Softball Year in Review: 44 Victories and a Trip to the Postseason
Season Recap
FOR STARTERS
The 2007 season may have ended a few weeks earlier than hoped, but Oregon put together one of its most successful years since the Ducks advanced to the College World Series in 1989.
Oregon picked up 44 victories this year, the most in head coach Kathy Arendsen’s five-year tenure in Eugene, and the most since 1989 for the softball program.
The Ducks start to their season was not an easy one, playing in five consecutive tournaments away from home. In that span, Oregon put together a 24-3 start, the best in program history and also pieced together an 18-game winning streak, despite traveling to Arizona, San Diego, Hawaii, and separate trips to Las Vegas.
By the third week of the season, Oregon was in the national top 25 poll, remaining there for the duration of the year.
BACK AT HOME
The Ducks finally returned to Howe Field with their 24-3 record in tow, and looking forward to five straight weeks in Eugene.
Oregon continued where it left off, winning 10 games in its first two weekends at home.
PAC-10
Up next for Oregon was the Pacific-10 Conference schedule. The Ducks started the conference season 3-2, but took a tough knock when junior pitcher Alicia Cook was sidelined with an illness for the majority of those seven weeks.
Cook made just 10 appearances and six starts against Pac-10 competition, and still was not 100 percent by the end of the year. The majority of the load against a conference that had seven of its eight teams in the national rankings was shouldered by sophomore Melissa Rice. She made 19 appearances and 15 starts in 21 Pac-10 games. Rice had nine consecutive conference starts at one point, against such competition as Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA, Washington and Oregon State.
When close to full strength the last weekend of the regular season, Oregon finished 2-1, defeating Stanford in extra innings before splitting two games with Cal.
The Pac-10 season was highlighted by the Ducks’ 6-5 victory over rival Oregon State on April 25 in Corvallis. With the win, Oregon clinched the season series for the first time since 2004, and more importantly brought home the NW Dodge Civil War Cup to Eugene for the first time since 2004 as well. Oregon also the won season series with Stanford for the second consecutive season, and Cal for the first time since 2000.
POSTSEASON
Oregon was seeded in the Columbia, S.C. regional with the No. 15 overall seed N.C. State, as well as Penn State and host South Carolina. The Gamecocks were the No. 4 seed in the bracket, but at Beckham Field in front of their home crowd, were primed for the upset. On day one, Oregon - the No. 2 seed - got past Penn State, 4-0, thanks two home runs from Jenn Salling and a tremendous effort from Alicia Cook in the circle. That night, South Carolina upended NC State, setting up a Ducks-Gamecocks match in the winner’s bracket on Saturday.
For the first time in school history, Oregon made its way to the championship game with two consecutive victories, after defeating South Carolina, 8-4, by way of Ann Marie Topps’ 19th home run of the year.
The Gamecocks made their way through the loser’s bracket, by defeating N.C. State in Saturday’s finale, but needing two victories on Sunday to take the regional spot in the postseason ? one win would move Oregon on. The Gamecocks’ Melissa Hendon shut out Oregon, 2-0, and forced a game two. Then trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth in game No. 2, South Carolina tied the game and scored the winning run in the seventh to pull off the upset and walk off Beckham Field as the regional victor.
All-Region
For the first time since 1997, Oregon had a player receive All-Region first team honors. That player was freshman shortstop Jenn Salling. And it was just the tip of the iceberg for the Port Coquitlam, B.C. native, who was a top 10 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award.
A record four players from Oregon earned all-region honors, including sophomore outfielder Sari-Jane Jenkins, junior third baseman Joanna Gail and senior designated player Ann Marie Topps, all of which were named to the All-Region second team.
Pac-10 Honors
A record seven members of the Oregon softball team were named to the Pacific-10 all-conference team, headlined by Jenn Salling. She was the first Oregon player in the history of the program to win the Newcomer of the Year award and is the first player since Ani Nyhus (2004) to receive first team accolades.
