Notes: No. 2 Ducks Host No. 9 Ragin' Cajuns
EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 2 ranked Oregon softball team steps out of Pac-12 play this weekend for a big non-conference home series with the No. 9 ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns.
The Ducks and Ragin' Cajuns meet at 4 p.m. on Friday before playing a doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon. There is no television for the series, but a free live stream, radio stream and live stats will all be available via links on the softball schedule page at GoDucks.com.
#1 OREGON DUCKS (38-5, 16-2 Pac-12)
Team BA: .362 | Team ERA: 2.49 | Runs Scored: 327 | Runs Allowed: 130
Recently: Oregon swept Stanford for the third straight season
National Rankings: Oregon is No. 2 in both the NFCA and USA Softball polls
All-Time UL Series Record: UO leads the series, 5-2 (2-2 in last four games)
Last Meeting: No. 13 Oregon defeated No. 17 UL, 5-2 (3/5/11)
Notable: Oregon continued to roll in Pac-12 play with its third straight sweep of Stanford over the weekend. The Ducks have won 22 of their last 24 conference series and are victorious in all six league series this season, including four sweeps. The Ducks are 11-5 against top-25 foes this season while the Ragin’ Cajuns are 5-3 against ranked opponents. Oregon ranks fourth in the nation in on-base percentage (.466), fifth in the nation in batting average (.362) and eighth in the nation in scoring (7.64 runs per game). Balancing that offensive firepower is Cheridan Hawkins, who leads the Pac-12 with a 1.12 ERA and a .133 opponent batting average.
#9 LOUISIANA RAGIN’ CAJUNS (34-5, 17-3 Sun Belt)
Team BA: .356 | Team ERA: 1.94 | Runs Scored: 344 | Runs Allowed: 80
Recently: Took first two games of a series at Appalachian State, third game rained out
National Rankings: Louisiana is No. 9 both the NFCA and USA Softball polls
Head Coach: Michael Lotief (13th season)
Notable: Not many teams can match Oregon’s gaudy offensive numbers while still boasting a top quality pitching staff, but the Ragin’ Cajuns bring the same balance. Louisiana boasts five regular starters hitting .365 or better and features four players with double digit home runs. Star Lexie Elkins has a team-high 25 home runs and 63 RBIs. She is slugging a whopping 1.150 on the season. In the circle, UL starter Jordan Wallace is 14-2 on the season with a 1.84 ERA. She has 152 strikeouts in 102.2 innings with 42 hits allowed and 41 walks allowed. Opponents are hitting a combined .171 off UL pitchers this season.
LAST WEEKEND
Oregon swept Stanford for the third straight year, winning 5-4 on Saturday, 12-8 on Sunday and 6-3 in the finale on Monday night. Jenna Lilley hit .667 in the series (6-for-9) with five runs scored, two doubles, two RBIs and two walks. Geri Ann Glasco slugged a pair of home runs in Saturday’s win and hit .571 in the series. Janelle Lindvall drove in a team-high seven runs in the series on 3-of-8 hitting with two doubles.
TAKEDA TIED FOR TWO UO RECORDS
Heading into this weekend against UL, Janie Takeda is tied for the Oregon career hits and career stolen bases records. She matched Courtney Ceo’s UO hits record of 288 with a RBI single on Monday night at Stanford. In the game prior she tied Sari-Jane Jenkins’ stolen bases mark when she swiped her 96th. Takeda also needs just six more runs to match Ceo’s career record there too.
WEEKEND NON-CONFERENCE HISTORY
Oregon is playing a three-game weekend series against a non-conference team for the first time since 2012. That season the Ducks hosted No. 9 Missouri and Boise State. The Ducks swept all three from Boise State before losing two of three games in the set with the No. 9 ranked Tigers. Louisiana enters this weekend’s series also ranked No. 9. The Missouri and Boise State series are the only other non-conference three-game sets the Ducks have played in the last 10 years.
