Riders take third in Florida 7Higher tuition aims to balance budget 4

Student suggests staying shy of masked campus critters 2

Jazz combo fails to get reviewer into the groove 5

photo provided by annie garretthorsing around: Junior Annie Garrett, who placed seventh individually at Nationals in Newberry, Fla., riding on horse Rebecca.

,&

www.otterbein360.com vol. 92, issue 27 3news

1. 5/4 Between the hours of 6:30 and 7:30 p.m., a backpack and MP3 player were reported stolen from the OtterDen.

2. 5/6 Bon Appétit reported receiving counterfeit money at the Roush Hall Roost Express. Bon Appétit had made a deposit to PNC Bank. Bon Appétit then received notifi cation from PNC Bank that two of the $20 bills in the deposit were found to be counterfeit. There is no way to identify the suspect because there are no surveillance cameras in the Roost Express.

3. 5/7 A GPS system was reported stolen from a student’s car in the 25 W. Home St. parking lot. When the student had parked the car, the window had been rolled up, but when the student returned to the car, the window was rolled down about three inches. The GPS window mount was still in the car, but the GPS and the power cord were both missing. There was no other damage to the vehicle. Currently there are no suspects.

grap

hiC b

y Kri

sten

sapp

1

2

& SECURITY REPORT

According to the WPD and the Otterbein Security Log, the following has been

reported from May 4-7.

OtterDen

inForMation CoMpiLed by Kaity vorbroKer

3

Roush Hall Roost Express

25 W. Home parking lot

New legislation will allow out-of-state educators to obtain Ohio teaching licenses

Bill to increase pool of teachers

BY JOSH ADKINSNews Editor

A new bill signed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) will be adding more competition to the teaching job applicant pool. House Bill 21 will allow the younger, “smart and moti-vated” members of the Teach for America program to receive Ohio resident educator licenses, according to a release. Michele Prater, spokesperson for the Ohio Education Asso-ciation, said plenty of teachers will lose their jobs because of the $3.1 billion budget defi cit, leaving an even larger surplus of teachers in Ohio. “Currently, we can’t even place the number of teachers that are graduating from college,” Prater said. “So we don’t feel there’s a need for the Teach for America program to come into Ohio.” Kasich said in a release, “Teach for America has proven itself to be a very effective program. I am thrilled Ohio will now have the opportunity to bring these energetic and pas-sionate teachers into our class-rooms.”

Teach for America has been successful in improving the qual-ity of education in low-income areas and close the “achievement gap” nationwide, according to its website. Prater said, “Typically, Teach for America is used in high-need areas in the country where they have a teacher shortage. We just don’t feel there’s a place for them in Ohio because the job outlook is pretty slim.” Prater said the Ohio Educa-tion Association would rather have Ohio graduates teach in Ohio schools instead of bring-ing outsiders in from Teach for America to work for two years and then leave the state. Teach for America members are required to take a fi ve-week intensive program before teach-ing and receive one-on-one coaching during their two-year tenure. Junior middle childhood education major Lauren Sweezey said she thinks the fi ve-week training period won’t teach someone what she has been taught at Otterbein. “There’s a lot of stuff that we learn that … other professions

just don’t know. If you’re a sci-ence major … how are you going to know what works to teach a student?” Sweezey said. Otterbein’s Dean of the School of Professional Stud-ies Niki Fayne said in an email interview that graduates’ main concern shouldn’t be nontra-ditional methods of teacher preparation, but rather “the pile” of job applicants. “There are very few openings and lots of job seekers,” Fayne said. Freshman middle childhood education major Jessica Ramey

said, “In a way I think it’s good because it’ll help the inner city schools, which is where teachers don’t want to teach.” Sweezey said she thinks the bill will change the way educa-tion is viewed and won’t give some students the education they deserve. “I’m glad that the govern-ment is fi nally taking education more seriously … but this is a misguided way to do it because I think in the long run it’s going to hurt the students,” she said. She said she would have trou-ble accepting a job in Ohio with

the problems public employees will face with Senate Bill 5 and now House Bill 21. “I think that the way Ohio’s government is going is not look-ing so good for working in the public sector,” Sweezey said. “If you can’t fi ght for what’s right, to a certain degree you’re kind of losing your freedom of speech.” Fayne said she is optimistic, but remains “skeptical about the assumption that Teach for America will cure the ills of American education.” “Complex problems require complex solutions,” she said.

