Columnist Dean Juipe: Rebels hope new facility cures ills

Dean Juipe

Friday, April 7, 2000 | 10:09 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084.

There was a time when the UNLV softball team was good for 40 or more wins per season and an occasional berth in the College World Series. Actually, it wasn't all that long ago.

In the seven-year span of 1990-96, the Rebels won 285 games and qualified for the World Series three times. But in the ensuing years the program has suffered, going 26-28, 21-30, 18-31 and, after a split Thursday with New Mexico State, this year's team is 15-23.

As dismal as this trend is, head coach Shan McDonald is hoping for at least a partial reversal when her team moves into a new stadium early next year. The $2.1 million facility, which will be located on the northeast corner of Swenson and Harmon, will aid recruiting and replace the quaint -- if somewhat despised -- field that's tucked into campus not too far from the student union.

"After 14 years it puts a different dream into play," McDonald said, reflecting on the new stadium and her tenure at UNLV. "Prior to this, limitations had been in place."

But for all the complaining about the Rebels' field and how they need something with improved seating, a concession stand and bathrooms, there's a second issue that may be having as much impact on the team's sagging fortunes as anything. Simply put: Whereas this wasn't true just a couple of years ago, because of Title IX demands now every university has a women's softball program.

The Southeast Conference, for example, has gone from no teams to a league full of teams just in the last four years.

As a result, McDonald is seeing competition for players who, in earlier years, had far fewer options.

"There are so many new programs that the sport has completely changed," she said. "There's a world of difference from what it once was."

Obviously, that change has had a negative impact on UNLV, which is struggling this season in spite of fielding a relatively experienced team. Among the areas where the Rebels are lacking -- particularly in comparison to their heyday -- is in pitching, where sophomores Geney Orris and Nicole Truax are improving but not overwhelming. The days of riding a dominant pitcher, as the Rebels did with Lori Harrigan, Kim Smith and Amie Stewart in the early and mid-1990s, are a pleasant but distant memory.

"This team's heart is in the right place and I wouldn't trade them for anything," McDonald said, "but we're not where we hoped to be."

If there is an asterisk attached to the Rebels' record it's that 13 of their losses have come to teams ranked No. 8 or better in the country. Yet seeing UNLV in action against a New Mexico State team that came into the day 17-21 only underscored the notion that things aren't what they used to be.

The Rebels' failure to have a strikeout pitcher is only compounded by too many misplays. The end result is that they have been outscored by 61 runs and have endured such things as a 12-game losing streak.

Groundbreaking for the new stadium could come as early as May and McDonald trusts that simple act will spur any number of quality recruits to choose UNLV. If she's right, her program may be in for an upswing.

If not, at least her future teams will have a locker room for some stylish commiserating.