No. 10 Softball Takes On No. 1 Arizona; Arizona State
COMING UP
Back on the road
After a nice two-week homestand, the University of Oregon softball team will hit the road this week, heading off to the desert to face No. 1 Arizona and Arizona State. The Ducks will get a taste of the night life as they play at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Arizona will be looking for a little revenge as the Ducks handed the Wildcats their first conference loss in Eugene two weeks ago. Ashley Richards hit a walk-off home run in the eighth inning to lift the Ducks to a 1-0 win. Arizona State will be looking to improve its chances of making the postseason as it enters the weekend 1-13 in conference play. RECAPPING LAST WEEK Prior to sweeping Porltand State Wednesday (1-0, 3-0), Oregon went 1-2 vs. UCLA and Washington last weekend, falling 2-0 to UCLA on a pair of solo home runs Friday before defeating Washington 10-2 in five innings Saturday. On Sunday, the Huskies rallied to win 1-0 on a solo home run by Sarah Hyatt in the eighth inning. Pitcher Ani Nyhus got her 20th win of the season Saturday as the Ducks won the series off the Huskies for the second straight season. Oregon has never won the series over Washington in consecutive seasons. In the win, shortstop Breanne Sabol was 2-for-3 with a home run and a career-high four RBI while Nyhus struck out seven. Catcher Jenn Poore was 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored and sophomore Dani Baird was 2-for-3. NYHUS SELECTED TO CANADIAN NATIONAL TEAM Junior Ani Nyhus was one of 15 players selected to the Canadian National Team that will compete at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. HEAD COACH KATHY ARENDSEN ASSISTANT COACHES J. GAUDREAU AND MIKE WHITE
Gaudreau is entering her 11th season as Arendsen’s top assistant. In her first season with the Ducks, Oregon’s improved offense was evident as the Ducks owned the top five spots in hits at the NCAA Regional, had the highest individual batting average, second-highest team hitting percentage, scored more runs than any other team and had the highest individual home run output at the tournament (4 by Andrea Vidlund). The Ducks hit 43 home runs to their opponents 35 and held the advantage in average, hits, runs scored, RBI and slugging percentage over their 2003 opponents. In his first season with the Ducks, White helped guide a young pitching staff to great success as freshman Amy Harris finished the season with the single-season strikeout record (180) and junior Anissa Meashintubby picked up her first two career Pac-10 wins in back-to-back games. And senior Andrea Vidlund, who did not pitch a single game in 2002, came back last season to lead the nation in saves (11). Oregon’s team ERA improved from 3.01 in 2002 to 2.12 ? its lowest ERA since 1994 ? in White’s first season and the Ducks had 347 strikeouts last season compared to 223 in 2002. As a player, White has won five ASA national titles and five ISC World Club Championships while being selected to nine ASA All-American and nine ISC All-World teams. He was the 2002 ASA male player of the year in men’s fastpitch.
AT ARIZONA LAST SEASON
The Ducks fell 4-1 and 8-0 in Tucson last season. Errors were costly for Oregon as the Ducks had seven in two games and were held to just one hit in the 4-1 loss. In the shutout, Erin Goodell, Jenn Poore and Julie Jaime accounted for Oregon’s three hits. Amy Harris and Anissa Meashintubby each took a loss while Arizona pitcher Alicia Hollowell picked up both wins.AT ARIZONA STATE LAST SEASON
Two fifth-inning Oregon errors led to two Sun Devil runs as the Ducks fell 2-0 in Tempe. Pitcher Amy Harris scattered four hits and had three strikeouts while Desiree Serrano struck out six and walked two. Erin Goodell, Beth Boskovich, Alyssa Laux and Lynsey Haij accounted for Oregon’s hits.
A LOOK AT ARIZONA
The Wildcats suffered their second conference loss last weekend, falling 2-1 to Stanford on Sunday. Player of the year finalists Autumn Champion and Caitlin Lowe have combined for at least one hit in 50 of Arizona’s 51 games this season. Pitcher Alicia Hollowell has a school-record 435 strikeouts this season while Lowe has a Pac-10 high 72 runs this season.
A LOOK AT ARIZONA STATE
The Sun Devils are averaging 5.3 runs per game in its 31 wins, but are scorign just 1.4 runs in thier losses. 21 of ASU’s 31 wins have come at home this season. Val Sevilla is third in the conference with a .700 slugging percentage in Pac-10 games and has 17 doubles on the year, which is second in the Pac-10.