strength in nuMbers: More than 20,000 Teach for America alumni currently work across the country. MCtCaMpus.CoM/daWn MaJors

t&c

&Lindsey Hobbs

Editor-in-ChiefJosh Adkins

News Editor Kaity Vorbroker

Assistant News Editor Leah Driscoll

Opinion Editor Steven Collins

Arts & Entertainment Editor Jordan LaBatte

Sports Editor Mike Cirelli

Copy EditorKristen Sapp

Photography Editor Anna Schiffbauer

Business Manager

assistant editorsLucas Bean

Monica BegazoPaola Casale

Alyssa Cook-Alexander Troy FoorJosh Park

Julia RobideauHolly Takach

Laina ThompsonHannah Ullom

contributing staffPete Clack

Austin Walsh

contact us614-823-1159

tanandcardinal@yahoo.comTan & Cardinal

Otterbein UniversityWesterville, OH 43081

advertising For advertising information,

contact Anna Schiffbauer at 614-823-1159 or by e-mail at

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policies The views expressed on this page do not necessarily refl ect the views of the faculty and administration of Otterbein University. Opinions expressed in signed columns are those of the writer and not of the newspaper staff. Positions in unsigned editorials represent a consensus of the editorial staff. The fi rst copy of the Tan & Cardinal is free to the public. Each additional copy is $0.50, and pay-ment can be made at the offi ce at 33 Collegeview, Westerville, OH 43081. Offenders will be prosecuted. The T&C staff would love to hear from you. Write a letter to the editor and tell us what you’re think-ing. Letters to the editor are letters responding to a writer or an article published in the Tan & Cardinal. Please keep your letter to 300 words or less. It is at the discretion of the Tan & Cardinal staff as to whether or not the letter will be pub-lished. Letters attacking an individual will not be accepted. Letters must include the author’s fi rst and last name, signature, phone number, address and affi liation to Otterbein University.

t&c editorial staff

thursday, may 12, 2011Tan & Cardinal2 opinion

Two grammar enthusiasts butt heads over the necessity of a controversial punctuation mark

Same Difference&

PETE CLACK IS A FRESHMAN UNDECIDED MAJOR AND IS A STAFF WRITER FOR THE t&c.

PETECLACK

t&c

Oxford comma up for debate

Freshman offers advice on what to do when facing a potentially rabid raccoon on campus

MCtCaMpus.CoM/Lisa Carden

bandit: Raccoons are usually born April-June, so look out for a growing population.

Dumpster-divers unnerve student When walking through the Dunlap-King and Commons parking lot after dark, it’s not uncommon for me to see raccoons on the dumpsters or climbing into the stone trash cans placed around campus. Usually when raccoons notice me, they scurry into the sewers or up a tree. I usually en-counter at least one every couple of days, but I’ve seen as many as four throughout one night. I may have a tiny irrational fear of getting rabies. I know that not all raccoons have rabies and that the government vacci-nates them to prevent the spread, but I’m still not a fan. Assuming a raccoon has ra-bies based solely on the fact that it is out during the day is false, according to the Humane Society of America. The animal may

be moving to a new location or gathering food that is unavail-able at night. If you do see a raccoon out dur-ing the day that is unaffected by noise or movement close by, is staggering and wandering irregularly or has discharge from its eyes or mouth, then the animal may have rabies and you should contact the lo-cal animal control or health department. I know that if I see a raccoon in pass-ing at night and I just keep my distance I’ll be fi ne, but my heart can’t help but race a little. If you do see a raccoon, keep your distance. Chances are the raccoon will run off. Don’t mis-take the animal walking in your

direction as running toward you, either. Don’t create a scene or you may scare the animal. Next time you’re walking through campus at night and your path crosses with a pair of

beady little raccoon eyes, just remember to keep calm and carry on your merry way.

t&c

ALYSSA COOK-

ALEXANDER

LEAH DRISCOLL

t&cALYSSA COOK-ALEXANDER IS A SENIOR PUBLIC RELATIONS MAJOR AND IS A CONTRIBUTING WRITER FOR THE t&c.

