For Pitchers At Eugene Regional, No Ducking Deep UO Lineup
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
In Mike White’s five previous seasons at Oregon, the UO softball team is a perfect 15-0 in NCAA Regional appearances, an unblemished record the Ducks put on the line beginning Thursday at Howe Field.
To extend that streak, the Ducks will navigate a four-team field loaded with top pitching. Their opponent Thursday at 5 p.m., BYU, boasts a sophomore in McKenna Bull who leads the NCAA with 34 wins and has an ERA of 1.96. Prior that game, at 2 p.m., North Dakota State will send Krista Menke (32 wins, 362 strikeouts) to the circle against Fresno State’s Jill Compton (28-10, 2.10 ERA).
Oregon counters with its own ace, Cheridan Hawkins, arguably the best starting pitcher in the country. And the Ducks will field a lineup as deep and versatile as any in the country, a relentless offense that provides little margin for error to even the best pitchers in the country.
Entering Thursday’s games, Oregon is third in the country in hitting with a .368 average, and on pace to shatter several school records. First-team all-conference selections Janie Takeda (.421) and Jenna Lilley (.448) lead the way hitting second and third in the order, but the lineup is anything but top-heavy.
White’s lineup card features a leadoff hitter, Nikki Udria, who until recently was in the No. 9 hole. Its usual No. 7 hitter, Koral Costa, leads the team with 14 home runs and a .742 slugging percentage. Catcher Gwen Svekis (.438) and utility player Lauren Lindvall (.362) are putting up gaudy numbers but are only part-time starters.
“We’re obviously very deep,” White acknowledged. “We’ve got a couple kids on the bench that are hitting the ball extremely well. It’s going to be tough to make the lineup that first day.”
Perhaps no single player exemplifies Oregon’s depth like Costa. The junior center fielder is hitting .356 with 23 extra-base hits – tied with Lilley for most on the team – and 44 RBIs, two fewer than Janelle Lindvall.
In another lineup, Costa would slot into the No. 3 or No. 4 spot. At Oregon, her slot on the lineup card matches her uniform number – seven. “I don’t know what it is about No. 7, but I’m pretty comfortable with it,” Costa said.
By the time an opposing pitcher gets to Costa, she’s had to tangle with Udria, who is hitting .440 since moving to the leadoff role; Takeda, the UO career leader in hits, runs and stolen bases; and wunderkind Lilley. The odds are good that one or two of them has reached – Oregon’s on-base percentage is a dizzying .468 – and then comes the heart of the order: Hailey Decker, Janelle Lindvall and Geri Ann Glasco, who have contributed to the Ducks’ gaudy slugging percentage of .616, on pace to break the school record by 90 points.
And then? Here comes Costa, only the biggest power threat on the team. And given the presence of Decker and Lindvall just in front of her, Costa is walking to the plate with a plan. “I can get a better feel of what the pitchers are going to throw me, seeing right-handed batters hitting in front of me,” Costa said. “So that gives me a better idea.”
All that offense has Oregon scoring 7.69 runs per game, on pace to shatter the 16-year-old school record of 6.86. The Ducks’ team average of .368 is 31 points better than any of the other three participants in the regional at Howe Field this week – and 26 points better than the school record they set just last year.
Those numbers have been put up against some of the best pitching in the country. Oregon leads the Pac-12 in team ERA, but UCLA and Utah also are in the top 50 nationally – and the Ducks averaged eight runs per game against the Utes and Bruins this spring.
In a late-season nonconference showdown with Louisiana – No. 19 nationally in team ERA at 2.17 – the Ducks won twice by run-rule and swept the series. That experience should pay dividends as the team enters the postseason. “You face good pitching all the way through the season, it’ll help you in the end,” White said.
The depth of Oregon’s lineup owes to a mix of recruiting and development by White and his staff, notably hitting coach Jimmy Kolaitis. Rather than looking for pegs to fill specific holes – a slap hitter for the top of the lineup, a bopper for the cleanup hole – White said “mental tenacity” is a key for the Ducks in recruiting.
“Are you competitive?” White asked rhetorically. “Those are the things we try to recruit. Obviously there’s the five physical tools we go after as well (running, throwing, fielding, hitting and hitting for power) but really it’s the intangible factor of competitiveness.”
This week White gave his hitters video of the pitchers they’ll face in the regional, and Kolaitis reviews details with them in the dugout. But overall, UO hitters take an open-minded approach to the plate. “Hit the ball,” Lilley said of her approach, chuckling at the simplicity of it. “I don’t like to think too much. Just get something good to hit.”
It’s not as easy as Lilley makes it sound. The Ducks have only made it look that way this season at the plate.