TOP NOTCH COMPETITION
Oregon has played 16 times against a ranked opponent this season, exactly twice as many as Louisiana. The Ducks are 11-5 against top-25 foes, with wins in five straight games. The Ragin’ Cajuns are 5-3 against teams from the top-25, including a 2-1 series win over No. 24 South Alabama and a two-game rain-shortened home series sweep of No. 14 Baylor. UL lost a road series with No. 4 Alabama, 2-1. The Ducks split two games against then No. 7 Baylor on the road.
LILLEY NAMED FROSH OF THE WEEK
After helping the Ducks take down Stanford on Saturday and Sunday, third baseman Jenna Lilley has been named Pac-12 freshman of the week. Lilley went 4-for-6 in two games for the Ducks as Oregon secured the series victory over Stanford on the road. The freshman scored three runs and drove in two over the course of the first two contests of the series. Her weekend was highlighted with a 3-for-3 performance in the second game of the series, with three runs scored, two RBIs and a double as Oregon defeated Stanford, 12-8. She also went 1-for-3 in Saturday’s 5-4 UO victory, drawing a walk.
WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS
Week 1 Jenna Lilley (Pac-12 Player)
Week 1 Cheridan Hawkins (Pac-12 Pitcher)
Week 3 Jenna Lilley (Pac-12 Player)
Week 3 Jenna Lilley (NFCA National Player)
Week 3 Jenna Lilley (USA Softball National Player)
Week 3 Cheridan Hawkins (NFCA National Pitcher)
Week 6 Koral Costa (Pac-12 Player)
Week 6 Gwen Svekis (Pac-12 Freshman)
Week 7 Cheridan Hawkins (Pac-12 Pitcher)
Week 8 Geri Ann Glasco (Pac-12 Player)
Week 8 Geri Ann Glasco (USA Softball National Player)
Week 8 Cheridan Hawkins (Pac-12 Pitcher)
Week 9 Karissa Hovinga (Pac-12 Pitcher)
Week 10 Janelle Lindvall (Pac-12 Player)
Week 10 Cheridan Hawkins (Pac-12 Pitcher)
Week 11 Jenna Lilley (Pac-12 Freshman)
LILLEY NFCA FROSH OF THE YEAR FINALIST
Third baseman Jenna Lilley is one of 25 finalists for the NFCA Freshman of the Year award. She is one of three from the Pac-12 to make the cut, joining Cal’s Jazmyn Jackson and Washington’s Taylor Van Zee. Despite being a rookie, Lilley is the only player on the Oregon roster to start and play in all 43 games this year.
GRAND SLAM SLUGGERS
Oregon has hit seven grand slams this season, all since the Oregon State series on March 13-15. Freshman Gwen Svekis crushed a grand slam on March 15 against the Beavers as part of her school record nine RBI outburst. That was the Ducks’ first grand slam of the season and a little more than a month after, Oregon has hit six more homers with the bases juiced. All but one have come against Pac-12 opponents and the Ducks hit two in a 10-0 five-inning run-rule win at then-No. 10 UCLA.
WALK THIS WAY
Since starting Pac-12 play on March 13 against the Beavers, Oregon hitters have drawn 119 walks in 20 games (OSU series, Utah series, Utah Valley DH, Washington series, UCLA series, ASU series, Stanford series). The Ducks had a school record 13 walks against Oregon State on March 15 and nearly matched that with 12 at Utah on March 23. Oregon took 11 more walks in the second game against Utah Valley on March 25. The Ducks drew seven walks in each of their three games against ASU. On the flipside, Oregon pitchers have issued 84 walks all season. Oregon has a .466 team on-base percentage this season compared to .290 for opponents. UO is averaging 15 baserunners per game.
WHITE OWNS OREGON WINS RECORD
After the first weekend of the 2015 season, head coach Mike White jumped to first on Oregon’s all-time coaching wins record list. White, now with 267 wins, jumped Kathy Arendsen (2003-09), who had a program-best 231 wins in seven seasons with the Ducks. White reached the milestone in his sixth season. UO’s 8-0 run-rule win over Northwestern on Feb. 7 was his 232nd win, breaking Arendsen’s previous record. To honor the achievement, White was presented with a commemorative engraved bat by SWA Lisa Peterson prior to the Oregon State series.