LEAH DRISCOLL IS A JUNIOR JOURNALISM MAJOR AND IS THE OPINION EDITOR FOR THE t&c.

Let me tell you what the Oxford comma really is. You see them in lists like in books, maga-zines, journals, and textbooks. That was it! In the space be-tween the “s” in journals and the “a” in and. The Ox-ford comma separates the second-to-last and the last items of a list. Even if you’ve gone your entire college career without noticing, the Oxford comma is always lurking, like the unloved creeper who sits against the wall in your INST class. I learned that putting that extra comma wasn’t necessary. Of course, like any logical per-son, I realized I didn’t need the extra work and skipped over that controversial extra comma. Now I’m sure you’re think-ing, “Seriously, Alyssa, how much time are you really gaining by cutting out Oxford commas?” My answer to that is an entire

lifetime of not using Oxford commas saves me enough time to watch “Slow Loris with a Tiny Umbrella” on YouTube. Of course the only reason the Oxford comma is even being discussed is because the comma is not allowed in AP style, which is used in newspapers. For the English traditionalist, like Leah, it’s hard to let it go. But I say get rid of the darn thing. Clearly you could discern that journals and textbooks are two different items on a list. I’m not saying you should side with me because it looks more or less aesthetically pleasing. You should be on my side because you are the common college student. You don’t want to have to ex-pend the energy. Besides, Vampire Weekend’s song “Oxford Comma” validates my point. So say no to the Oxford comma. Say yes to slow lorises.

When it comes to the grace-ful, misunderstood breath of air that is the Oxford comma, it doesn’t matter if the reader can discern between the last two items in a sequence. Punctuation can’t just decide when it feels like directing traffi c and when it wants to go, “Eh, they’ll fi gure it out. I need a cigarette break.” Punctuation gives a voice to writing. It indicates pauses for breath, sudden stops — It paints … tone. It directs rises and falls in infl ection, don’t you think? And its absence can create all sorts of feelings like urgency and breathlessness and nervousness if it stays away long enough for the pressure to really mount and grow and for control to slip and spiral away in order to create a beautiful sort of chaos before suddenly reappearing like a des-perate and much needed gasp —

But the chaos left in the wake of an absent Oxford comma is not beautiful: It’s destructive. It’s like being trapped under-water and feeling yourself choke on your last breath with no more air to support you. Books, magazines, journals and textbooks. But I read it more desperately than that: Books, magazines, journalsandtextbooks. Why are we in such a hurry? Take your time and insert a small little breath mark: I like books, magazines, journals, and text-books. When speaking aloud, we naturally pause between the second-to-last item in a sequence and the word “and.” That should be represented in the punctua-tion when the same sentence is written down. That’s what punc-tuation is for. I’ve come to terms with AP style’s shunning of the Oxford comma. But that doesn’t mean I won’t complain, rant(,) and rebel at every possible moment.

Hey Otterbein, are you bored? Do you want to listen to some great

music? Then tune in to 97.5FM or www.wobn.net every day for the

best in college rock, great sports coverage and some

awesome shows!

Shows not to be missed:In the Know – Thursdays at 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Working for the Weekend – Fridays at 6-7 p.m.Girl Talk – Mondays at 8-9 p.m.

T&C reviewer was not impressed by Friday night’s Old Bag showBY MIKE CIRELLI

Copy Editor

Jazz combo lacks styleaLL JaZZed up: The student jazz band played with technical proficiency but needed a defined sense of flair.

