St Edwards University - Tower Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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Incidentally, the Longest Day was the day THREE important games were decided in extra innings. After the Nuts and Cascades finished their 14 innings, the Apostles took 10 to subdue the stubborn Henways, and then the Sadist-Faction, who had virtually been eliminated from playoff contention when upset by Organized Confusion, and the Magic Co. went 24 innings before the Com- pany won a game crucial to them. The win kept alive the Company’s chances of cap- turing 2nd place the next day in the game with the Cascades, but the Cascades scored twice in the last of the 7th to eliminate the Company, 4-3. When the Tuf-Nuts edged the Cascades and the Apostles crunched the Jocks to dispose quickly of the playoffs, the Nuts had their second championship rematch of the year. But just as the Zoo had shattered the Nuts’ fragile composure in the fall with its For the trivia fans, Louie Perez (below) was the 143rd and last out of the historic 24 inning game won by the Magic Co., 1-0, over the Sadist-Faction. The second out in the last of the 24th, Perez grounded to 2nd. Jim Krajenta and Joe Brezik then reached on errors, and Peyton Turk’s single scored Kra- jenta to end a 7-hour afternoon of softball that had begun with 10 and 14 inning games. flea-flicker touchdown pass, so in similar fashion did the Apostles win the World Series in the spring with one inning. After 3 innings of the first game the Tuf-Nuts were clinging to a hard-earned 3-2 lead when the roof fell in. The Apostles pushed across four runs, the crowning blow delivered by Greg Walton’s 2-run homer, and from here on the Nuts played in a daze. The Apostles won game one, 6-3, and while the Tuf-Nuts looked on in detatched interest, they won the second game too, 6-0, just to make it official. Indicative of the Tuf-Nuts frustration was Semptimphelter’s senseless attempt to stretch his leadoff single in the 7th inning of the second game after a short over- throw, and Rodney Tieken’s careless baserunning an out later. Both men were tagged out, and the Tuf-Nuts counted out. Apostles Terry Bauer (left) and Kenney Garcia (right) look concerned about Joe Kelly’s (center) pitching, but after the 3rd inning of the first game it was the Tuf-Nuts who were concerned as Kelly shut them out the rest of the way while Kevin Burns inexplicably struggled. 107

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An easy Nut to crack The Apostles repeat as softball champions when the Tuf-Nuts embarrass them- selves again. 106 Ik was 1970 and five minutes remained in an SEFL playoff game between the legend- ary Hoopshooters and some flashy freshman team. The Shooters led 13-0 with their gaze set on the real business of the coming cham- pionship game, when the freshmen scored twice to stun the defending champs 14-13 and earn the berth in that game. The Zoo handled the starry-eyed youngsters easily, but they had served notice of great things to come from the Tuf-Nuts. Sadly, in 1973 people were still awaiting great things from the Tuf-Nuts after they were obliterated in a championship game for the fifth time since that proud afternoon in 1970. The curious fact about sports is that it’s better to finish third (or even last!) than second, because people do not perceive a third place team as having choked in the clutch. And they’re right. A third place team did its choking in very ordinary circum- stances. The Tuf-Nuts faced no ordinary task in tackling the defending champion Apostles in arematch of the 1972 SEL World Series. Joe Kelly was still the second best pitcher in the league, and through the left side he was sup- ported by Terry Bauer at third, Tom Mc- Closkey at short, Mike Coz in left, Tim Mac- Collum in center, and Nick Nichols at rover. MacCollum (.433) and McCloskey (.384) were the league’s leading hitters, and Mc- Closkey was third in RBI’s. But the Tuf-Nuts were in the best shape they’d ever been. The left side of their in- field with Rodney Tieken at third and Bobby Semptimphelter at short might have had a quickness edge on the Apostles, and the Tuf-Nuts boasted unquestionably the best pitcher in the league in Kevin Burns. It was Burns who had shut out the National League All-Stars almost by himself; seven times the Nationals grounded back to Burns, which was no fluke against the pitcher who probably averaged five assists a game. Walk- ing less than ten men all season, Burns’ out- standing control of his high arcing pitches kept hitters in the hole, inviting all those easy nubbers back to the box or to the left side. Most important of all, however, the Tuf-Nuts seemed to have overcome the in- ternal friction that had destroyed them in four previous championship contests. During their important Longest Day doubleheader with the Cascades the Nuts displayed re- markable composure while outlasting the Cascades in 14 innings in the first game be- fore they shut them out in the second to sweep their only challenger and lock up first place in the American League.

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1973 SEL Standings American Tuf-Nuts Cascades Magic Co. Sadist-Faction Organized Confusion Whoopie Cushions Ringers NK ON UN — —— National Apostles Jocks Henways Latin Lovers Omega Sigma Psi La Familia Playoffs: Tuf-Nuts 4, Cascades 3 Apostles 9, Jocks 3 World Series: Apostles 6, Tuf-Nuts 3 Apostles 6, Tuf-Nuts 0 108