She ended her season leading Oregon with a .481 batting average, .873 slugging percentage, .590 on-base percentage, 73 RBIs, 138 total bases and 46 walks. All of those marks set new single-season records for the Ducks.
Her RBI total smashed the old Oregon single-season record of 47 and also led the Pac-10. Salling also ranks second in the Pac-10 in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, total bases and walks.
Arizona State outfielder Kaitlin Cochran was named the Pac-10 Conference Softball Player of the Year. Arizona State’s Katie Burkhart was named Pitcher of the Year and Arizona centerfielder Caitlin Lowe received Defensive Player of the Year honors. Coach of the Year was awarded to Arizona’s Mike Candrea.
Oregon seniors Suzie Barnes and Ann Marie Topps were named to the Pac-10 second team for the first time in their careers, as was sophomore centerfielder Sari-Jane Jenkins.
Barnes, the Ducks’ starting second baseman, ended her career starting 212 consecutive games for Oregon. She was the only senior to play all 232 games during her career. She set new single-season records for Oregon with 64 runs scored and 41 stolen bases, both marks also ranked second in the Pac-10 this year. In fact her stolen base mark ties for 10th all-time in conference history.
Topps, in her first season as a regular starter at designated player, broke Oregon’s single-season record with 19 home runs, a mark that currently leads the Pac-10. Her 61 RBIs are third in the conference and her .636 slugging percentage is seventh.
Jenkins ended her season on a 10-game hitting streak, batting .396 on the year and leading the team with 82 hits - the second best mark in single-season Oregon history. The Salem, Ore., native stole 38 bases on the year and added 16 doubles. She also led the team with 24 multiple-hit games.
Junior third baseman Joanna Gail, senior first baseman Kristi Leiter and freshman rightfielder Neena Bryant received honorable mention accolades for the first time in their careers.
Records Were Meant to be Broken
In 2007, Oregon broke a good share of team and individual records.
With assistant coach Mick Hokanson bringing an aggressive base running philosophy to the field, Oregon stole a Pac-10 leading 126 bases. The mark ranks sixth in the history of the conference, and obliterated the Ducks’ previous program record of 85, set in 1991.
Oregon’s leadoff duo of Suzie Barnes and Sari-Jane Jenkins did the majority of the damage, stealing 79 bases between them. Barnes’ career mark of 71 is second all-time. She also became just the second player in the history of the program to steal four bases in a single game, a feat she accomplished against Idaho State on March 24.
Defensively the team also set some new records, committing just 52 errors, a new single-season low for the Ducks. The team ended the year with a .973 fielding percentage, a new program best and also turned a Pac-10 leading 35 double plays. The mark also broke Oregon’s previous record of 32, set in 2004.
Jenn Salling made her mark during her first collegiate season. She broke five single-season Oregon records; batting average (.481), RBIs (73), total bases (138), slugging percentage (.873) and walks (46).
In addition, her 55 runs scored rank second in single season history and her 76 hits are fourth. Her five triples tie for third and her 29 extra-base hits are third as well.
But while Salling’s freshman season was remarkable, outfielder Neena Bryant had an outstanding year that shouldn’t be overlooked. Her 14 doubles were second on the team and tied for fourth in single-season history, while her 46 RBIs are tied for fourth as well. Her 25 extra-base hits tie for fifth in single-season history.
From freshman to seniors, Ann Marie Topps’ 61 RBIs would have been a new single-season record, if not for Salling. But the Costa Mesa, Calif., native tallied 19 home runs to lead the Pac-10 and set a new Oregon record.
Barnes also set a new Oregon record with 64 runs scored with Salling (55) and sophomore Sari-Jane Jenkins (48) trailing. With Barnes, Salling and Topps getting a large amount of the attention, Jenkins had a stellar season under the radar. She ended the year with a .396 average, seventh in single-season history, while scoring 48 runs ? fifth all-time.
From the second spot in the lineup, she led the team with 82 hits, a mark that is second all-time. Sixteen of those shots were doubles, tying for second in single-season history.
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