Bright blasts of jazz weren’t enough to light up the dim third fl oor of the Old Bag of Nails Pub Friday night. The Otterbein jazz combo led by Jay Miglia may have played several crowd-pleasers that night, but one key ingredient was miss-ing from the performance: a fully realized sense of style. There was no doubt that the two trumpeters, trombonist, guitarist, bass guitarist, drummer and keyboardist had mastered their instruments from a techni-cal standpoint years ago. They played the melodies of each song fl awlessly and rarely hit a sour note. But when the solos took off, it almost seemed as if the players were reading notes from their music stands rather than playing real improvised jazz — and in this sense, their priority seemed to lie in playing the solos “cor-rectly” rather than with a defi ned sense of fl air or energy. Techni-cal profi ciency is certainly not the No. 1 goal when it comes to a jazz ensemble of this order. The band played about seven funk-tinged jazz gems through-out the hour-and-a-half set, providing ample time in each song for soloing. The most riveting moment of the night wasn’t during the

band’s liveliest piece, but rather its prettiest. “Soothe us!” Miglia shouted from the audience. Tak-ing his cue, guitarist Isaac Mau-pin, a sophomore who would do justice to the nickname Slowhand Jr., instantly pealed out the indel-ible guitar intro to “Mo’ Better Blues” like he was slicing butter. Near the end of the piece, the guitars, horns and keyboard, which was programmed to sound like an organ, all came together, and the effect was like that of listening to a gospel choir — a powerful, moving sound bol-stered by a sense of unity and harmony among different instru-mentalists. Though bass guitarist Kyle Kubovcik hid in the background of the songs most of the time, those who listened carefully could pick up on his jaunty and skillful playing. His occasional solos bobbed and bounced in an effortless sort of way, especially during “Mo’ Better Blues.” The other part of the rhythm section, drummer Mike Johnson, a senior, played not only with sonic verve but also visual verve. He coolly spun his drumstick around his hand throughout the pieces and at one point played a drum with his palms. His solos were loud and exciting and sug-gested a background in rock music. The ensemble’s rendition of “Wayne’s Thang” by the Kenny

photo by MiKe CireLLi

t&c

www.otterbein360.com vol. 92, issue 27 5arts & entertainment

Garrett Quartet was one of the night’s more kinetic moments. The performers burst into dou-ble-time as junior trumpeter Sam Kolis came close to matching the intensity of the sax solo in the original. Moments like these gave the performance a shot of fl avor that wasn’t always present. The combo was certainly not show-stopping. The people in the audience looked bored as they lifelessly sipped their drinks and checked their phones. The large, cavernous room wasn’t exactly brimming with funky energy. Perhaps this band needs to learn how to throw caution to the wind and simply get lost in the music. A cover of Jaco Pastorius’ catchy, reggae-fl avored interpre-tation of “The Chicken” ended the night, and suddenly the band seemed to be less concerned with craft and more concerned with style. Maybe it was because it was the last song of the night, or maybe it was simply because one can’t have a bad time while play-ing a melody as effervescent as the one in “The Chicken.” Either way, this newfound sense of fun was exactly what the jazz combo needs to tap into in the future.

Rating: &&&

The colleges that will be partnering with Otterbein are Central Ohio Technical College, Clark State Community College, Marion Technical College, North Central State College, Southern State Community College and Zane State College.

Presidential approval rating President Obama’s approval rating has offi cially reached 60 percent. This is his highest rating in two years. Many Americans say he now deserves re-election, according to a poll taken by The Associated Press after U.S. forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

thursday, may 12, 2011Tan & Cardinal4 news

OU partners with colleges Otterbein will be signing articulation agreements with six community colleges on Thursday, May 19, at 9:30 p.m. at the Capital Club in down-town Columbus. The agreements guarantee admission to students with a junior standing who graduate from one of the partnering schools with an associate’s degree, and a grade point average of at least a 2.0. College-level credits earned with a minimum grade of a C at these schools will be applied toward Otterbein’s curriculum requirements. t&c

Tuition increased againAid applications rise nationwide

Cost of attendance for 2011-2012 will be raised by 4.1 percentSemester transition won’t halt assistance

BY LINDSEY HOBBS Editor-in-Chief

BY JOSH PARK Staff Writer

nationaL inForMation FroM CoLLege board and graphiC by Kristen sapp

staCKing up: Some students find the yearly increase tolerable because it’s happening throughout the nation.

