENA REYMAN led off the Wolverine third with a walk and tried to score all the way from first on Jody Humphries' double but was pegged at the plate by Iowa leftfielder Tammie Ragatz. Humphries advanced to third on the throw however, and pinch-run- ner Karen Crawfis later crossed the plate on a wild pitch by Julie Kratoska, the Hawkeyes' starter and loser. Burk added insurance runs in the six- th with a two-run double to deep left- center field scoring Reyman and Diane Hatch. The Wolverines finished out the scoring in the sixth as Hatch singled home Karen Pollard. Michigan was leading 4-1 in the bot- tom of the sixth when the rains came, moving the day's games back three hours while the fields dried. The delay caused the Michigan State-Ohio State contest to be postponed one day as the 'winner of this contest will join Michigan, Northwestern and Indiana in the tour- nament's "final four." Today's play will determine a tour- nament champion as Michigan and Northwestern would have to be the favorites, since both are as yet un- beaten in the double-elimination event. The winner of their contest will be only one win away from the finals which are scheduled for 4:00 this afternoon at Mit- chell Field. K00 r - : - --- -.-. - - --:-:::- 1 Show the folks at home what you've been getting,, heir money. Page 12 THE SPORTING VIEWS AlumnipAy well for choice seats.., .What's left for the students? By MIKE BRADLEY ry year, thousands of Michigan studednts pay half price for tickets admittingthem to Wolverine football and basketball games. These tickets allow their holders to sit from the 50-yard line on into the end zone for foot- ball games, and from the foul line to behind the basket for Michigan hoop contests. To the average sports fan, these seats seem fair enough. After all, this is Michigan, this the Big Ten, this is college athletics at its finest. For those who follow National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sports closely, however, student tickets here are grossly inadequate. Why do viewers tune in to televised college basketball games and find rabid North Carolina, Virginia, and Indiana basketball fans seated at courtside exhor- ting their teams? Why did Iowa's football fans enjoy the luxury of cheering their team into the Rose Bowl from the 35-yard line to the goal line, instead of the end zone? These answers can be found when one examines who will receive the good seats for major Michigan sporting events every season. Michigan alumni, substantial in number, receive the bulk of the good tickets for these impor- tant intercollegiate contests. Why? The answer is simple, money. The students here pay half price for tickets, the alumni, full. The students don't make hefty contributions to the various Michigan athletic funds, the alumni do. What sense would it make for Athletic Director Don Canham to instruct his ticket office to adopt a policy more favorable to the students? Why should he take the chance of losing part of the valuable income derived from these Michigan graduates? If the athletic department was to fall out of favor with the alumni, Michigan's athletic program might fall into the red. It would only seem logical that if Michigan must position its students in second class seats for athletic events in order to remain self-sufficient, any Big Ten school that will seat its students between the baselines for basket- ball or between the goal lines for football has un upset alumni contingent and a budget deficit in its athletic department. Not so. With the exception of Northwestern, a private institution with a less than prolific athletic program, and Michigan State, all the other Big Ten athletic departments claim to operate in the black. A source within the Spartan ticket office claimed that while MSU's program was not totally self- supportive, it was moving closer towads that situation yearly. This fact means that while seven of the Big Ten schools' athletic departments remain out of debt, they still furnish their students with excellent tickets for sporting even ts. How is this done? For the most part, student ticket prices throughout the Big Ten are half price with a few exceptions, mostly in the area of basket- ball. Students paid $48.75 or $3.75 per game for 13 games at Minnesota this past season, while Illinois student supporters paid eithev $4.00 or $3.00 per ticket for the 1981-82 campaign. For the most part, however, the students paid the extra money for seats which were stationed between the baskets. Minnesota put some of its students behind the basket, but only in the lower levels of Williams Arena. Football tickets across the Big Ten are pretty consistently priced, with the exception of Purdue, whose students pay an outrageous fee of $66.00 out of their tuition to see the Boilermakers play. The only radical exception in the league where ticket prices are concerned is Northwestern. Students in Evanston enjoy the luxury of paying nothing to watch the Wildcats play foot- ball and basketball. Their athletic department, of course, depends immen- sely on university grants to stay afloat. What then, does this say about Michigan's ticket policy towards students? The answer is obvious. Don Canham realizes that in order to make the big bucks to keep the Michigan sports programs in comfortable financial situations, someone has to sacrifice preferential treatment. Here, it is the students. We receive tickets, if we want them, to all sporting events here. There are no lotteries for basketball tickets or lines for admission. This, however, is reflected partly by the lack of student support for the basketball team that is not evident at schools like Indiana, Virginia, or North Carolina. If there were to be a sudden surge of school spirit in the winter here in Ann Arbor, students would have to miss some games in order to satisfy the enormous demand that would accompany such a situation. That is not the issue. For now, the issue is-money, something very dear to Don Canham's heart. Other Big Ten schools look out for their stu4ents while remaining financially sound; why can't Michigan? NCAA athletics should be students par- ticipating for the enjoyment of their peers first, the general public second. This may be idealistic in today's world of big.time athletics, but most Big Ten schools remember their students when it comes to athletics, why can't that happen here? WE'LL PAY YOU TO GET INTO SHAPE THIS SUMMER. 1 two years of college left, you can spend six weeks at our Army ROTC Basic Camp this summer and earn a approximately $600. if you qualify, you can enter the ROTC 2- Year Program this fall and receive up to $1,00a year. But the big payoff happens on graduation day. ~A That's when you receive anofcrs commission. So get your body in shape (not to mention your b ank account). V On sale now: $14.75. AUDITION "Nastasia, Lady of Mystery" An Original Musical by Tom Simonds April 19 & 20 7 p.m. Michigan Union Daily Photo by AVI PELOSSOF Michigan second baseman Sandy Taylor prepares for her turn at bat during yesterday's 5-1 Wolverine vic- tory over Iowa in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. The tour- nament concludes today. Michigan will take on Northwestern in its first game. ~;. \ . .. - uw chigan Union. Open 7days a week. In the Mic _ M 8 W Q~ \ \ \ F .Il.dr aC 9 4-1 t NO MORE WAITING The yearbooks are here " f 0 Pick up your 1982 Michigan Ensian beginning Friday, April 9 at: Student Publications Building 420 Mavnard (Nert to SA)