THE DUCKS UNDER MIKE WHITE
- 10-5 vs. Arizona, 8-12-1 vs. Arizona State, 9-7 vs. California, 15-3 vs. Oregon State, 13-5 vs. Stanford, 10-8 vs. UCLA, 12-0 vs. Utah (2-0 vs. Utah in non-conference play), 10-7 vs. Washington.
- Oregon has outscored foes 2,065 to 991 under White.
- Longest losing streak is just four games (2010)
- Longest winning streak is 15 games (2014)
- The Ducks are 29-11-3 overall in Pac-12 series.
- Won 22 of last 24 Pac-12 series.
- Lost just three Pac-12 series over the last four years
- Ducks have been swept three times in Pac-12 series under Mike White while sweeping opponents 16 times.
HITTING TEAM NOTES
- The Ducks rank fifth in the nation and are third in the Pac-12 with a .362 batting average. Louisiana is sixth.
- Oregon hit a school record .342 as a team last year.
- UO’s .466 on-base percentage is fourth in the nation and second in the Pac-12. UL is fifth in the NCAA.
- Oregon’s .605 slugging percentage is eighth best in the nation and second in the Pac-12. UL is second.
- Oregon ranks eighth in the NCAA averaging 7.6 runs scored per game. UL is second (8.8 runs per game).
- The Ducks lead the Pac-12 with 80 stolen bases. Second place is Washington, with 53. The Ducks have only been caught stealing 11 times.
- Oregon ranks 13th in the NCAA, averaging 1.9 stolen bases per game.
- Oregon ranks 20th in the nation, averaging 1.43 home runs per game.
- Of Oregon’s 57 home runs this season, seven have been grand slams, including one last weekend vs. Stanford.
- Oregon leads the Pac-12 with 13 triples, tied with Cal.
- Oregon has had the fewest at-bats in the league, 1,151. Arizona State leads the league with 1,278 at-bats.
HITTING INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Janie Takeda leads the Pac-12 with 29 stolen bases. She is 29-for-31 on the season. Second best in the league is just 15. Takeda has 96 career stolen bases, tied with the UO record, previously set by Sari-Jane Jenkins (see bottom of page 4 for more records).
- Freshman Gwen Svekis leads the Pac-12 with an .862 slugging percentage and is third with a .446 batting average.
- Janie Takeda is seventh in the Pac-12 with a .430 batting average while Jenna Lilley is 10th at .421.
- Koral Costa is tied for seventh in the league with 12 home runs.
- Jenna Lilley is sixth in the Pac-12 with a .534 on-base percentage.
- Janelle Lindvall has been hit by 12 pitches this season, the second most in the Pac-12.
PITCHING TEAM NOTES
- The Ducks rank 29th in the NCAA and are second best in the Pac-12 with a 2.39 team ERA.
- UO’s .205 opponent batting average is second in the Pac-12 behind UCLA’s .203.
- The Ducks are second in the league with 252 strikeouts despite having pitched the fewest innings in the conference at 249.0.
- Oregon pitchers have allowed just 191 hits this season, the fewest in the conference. Stanford has allowed 369, the most in the conference.
- Oregon has also issued the fewest number of walks in the conference at 74. Stanford has issued a Pac-12 leading 180 walks.
- The Ducks have hit 36 batters, second most in the Pac-12.
- Oregon opened the season with three straight shutouts (8-0 vs. Cal Poly, 9-0 vs. #25 Texas and 8-0 vs. Northwestern).
PITCHING INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Cheridan Hawkins is ninth in the NCAA with a 1.12 ERA, which leads the Pac-12.
- Hawkins is third in the country in hits allowed per seven inning, averaging just 3.25. Louisiana hurler Jordan Wallace leads the nation at 2.86.
- Hawkins is also second in the NCAA with six saves.
- Hawkins is sixth in the nation with eight shutouts.
- Hawkins moved to second in UO history with 74 wins after picking up two against Stanford.
- After tossing her eighth shutout of the year last week against ASU, Hawkins has 23 career shutouts, the second most in UO history.
FIELDING NOTES
- Oregon’s .959 fielding percentage ranks 110th in the NCAA and is eighth in the Pac-12.
- Oregon has made 46 errors this season, the third most in the conference. OSU has made 63.
