Cook: Mental preparation key to pitcher’s success
■ Continued from Page 1
tremendous desire to be success
ful, and it rubs off onto her team
mates. She makes everyone bet
ter.”
That too has come with hard
work and has been crafted from
her very first season at Oregon.
A four-time 3A all-state selec
tion at Elmira, Cook was recruit
ed with the intent to bolster a
mediocre Duck pitching staff that
struggled throughout the 1995
season. Following the graduation
of Rachelle Taylor, the Ducks’
all-time career leader in nine
pitching categories, Oregon was
forced to begin 1995 with an in
experienced and unproven staff.
That season, Oregon’s 12-15
conference record dropped it to
fifth in the Pac-10, and its No. 1
pitcher, Kim Kampfer, lost a
school record 20 games.
Flash forward six months.
After a series of impressive
spring workouts in 1996, head
coach Tami Brown decided to
put her freshman pitcher into the
three-woman starting rotation
just one week into the season.
Cook’s debut was a 5-3 victory
over Akron at the UNLV Spring
Fling, in Las Vegas. The follow
ing day she allowed nine runs in
a two-run victory against Hawaii.
With Cook’s 2-0 start, the Ducks
crawled back to just a game be
low .500.
Then the wheels came off.
Cook lost her next four starts in
a critical eight-game stretch lead
ing up to the Ducks’ Pac-10
schedule. A difficult streak that
began with a 5-2 loss to Hawaii
on March 1 and culminated three
weeks later with a 5-1 rout at the
hands of Loyola Marymount.
“I remember that I was sur
prised that I was getting to pitch
so much in those games,” Cook
says. “I never really felt comfort
able out on the field."
With her confidence shaken,
Cook found the spotlight intimi
dating for the first time in her ca
reer.
But because Oregon needed a
power pitcher, Brown elected to
keep Cook in the rotation. It was
a decision that is still paying div
idends for Cook and the entire
softball program at Oregon.
“For me it was just a matter of
confidence,” Cook says. “1 had to
know that I could get the job
done at this level.”
With the confidence of her
coach and her teammates, Cook
started eight of the Ducks’ next
10 games and lost only twice.
The crown jewel was a 5-4 victo
ry against in-state rival Oregon
State in the Ducks' conference
opener at Howe.
Two seasons and 40 victories
later, Cook credits her mental de
velopment as the single most im
portant improvement she’s made
since her freshman season.
“It’s been my mental prepara
tion that has improved the most,”
Cook says. "Part of that is a credit
(( [Cook] always just has
a vibe like there is no one
who can beat her. When
we step on to the field
with her we know that
we can beat anyone. **
Kelly Planche
Oregon catcher
to the coaches I’ve had, and part
of that is just getting experience.
Now I’m very confident when I
go out to pitch. Now I expect to
win every time I go out onto the
field."
Confidence that has spread to
her teammates.
“There is no one we’d rather
have up there in a clutch situa
tion,” catcher Kelly Planche says.
“She always just has a vibe like
there is no one who can beat her.
When we step on to the field
with her, we know that we can
beat anyone.”
With the team roughly halfway
through the 1998 season, Cook is
on pace to break several of the
Ducks’ most impressive single
season pitching statistics — most
notably, total appearances, com
plete games and starts.
In 27 appearances this season,
Cook has amassed a 15-9 record.
Not outstanding, but her 151 in
nings pitched is one of the high
est totals in the Pac-10 this sea
son. And although it is well off
the pace of Oregon’s single-sea
son mark of 361 2/3 innings set
by Katie Wiese in 1989, Cook
will likely have a chance to break
300 innings if the Ducks remain
competitive in the Pac-10 race.
Which will have a lot to do
with Cook and how she pitches
early in conference play.
“She is a gamer,” Gamez says.
"There is no other word to de
scribe her. It wouldn’t do her jus
tice to compare her to anyone
else we’ve ever had here. She is
so intense.”
And intent on having an im
pact on the Oregon record books
as well.
Barring serious injury, Cook
will finish her career ranked near
the top of every major Oregon
pitching category. Just 41 games
into this season, Cook ranks in
the top five in nine of the Ducks’
all-time career categories, includ
ing games pitched, number of in
nings, wins, losses and strike
outs.
Numbers which, on this day,
haven’t even entered her mind.
Her final pitch is chopped
back to the circle, and although
both Arizona State runners
scream down the base paths and
the crowd yells, Cook is not rat
tled. Confidently, she corrals the
spinning, bouncing ball and fires
to first base.
And there is no one under this
crystal blue sky so sure-handed.
Jennie Cook File
■ Year
Junior
■ Home
town:
Noti, Ore.
■ Throws:
Right
NOTES
■ Leads Oregon with 15 wins
this season ...also tops in
starts (21), complete games
(20), strikeouts (68), earned
run average (2.04) and innings
pitched (151)
■ 1998 marks the third con
secutive season she has led
the Ducks in wins
■ Ranks eighth on the team
with a .323 batting average ...
ranks second in RBIs with 22
and homeruns with five
■ Last season was named the
team's Most Valuable Player
and received AII-Pac-10 honor
able mention honors
■ A four-time 3A all-state se
lection at Elmira high school
■ Named 3A Player of the Year
in 1995 following her senior
season
■ Earned 12 letters at Elmira
with four each in softball, bas
ketball and soccer
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