Freshman life science major Mary Maline is the youngest of nine kids. Her dad recently lost his job, and she worried about paying for tuition at the begin-ning of the school year. Despite not having strong monetary support, Maline is still enrolled at Otterbein thanks to some help from fi nancial aid services and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. According to fi naid.org, between Jan. 1 and March 31 of 2009 and 2010, the U.S. De-partment of Education found that there was a 17.5 percent increase in the number of people submitting a FAFSA. Due to Otterbein’s tuition costs, many students have decided to seek fi nancial help with federal money. “Based on fall 2010 enroll-ment, approximately 88 per-cent of Otterbein’s full-time undergraduate students com-pleted a Free Application for Federal Student Aid,” said Tom Yarnell, director of fi nancial aid. “Of that group, 82 percent

have received federal loans for students.” According to Yarnell, the amount of FAFSA applicants this year has only increased by “a couple hundred” since the 2009-2010 school year. Yarnell said raw numbers of Otterbein’s FAFSA ap-plicants from the past fi ve-10 years aren’t “easily accessible.” Financial aid counselor Kirsten Crotte said that with Otterbein’s upcoming quarters-to-semesters conversion, the transition from distributing money over two terms instead of three may leave students feeling cheated. “We’re still packaging over the same criteria,” Crotte said. “Students may feel like they’ve lost aid, but in fact, it’s differ-ent math.” Counseling for loan options is available. Anyone who has concerns about paying tuition should contact the Financial Aid Offi ce and review their situation with a counselor. “Otterbein really helped me out,” Maline said. “They did everything they could to get me extra money and stay in college.”

&WHAT’S THE BUZZ?News worth texting your friends about

t&c

The end of the year bud-get summit brought news of another tuition jump. At the meeting on Tuesday, Vice President of Business Af-fairs Rebecca Vazquez-Skillings explained that the budget for the year 2012 will include the 4.1 percent raise to bring in $910,000 of new revenue. This revenue, along with money from shifting around existing funds so that they will be better used, should make the operating budget break even for next year, according to Skillings. “We need to ensure that it is our priorities that are driving our budget, not our budget that is driving our priorities,” she said. This increase in tuition has been happening across the en-tire nation, a fact that has made some students tolerate paying more money at Otterbein. “It’s understandable,” said Drew Garlitz, freshman busi-ness administration major.

Not all students share this opinion, though. “I think it’s a little ridiculous … but we are a private, Chris-tian university,” senior econom-ics major Shanna Rute said. The national average increase for four-year, private, nonprofi t schools like Otterbein was 4.5 percent last year, according to the College Board’s Trends in College Pricing report. Last year Otterbein raised tuition by a similar amount, but for the six years before that the increases were 5 percent or higher. The money brought in by higher tuition is supposed to even out the amount that Ot-terbein has to spend. “There have to be some priorities that really rise to the top in terms of where we make investments,” said President Kathy Krendl (who is still a hu-man in the Human vs. Zombies competition as shown by the green armband she wore to the meeting). Otterbein will be spending money on several big projects

next year, including the Center for Student Success, the wom-en’s lacrosse team, the Cardinal After Dark series (a program designed to promote more stu-dent activities on campus) and e-portfolios. E-portfolios are an elec-tronic means of documenting all of a student’s experiences at Otterbein. The budget also compen-sates for the increased support that the Offi ce of Financial Aid asked for to combat tuition increases — an additional $2.6 million in student aid will be allocated to them — and a 1 percent base increase in sal-ary for staff and faculty that is being proposed to the Board of Trustees this weekend. The prospect of fi nancial aid is welcoming news to some students. “If they didn’t give out as much as they did in scholar-ships I might have a problem with (higher tuition),” said Sarah Natoce, freshman psychology major.

Otterbein’s average was calculated by adding the percentages from 2000-2011 together and dividing the total by 11.

6%

5%

1%

4%

2%

3%

Public four-year(2000-2011)

Private four-year(2000-2011)

Aver

age

annu

al p

erce

ntag

e in

crea

se

Otterbein(2000-2011)

3%

5.6%

4.9%

t&c

What pizza should be.

donatos.com to get coupons for pizza,

subs & salads!

