After recently shelling out $4 million to revive the Nashville Kats, Bud Adams is pushing hard to see both of his teams competing in 2003. The Titans owner obviously believes arena football holds a strong fan base and earning power within Nashville. The major problem is finding a place to play home games. The Kats, who used to call the GEC home, appear headed for Municipal Auditorium—a facility more for offshoot wrestling leagues and swap meets than football. ♦ Firing a course record 64 in her final round, Annika Sorenstam finished 17-under-par en route to claiming the Aerus Electrolux Championship. Sorenstam’s bogey-free round, which saw her birdie four of the last five holes, placed significant pressure on Pat Hurst, who bogeyed the 18th and finished second, one stroke behind. Sorenstam paced the leader board after the first round with a 65, but battled her swing and dreary weather in rounds two and three. In seven starts this year, Sorenstam has three wins (34 in her career) and earnings of $686,242—numbers that seem more and more Tigress-like with each passing tournament. ♦ To say former Nashville Sound Chris Benson had a shaky return to the big leagues would be an understatement. In his first major league outing in 19 months, Benson threw 75 pitches and surrendered nine runs in 3 2/3 innings. The World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks’ Kurt Shilling (who breezed to his league leading eighth win of the season), a season high four Pirate errors and a driving rain all spelled failure for Benson’s outing. “It wasn’t the storybook day we hoped it would be,” Benson said. ♦ Austin Peay’s 29-10 drumming of Eastern Kentucky was neither a spring football tune-up nor a basketball score with 10 minutes left in the first half. In fact, it was a baseball game that saw Frank Kunich compile seven RBIs and pace a 27-hit attack by the Governors. APSU scored 12 runs in the seventh inning alone to improve their record to 26-24 and 10-8 in OVC play. ♦ The Lady Commodores tennis team hopes to serve Tennessee with a loss in Thursday’s NCAA Sweet 16 matches held at Stanford University. Seniors Sarah Riske and Jenny Miller lead the Commodores, who went 27-4 this season, a school record. In their last contest against the Vols, Vandy narrowly escaped with a 4-3 win. Vandy has now won their NCAA regional title for four consecutive years.
—Brian Blackwell
