Doubleheader Will Christen UW Softball Field Sunday -- Northwest Colleges

The first games to be played on the University of Washington's new $2.2 million softball field will be Sunday when Willamette visits for a 1 p.m. doubleheader.

The 12th-ranked Huskies (6-6, 27-15) return from a 42-game road trip to play the remainder of their regular-season schedule at home.

The new softball field is about 50 yards northeast of Husky Stadium on what used to be part of a grass football practice field. Bleachers have been installed for this season, but permanent grandstands will be built later in the summer.

UCLA visits for a doubleheader next Saturday, April 16, for the first league games on the field.

UW crew

Washington's varsity crews return to the scene of their major 1993 triumphs this weekend when they compete in the San Diego Crew Classic.

The Crew Classic is considered the nation's premier early season race, and the Husky varsity women have won the race's Whittier Cup the past two years. The men won the Copley Cup last year for the first time since 1990.

Despite assignment to a heat they are favored to win, UW women's coach Jan Harville is disappointed that the UW opponents tomorrow will be West Coast crews the Huskies will face later in the year - Cal, Stanford, Washington State and UCLA.

Entered in the other heat are Penn, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Oregon State and Cal-Santa Barbara.

Harville said the "flavor of regatta" would have been improved if it hadn't been "East against East and West against West" in the preliminaries.

The UW varsity men have one Eastern opponent, Penn, in their heat, which also includes Stanford, Oregon State and Long Beach State. Harvard, Wisconsin and Cal are the top crews in the other heat.

The Husky men's varsity boat has only three returning rowers from the shell that finished fifth at nationals last June. The women's boat has five rowers back from last year's crew that finished second at nationals. Both varsity coxswains graduated.

Husky women's crews tuned up for San Diego by beating crews from the University of Victoria last weekend on Montlake Cut in practice races. The Husky varsity trailed by nearly one length at 1,000 meters before winning the 2,000-meter race by about three-quarters of a length.

The Husky women's junior varsity and novice crews won last year in San Diego. The men's freshman entry won but the JV boat finished second to Yale.

Husky crews that don't compete in San Diego will row against Northwest schools tomorrow on the Montlake Cut.

SPU soccer

Seattle Pacific University has added three players to help defend its NCAA Division II soccer title next fall.

Falcon Coach Cliff McCrath announced that Geoff Martin, a Bothell High School forward, and Eric Taulbee, former Cascade High (Everett) goalie, signed national letters of intent. Also, Mike Birnbaum, a midfielder, transferred from the University of Connecticut to SPU.

Martin, a senior at Bothell, led the Cougars to a fourth-place finish in the state AAA playoffs last year. This spring he is leading the KingCo Conference in scoring with 12 goals. The Cougars are undefeated at 7-0-1. He was also a member of the regional under-18 select team last summer.

Taulbee, who will be a junior, led Skagit Valley to the northwest community-college title last fall. He was a two-time all-WesCo selection at Cascade. He posted 35 shutouts over three seasons as the Bruins made the state Class AAA semifinals each of those years.

Birnbaum also was a regional team selection while attending high school in Missoula, Mont., two years ago. He played two seasons with the Huskies.

The Falcons now have five new recruits. Last month Bret Globke of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Ken Thompson of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, signed letters of intent.

UW track

The Washington men's and women's track and field teams are both nationally ranked among the top five in the United States Track Coaches Association dual-meet poll released yesterday.

The Huskies are undefeated and listed second in the women's poll, trailing North Carolina and ahead of Pac-10 rival Arizona, which is third.

The Washington women feature 400-meter hurdler Patrice Woods, whose time of 59.12 seconds recorded Saturday against Oregon is the fastest by an American woman this year.

Washington ranks fifth in the men's ratings. Tennessee is atop the men's poll, followed by Fresno State, Texas and Arizona.

Washington hosts a five-team meet, including Seattle Pacific and Washington State, tomorrow starting at noon.

Notes

-- The Seattle University women's tennis team, ranked 16th in the NAIA national poll, are 12-1 in match play. The Chieftains' top three singles players have a combined 37-2 record. No. 1 player Marci Perletti is 12-1, No. 2 Kristy Box, a Sammamish graduate, is 13-0 and No. 3 Jennifer Weller is 12-1.

-- Arlys Johnson, a Seattle resident, won three silver medals at the NACACI Weightlifting Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo., this week. Johnson competed in the 154-pound weight class. The tournament will conclude Sunday.

-- Columbia University runner Janet Fu, a Redmond graduate, won the 5,000-meter race (18:45.38) and 3,000 (10:45) last week at the Army Invitational.

