Sports digest 4/4/02

AREA

SOUTHEAST SOFTBALL TEAM HAMMERED AT MU

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Southeast Missouri State University's softball team dropped a lopsided doubleheader at the University of Missouri Wednesday, falling 10-2 and 12-0. Both games were stopped in the fifth inning by the eight-run rule.

The Otahkians fell to 5-16 while the Tigers improved to 23-23.

Brooke Nett had three of Southeast's nine hits on the day and she drove in both runs. Shelley Conroy added two hits.

MU pounded out 24 hits. Kristen King took the loss in the opener and Rachel Van Fleet was the second-game loser.

Erin Kalka notched both MU victories, allowing five hits and no runs while striking out 12 in eight innings.

Southeast will host Austin Peay Saturday and Sunday in Ohio Valley Conference action.

Creighton tennis sweeps Southeast

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Creighton rolled to a 7-0 victory over Southeast's women's tennis team in the Missouri-Kansas City Tournament Wednesday.

Southeast fell to 2-8 on the season while Creighton improved to 7-6.

ELSEWHERE

COLLEGES

Lorenzo Romar will return to Washington as the school's basketball coach, replacing Bob Bender, who was asked to resign last month.

Romar, a starting guard for Washington from 1978-80, interviewed Sunday with Washington athletic director Barbara Hedges.

Hedges, 39, struck out with three other candidates: Missouri's Quin Snyder pulled out of consideration Sunday; Gonzaga's Mark Few did the same thing Monday; and Minnesota's Dan Monson, a former Gonzaga coach, said Tuesday that he was staying put.

Oklahoma assistant Ray Lopes replaced Jerry Tarkanian as Fresno State's basketball coach, agreeing to a five-year contract.

Lopes, who spent the past eight years at Oklahoma, will direct the team when it moves into the new 16,500-seat Save Mart Center in late 2003 -- an arena that became reality in large part because of Tarkanian's presence.

Lopes will be paid $112,000 per year from the school and a separate salary from a private athletic corporation, said athletic director Scott Johnson.

Football

Fresno State quarterback David Carr will be the No. 1 pick of expansion Houston Texans in the NFL draft this month.

The Texans said they would take Carr with the first pick in the draft as they prepare for their opening season later this year.

Casserly said contract talks would resume the week of the draft, scheduled for April 20-21.

-- From staff, wire reports