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thursday, may 12, 2011Tan & Cardinal6 arts & entertainment

The actors and effects really make “Thor” shine, but horrible framing and too many cuts detracted slightly from the fi ght scenes

Hero movie hurts the eyes

Not even the legendary Thor can always defeat poor cinema-tography. The fi lm adaptation of the Marvel superhero stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, a power-ful warrior that wields a large hammer; Natalie Portman as astrophysicist Jane Foster; Tom Hiddleston as Loki; and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Thor’s father and th e king of Asgard, a fabled realm where warriors possess exceptional power. In the movie, Thor is ban-ished from Asgard after disobey-ing a direct order from his father that causes a war between two powerful realms. Upon being banished from Earth and losing his powers, Thor befriends a scientist who rescues him and shows him how to act like a hu-man. With the hurt that banishing Thor caused and the impending war, Odin is so grief-stricken that he goes into an “Odinsleep,” which is similar to a coma and lets him recover from his pain. This causes Thor’s friends and fellow warriors to go to Earth to bring him back. Upon their visit to Earth, Asgard falls into the wrong hands and Thor must save Asgard from war and Earth from destruction. The story was really good, but what else can you expect from Marvel characters? The produc-ers made a fantastic decision to cast Hemsworth in the role of Thor. Hopkins also made for a very believable Odin. Portman, in her smaller role, wasn’t too shabby either. The one performance that must be applauded is that of Hiddleston, who gave a great performance and kept his charac-ter’s true intentions hidden from the characters and the audience. “Thor” can be commended on its use and quality of special effects and CG animation. The explosions and various other worldly characters were very believable and weren’t too over the top like other superhero and fantasy fi lms in the past. In one especially impressive scene, a

BY STEVEN COLLINSArts & Entertainment Editor

“Thor”Directed by Kenneth Branagh

the Decepticons from the fi rst Transformers or Mark I vs. Mark IV from “Iron Man.” Most of those scenes had good 10-15 minute battles; Thor’s fi nal battle seemed to last seconds, but in actuality was probably only a couple minutes. All in all, it’s a pretty good story that anyone can enjoy as long as they bring Dramamine to help with the motion sickness.

large robot-like warrior with a laser that shoots out of its head makes the journey from Asgard to Earth, where it destroys the small town where Thor found himself after his previous ban-ishment. However, the story cannot offset the horrible framing of the movie. There was plenty of action in the movie, but all the action scenes were fi lmed too tightly and too many cuts were made, both of which made the scenes almost physically painful to watch. It seemed as though the director wanted to put the audience member directly in the middle of the fi ght, but it was done rather poorly. Having been someone who’s studied fi lm and taken video production classes, I might be nitpicking here, but it’s something that is important to me. If they had taken a cue from the fi rst Iron Man and Spider-Man movies and framed the action scenes from more of a distance, it would have made for a more interesting and enjoyable experience. Another thing that I didn’t care for in this movie was the lack of a climactic scene that really stood out in my mind. There were several good mo-ments in the movie and plenty of what I’ll call skirmishes, but there wasn’t a 15-minute skull-bashing scene that resembles Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin, the Autobots vs.

t&c

the Mighty thor: The Marvel film grossed $66 million in America and $89.2 million worldwide in its first weekend.

MCtCaMpus.CoM

& What’s your flavor?Name: Matt TaylorYear: sophomoreMajor: early educationHometown: WadsworthWhat’s your flavor? mint chocolate chipHot or cold? hotFavorite place in Westerville: the ’60s storeFavorite sports team: the Cleveland IndiansFavorite book: “The Cat in the Hat”Favorite athlete: Omar Vizquel

If you’re interested in being next week’s flavor, please contact us at tanandcardinal@yahoo.com. photo and inForMation CoMpiLed by Kristen sapp

&&&

www.otterbein360.com vol. 92, issue 27 7sports

BY KAITY VORBROKERAssistant News Editor

Otterbein equestrian team kept control in Florida and beat 12 competitive teams from around the countryDressage team trots to third place at Nationals

be the horse: Emma Heald preps for competition with her steed, Scotty. photo by CoLLeen grant