UW men's crew roster

Men - Cox, Dom Gagliardi, Jr., Concord, Calif.; stroke, Ned Flint, Jr., Alexandria, Va.; 7, Phil Henry, Sr., Seattle-Lakeside; 6, Steve Kunnen, Jr., Shoreline-Shorewood; 5, Scott Behrbaum, Sr., Enumclaw; 4, Girts Beitlers, Jr., Portland-Wilson; 3, Roberto Blanda, Soph., Italy; 2, Daniel James, Sr., Durango, Colo.; bow, Michael Callahan, Soph., Arlington, Va.

Junior varsity - Cox, Kara Schocken, Jr., Mercer Island; stroke, Marc Schneider, Jr., Everett-Cascade; 7, Julian Underwood, Soph., Westport, Mass.; 6, David Smith, Sr., Leavenworth; 5, Ryan Allison, Jr., Mercer Island; 4, Erik Sjaastad, Jr., Seattle-Roosevelt; 3, David Greif, Soph., Slovenia; 2, Sasha Panasik, Sr., San Francisco; bow, David White, Sr., San Francisco.

Freshmen - Cox, Sarah McCarthy, Fairoaks, Calif.; stroke, George Engebu, Norway; 7, Matthew Anderson, Worester, Mass.; 6, Silas Harrington, Snoqualmie-Mount Si; 5, Patrick Lee, Yakima-Eisenhower; 4, James Rawson, Bellevue-Lakeside; 3, Carl Bolstad, Seattle-Garfield; 2, Andrew Tyler, Camas; bow, Peter Kramberger, Slovenia.

UW women's crew roster

Varsity - Cox, Lucia Thoenig, Sr., Seattle-Garfield; stroke, Hana Dariusova, Jr., Czechoslovakia; 7, Becca Chadwick, Jr., Spokane-Lewis & Clark; 6, Ardath White, So., Snohomish; 5, Ellen Park, Jr., Bellevue-Newport; 4, Maura Geary, Sr., Lowell, Mass; 3, Babette Siebold, Sr., Davis, Calif.; 2, Brooke Stewart, Sr., Juneau, Alaska; bow, Amy Piper, Jr., Bellingham-Mt. Baker.

Junior varsity - Cox, Joslyn Howard, Sr., Seattle-Garfield; stroke, Liz Tuttle, Jr., Bonney Lake-Foss; 7, Jody Broadie, Soph., Kirkland-Lake Washington; 6, Katie Maloney, Soph., Seattle-Rainier Beach; 5, Trista Patterson, Jr., Mendota Heights, Minn.; 4, Megan Rider, Sr., UC-San Diego; 3, Kathy Colin, Jr., Kailua, Hawaii; 2, Amanda Wilcox, Jr., Seattle-Lakeside; bow, Merideth Arnold, Sr., Davenport.

Novice - Cox, Mary Courtney Wine, Fr., Arlington, Va.; stroke, Robin Clewley, Fr., Madison, Wis.; 7, Tristine Glick, Fr., Oakland; 6, Jennie Bingham, Fr., Bainbridge Island; 5, Courtney Castle, Fr., New London, Conn.; 4, Erika Price, Fr., Madison, Wis.; 3, Carrie Thias, Jr., Fresno, Calif.; 2, Lisa Couret, Fr., Fresno, Calif.; bow, Kate Maurer, Fr., Gig Harbor.

Seattle Times staff reporters Craig Smith and Percy Allen contributed to this report. ----------------------------------------------------------------- UW, by the numbers

BASEBALL Batting (min. 33 at-bats).

OF Matt Whimmer .373.

2B Ryan Rutz .364.

OF Sean Linville .349.

SS Brett Newell .346.

C Shawn Mahle .333.

Home runs - Jon Vander Griend and Christian Shewey 4, Newell and Rutz 2. RBI - Shewey 32, Vander Griend 30, Rutz 25, Linville 18. Runs - Rutz 34, Joe Trippy 33, Vander Griend and Wimmer 22. Stolen bases - Wimmer 17, Trippy 16, Rutz 15, Linville and Greg Mecca 6. Pitching wins - Derek Carpenter 5-1, Sean Spencer 4-1, Chad Hartvigson and Jamie Day 4-2. ERA - Brett Merrick 1.37, Matt Gies 2.31, Hartvigson 2.92, Day 3.09.

FASTPITCH SOFTBALL Batting (min. 78 at-bats)

OF Angie Marzetta .410.

1B Michelle Church .354.

OF Shelley Brown .350.

2B Sara Pickering .333.

C Jennifer Cline .330.

Home runs - Cline 6, Church 4, Mindy Williams 3, Pickering 2. RBI - Church 40, Cline 26, Pickering 21, Williams and Karen Shaull 12. Runs - Cline 30, Brown 29, Church 20, Marzetta 16. Pitching wins - Stephanie Burns 15-8, Nancy Wagner 12-7. ERA - Burns 1.35, Wagner 1.94.

All statitics through April 7