20th-Ranked Softball Travels To Phoenix For Fiesta Bowl Tournament
COMING UP
Fiesta Bowl Tournament, Phoenix, Arizona
The Ducks (2-2) travel to Phoenix, Ariz., to take part in the Fiesta Bowl Tournament hosted by Arizona State University, Fri.-Sun. It will be Oregon’s biggest challenge to date as the Ducks will face three teams currently ranked in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll. Oregon opens the tournament in back-to-back games Friday — perhaps its toughest day —facing No. 14 Fullerton in the opener and No. 15 Texas A&M in its second game of the day. RECAPPING LAST WEEK - FIU Invitational The Ducks opened the tournament vs. No. 7 Georgia and after falling behind (5-1), Oregon rallied back in the fifth inning as sophomore IF Beth Boskovich (Camarillo, Calif.) hit her first career grand slam to give Oregon the lead, 6-5. Georgia quickly tied the game in the sixth with a solo home run and scored five runs in the seventh to put the game away. Pitcher Ani Nyhus came back in the next game, leading the Ducks to a 9-1 victory over Florida International. The junior college transfer had eight strikeouts in the game and freshman Ann Marie Topps hit her first collegiate home run to end the game in six innings. On Saturday, Florida Atlantic limited the Ducks to three hits and scored three runs in the third inning to hand Oregon its second loss of the tournament. Breanne Sabol was 2-for-3 with a double in the game. Once again, Oregon responded with a dominating win, this time defeating Iowa State, 8-0, in six innings in its final game of the tourney. Nyhus picked up her second win of the tournament and freshman Suzie Barnes was 2-for-2 with two runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base in the game. Boskovich and Nyhus were named to the all-tournament team. HEAD COACH KATHY ARENDSEN Now a member of eight different Halls of Fame, second-year head coach Kathy Arendsen brought her success as both a player and a coach straight to Oregon when she led the Ducks to a 10-11 (T3) Pac-10 record in her first season, which is Oregon’s highest finish since the 1990 season. The Zealand, Mich., native returned the Ducks to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2000 and the team went 5-2 falling one game short of a trip to the Women’s College World Series. Her presence at Oregon was felt immediately as Oregon knocked off four ranked opponents in the preseason and was 16-13 vs. top-25 foes despite being picked to finish last in the Pac-10 Conference. Along the way, senior Andrea Vidlund earned third-team all-america honors and three players earned Pac-10 player of the week honors. Arendsen was inducted into the Michigan Hall of Fame and is the only American in the class of 19 who will be inducted into the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame on Nov. 11, 2004. LAST WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS *Breanne Sabol - After hitting in the eight or nine spot during her freshman season, Sabol hit in the two spot in three games last weekend and led off in the final game of the tournament. Sabol rose to the challenge, hitting .375 — the third-highest average of the tournament — with two doubles, three runs scored and two RBI. The Buena Park, Calif., native had five doubles in all of 2003. *Jenn Poore - In her first at bat of the season, Poore hit a solo home run to give Oregon a 1-0 lead over No. 7 Georgia. *Freshman Class - Suzie Barnes, Kayleen Hudson and Ann Marie Topps all contributed at the FIU Invitational. Barnes and Hudson each hit .333 and Barnes added three runs, an RBI and a stolen base. Hudson had two runs, an RBI and a double while Topps hit her first career home run and had a .556 slugging percentage. *Heather Munson - The junior catcher had just one at-bat as a pinch hitter and came through, going 1-for-1 with a run scored vs. Florida International. *Select Company - There are only three American players in the International Softball Hall of Fame (Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen will be the third on Nov. 11, 2004). When the Ducks played Florida Atlantic on Saturday, two of the members (Arendsen and Florida Atlantic head coach Joan Joyce) were coaching against each other. Harvey Sterkel is the other American member. SERIES VS. FULLERTON Oregon is 3-12 all time vs. Fullerton, but in the teams’ last meeting, the Ducks defeated the Titans 2-1 at the NCAA Regionals in 2003. Fullerton was the host school and had nine hits to Oregon’s four, but a throwing errror by Fullerton catcher Jennifer Holt allowed senior Amber Hutchison to score. Senior Andrea Vidlund later drove in Lynsey Haij for the Ducks’ second run. The loss eliminated Fullerton from the regional. SERIES VS. TEXAS A&M Oregon is 0-3 all time vs. Texas A&M last losing 5-2 to the Aggies in 2000. The Ducks scored two runs in the fourth inning to take a 2-1 lead before the Aggies took a 3-2 lead in the fifth with a two RBI single. Oregon was ranked 23rd at the time and Texas A&M was 24th. SERIES VS. OHIO STATE The Buckeyes lead the series vs. Oregon 3-4. The two teams last played in 1998 with Oregon falling 9-0 at a tournament in Sacramento, Calif. Ohio State scored five runs on six hits in the second inning to go ahead early and finished the game with 15 hits while limiting Oregon to two hits. SERIES VS. NORTHRIDGE Northridge leads the series 6-8 and most recently defeated Oregon 6-5 at the Campbell/Cartier Classic in San Diego, Calif. last season. The game went nine innings with the Matadors scoring one run in the top of the ninth after an Oregon error and retired the side in the bottom of the ninth. Beth Boskovich led Oregon’s offense going 2-for-4 with two RBI, two runs scored and a home run. SERIES VS. TEXAS Oregon is 1-3 all-time vs. Texas and last lost a 6-5 decision to the Longhorns in 2001. Oregon had 11 hits in the game, but Texas scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 6-4 lead and the Ducks managed just one run in the top of the seventh inning.