The last weekend in April, four members of Otterbein’s varsity dressage equestrian team traveled to Newberry, Fla., to compete at the Dressage Nation-al Championships horse show. As a team, Otterbein took third place out of 12 teams from around the country after a three-way tie for second place. The tie was broken by the team’s average of each individual rider’s percentage. Otterbein’s dressage team fi nished second in the region, allowing them to move on to Nationals. The team included junior Col-leen Grant riding at lower train-ing level, senior Emma Heald riding at upper training level, sophomore Anna Beckman rid-ing at introductory, junior Annie Garrett riding at fi rst level and coach Kari Briggs. “Being able to attend Nation-als this year was a great personal and team achievement,” Garrett said. “We have all had our good rides and bad, but no matter how the shows ended, the team was always there to offer support.” The team was also awarded the team sportsmanship award.

They were nominated for this award by other teams in their region. “The national sportsman-ship award means a lot to me as a coach,” Briggs said. “This recognition highlights the reasons behind intercollegiate sports, and it is an honor to be recognized. Our riders are extremely competitive, but the team stresses the importance of sportsmanship , and this award is a refl ection of their character.” Each team member had an individual placing as well. Grant placed fi rst, Heald placed fourth, Beckman placed 11th and Garret placed seventh. “Otterbein had a tremendous showing at this year’s National Championships. All of the riders rode exceptionally well, and we were rewarded with our highest national placing to date,” Briggs said. Otterbein holds tryouts for the equestrian team in the fall. Everyone who tries out for the team gets on it, but there are only four varsity spots available. The tryouts are used to judge the level of riding a person is at. Grant said that Otterbein typically sends one team to shows during the regular season, but it will sometimes send two

teams depending on the region it is competing in. There are 20 members on the Otterbein dressage team, but only four members are sent on a team to each show. Dressage (druh-sahj) is an equestrian sport that tests a horse’s and rider’s ability to communicate with each other as partners. The riders and their horses are set in a rectangular arena with letters along the outside edge and a set pattern that the rider must memorize before competition. The pattern coincides with the letters along the edge. Each part of the pattern must be performed at the specifi ed letter. Dressage focuses on a rider’s mental capabilities as well as the horse’s. The horse and rider are judged on how accurately they perform the given pattern. A dressage judge will also look at the horse’s bend (the way the horse’s head and body move in the direction it is moving), fl ex-ion (the way the horse holds its head) and impulsion (how much energy the horse has or does not have).

heavy hardWare: From left to right: Coach Kari Briggs, Emma Heald, Anna Beckman, Annie Garrett and Colleen Grant hold up their sportsmanship award after placing in the top five at Nationals.

photo by annie garrett

t&c

thursday, may 12, 2011Tan & Cardinal8 sports

throWin’ Fire: Senior John LaCorte pitches in his final Otterbein game. photo by Kristen sapp

BY JORDAN LABATTESports Editor

Baseball ends season on a fly

Otterbein softball ended its 2011 season with a record of 23-15, a 16-win improvement from 2010. The Lady Cards split their last three matches against Ohio Northern, which stands second in the OAC, Baldwin-Wallace at third and Marietta at fi fth. The Cards were knocked out of OAC tournament contention after a game-two loss of 8-1 to Baldwin-Wallace. “Well, honestly it’s not all about losing one game,” junior outfi elder Casey Clarridge said. “It’s just we weren’t consistent. We split with some teams that we shouldn’t have split with.” Despite being knocked out of the tournament, the Cards have

made a signifi cant change from previous seasons. In the 2010 season, the Cards could only muster several wins in the overall season. Two of those wins were conference matches. This season the Cardinals improved to a 23-15 record and went 8-10 in the conference, leaving them tied for sixth with Capital. “When we did win those games, we brought our batting, our pitching, our hitting — we brought it all,” Clarridge said. “The games we lost, we left our hitting out or we weren’t de-fensively sound. It’s just when we brought those three aspects together, we kicked the crap out of everybody, and it was a totally different team.” The 2011 team had set single-season team records with 194

RBIs, 16 homeruns and triples and a total of 233 runs scored. Efforts from freshman Laura Basford mounted a single-season record with eight triples and 45 runs scored, and sophomore Erin Carpenter held 40 RBIs to create another Otterbein record. “We have just been working our butts off, and we started from scratch,” Clarridge said. “My freshman year we started with the basics, and this year it all came together. This year we had so many girls that were able to contribute that honestly we weren’t surprised we won so much because we knew we were going to be good.” The effort has not been on talent alone. Under the direction of head coach Christine Steines, the Lady Cards have been recon-structing the program.

