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Sports
Maryland Cruises Past Army Women’s Basketball A little more than 10 minutes into Sunday afternoon’s NCAA tournament first-round game, Maryland Coach Brenda Frese had seen enough. The Terrapins opened the game with at best an uneven showing, and the result was a threepoint deficit to Army at Comcast Center, so she didn’t hesitate to call timeout. Fou r t h-seeded Ma r yla nd emerged from the 30-second stoppage completely re-energized, reeling off 20 unanswered points to close the first half during a decisive surge that secured a 90-52 victory in the Terrapins’ first game in more than two weeks. Freshman point guard Lexie Brown led the Terrapins with 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting. Brown also hit three three-pointers and added five assists in the fifth win in six games and ninth in 11 for Maryland. GENE WANG (THE WASHINGTON POST)
64%
The proportion of people opposed to paying college athletes salaries beyond scholarships currently offered, a new Washington PostABC News poll found. (T WP)
Nationals Baseball mattered too much to Stephen Strasburg. He suspects he always knew that, but until this winter he never confessed to himself. He shared the conclusion last week without hesitation and with an unbridled smile, as he sat at his locker inside the Washington Nationals’ spring training clubhouse. The grin surfaced once Strasburg talked about his baby daughter, 5 months old, happy and healthy and growing like a weed. “I would never admit it,” Strasburg said. “But now that I’ve had something that’s more important, and the priority of being a good dad is more important to me, I think looking back, maybe I did put a little too much emphasis on baseball. Maybe it wasn’t my only thing I was worried about. But it was definitely higher up there than I thought it was.” One week from today, on open-
DAVID GOLDMAN (AP)
Lexie Brown’s 21 points gave Maryland a lot to smile about in its win over Army.
Baseball’s not the only important thing in Strasburg’s life
Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg says he’s not as worried about being perfect.
ing day, Strasburg will climb the mound at Citi Field in New York. He will carry with him a carefully revamped approach to the in-season preservation of his right arm, an elbow no longer stifled by a pair of bone chips and, most significantly, an altered perspective that comes from first-time fatherhood. Since Strasburg entered professional baseball under the weight of massive expectation, internal and
external, he grappled with his perfectionist tendencies. “It’s always going to be a battle,” Strasburg said. “It’s going to be a process.” When he thinks about his daughter, though, the burden melts. Now he places his most intense focus on something other than baseball. Strasburg’s perfectionism drove him to morph from an out-of-shape high school kid to the best pitching prospect in a generation. But
in the majors, demanding perfection ceased to drive Strasburg and began to consume him. “I slowly got in this habit of trying to go out there and do it all,” Strasburg said. Nationals teammates and confidants have noticed a difference in Strasburg this spring. He stands taller on the mound, in full command. He asks coaches questions with confidence, secure but not stubborn in his approach. He hungers to be better, not to be perfect. More so, teammates believe, as fatherhood helped him relax. “He’s a more mature guy than he was a couple years back,” General Manager Mike Rizzo said. “I think he’s more comfortable in this environment. He’s just more comfortable with himself.” Strasburg will enter his fifth major league season at the height of his powers. It all seems perfect. Inevitably, it will not remain that way. Strasburg has come to accept that, even to embrace it. When he leaves the park, he can leave baseball behind, knowing his favorite part of being a dad awaits. ADAM KILGORE (THE WASHINGTON POST )
Ovie Struggling at Even Strength Capitals There were multiple times at even strength Thursday night in Washington’s eventual 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings where the puck was a place the Capitals want to see it — on the stick of Alex Ovechkin with enough time for the star winger to get a shot off. But despite a handful of opportunities where Ovechkin was presented with an opportunity to do what he does best and put the puck in the back of the net, the 28-yearold was just off the mark. Such has been the case for Ovechkin lately. While Ovechkin has scored two power play goals in the past four games, the league’s leading
MARK J. TERRILL (AP)
GAIL BURTON (AP)
New Baby Brings a New Outlook
Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin hasn’t scored a five-on-five goal since Feb. 27.
goal scorer hasn’t converted fiveon-five in 11 games, a stretch that dates back to Feb. 27 at the Florida Panthers, the Capitals’ first game back from the Olympic break. “Just the situation when we have
position in the zone, I have to find open space,” Ovechkin said. “It’s hard right now, everybody play oneon-one basically. Especially against my line they put more pressure on me, five-on-five they don’t give me any freedom so I have to find the rebound or find the open space.” Capitals coach Adam Oates attributes part of Ovechkin’s evenstrength dry spell to simple realities of the league at this stage as teams become more diligent in their own zone while fighting for a playoff spot. “You play stingy teams you’re not going to get a lot,” Oates said, “and scoring goes down as the season goes along.” K ATIE CARRER A (THE WASHINGTON POST )
REAL BASEBALL
Wait, These Count? The Los Angeles Dodgers felt right at home in their season-opening series Down Under. Yasiel Puig, above, had three hits and two RBIs to back a scoreless outing by HyunJin Ryu and the Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-5 at Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, a day after winning 3-1 to kick off the season. (AP)