“Last year we learned all about the NCAA rules, the dynamics of the fi eld and es-sentially relearned softball. Now, (it’s) just having a deeper under-standing of how you can play the game,” Clarridge said. Steines said, “We built a foundation, so this year we added upon that foundation with add-ing in some newcomers … and that kind of just took off from there, and fi nally all the work we have been putting in in the past is fi nally paying off.” The Lady Cards will be re-turning much of the same roster with only seniors Megan Stude-baker and Kirsti King leaving. “We lost our seniors and they had really good leadership, but I think we have some girls that will step up and fi ll those roles,” Clarridge said.

The Cardinals will be aiming for the OAC tournament next season and hope to get there with consistency and the founda-tion that has been built. “It’s been our goal every single year we have been here, so next year I really want it to hap-pen. If it doesn’t happen, yeah, it sucks, but we helped the girls get to the point because they will get there soon,” Clarridge said. “We are really excited about next season because now we see that we can do some harm in this conference, so now it’s seeing and knowing we can get it done,” Steines said. “But our goal is to be consistent and to be the team that ends up on top consistently, so we are going to focus on the fundamentals and be a consistent team.”

Softball got a taste of the team’s potential during the season and strives to be consistent winners in the future

Cards fi nish season with big wins but will have no postseason

Going into the 2011 season, the Otterbein baseball team knew it had to replace a lot of runs. After missing the confer-ence tournament for the sec-ond straight year and just the third time in 10 seasons, it’s no surprise that struggling to push runners across the plate helped squash the team’s postseason hopes. “We lost eight one-run games,” head coach George Powell said. “When you lose games by one run, it’s more of an offensive issue.” The team only managed to score 227 runs on the season compared to 263 in 2010 and 319 in 2009. Three of the team’s one-run losses came against conference foes John Carroll, Baldwin-Wallace and Capital. And yet the team was still in a position to sneak into the OAC tournament in the fi nal weeks. “At the very end there, we started playing baseball to the level I thought we would during the course of the year,” Powell said.

Otterbein (19-20, 9-9 OAC) needed help from Ohio North-ern on the fi nal day of the season to jump over John Carroll in the standings and advance. However, the Blue Streaks took two games from the Polar Bears, ending the Cardinals’ season. Otterbein’s season will not end with a conference championship, but one marquee win will long be remembered. On May 3, Powell collected his 300th win as the Cardinals traveled to Cincinnati and beat the Bearcats 6-4. “The thing that was special to me … we beat a fantastic team, and it’s something that these players will remember for the rest of their lives,” Powell said. “I’ll remember it forever, not only to link (the win) to this team, but we beat a Division I team at a great venue.” Likely not expecting to win, the team had nine hits and com-mitted zero errors. “I think a lot of people went down there with the mentality of let’s play and see what happens,” said senior third baseman Josh Coleman, one of fi ve seniors. “If we would just have had that mentality of let’s play baseball.”

Coleman, who fi nished third on the team with a .321 batting average, started 38 of the team’s 39 games after starting just 30 prior to his senior season. “Those dues of not being an everyday starter to going to be a starter, and playing with guys that went through the same thing … to win with those four guys (John LaCorte, Clayton Clever, Elliott Greenhill and Travis Ste-phens) and win the last two on Fishbaugh Field was rewarding,” Coleman said. Powell credited the baseball community as a reason Otterbein has strong senior classes. “We have guys that stick around,” Powell said. “When I look at the baseball program, that’s what the most gratifying part is … we keep guys.” Coleman said, “It was disap-pointing to fi nish 19-20, but there were some high points. The Cincinnati game was a high point. Finally beating Heidel-berg was a high point, and then winning those last two games at home. The high points were in the last week of the season, so we went out on a high note.”

BY AUSTIN WALSHContributing Writer

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Fundamentals propel Lady Cards to 23 victories

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