Ducks travel to Corvallis for final Civil War
Oregon swept its last
doubleheader with
Oregon State earlier in
the season at Howe Field
By Joel Hood
Sports Reporter
Revenge will be on the mind of
the Oregon State softball team as
it hosts No. 17 Oregon in Corval
lis on Saturday.
On March 14, the then-No. 12
Beavers were swept by the Ducks
at Howe Field to cap a streak in
which Oregon won 18 of 21
games. The 2-0 and 5-3 losses
dropped Oregon State from the
nation’s top 15 and from the list
of teams that might challenge
Arizona for the Pacific-10 Confer
ence crown.
Four weeks later, the tables
have turned.
Oregon (32-15 overall, 4-4 Pac
10) enters this season's final Civil
War battle as the favorite and as a
team steadily climbing up the
conference standings. Despite a
disappointing split with Portland
State on Wednesday, the Ducks
come into Corvallis on a high
note following a 3-1 homestand
against No. 12 Stanford and No.
20 California.
“I expect to see two good ball
games,” head coach Rick Gamez
said. “I expect Oregon State to
come out as hungry as we did at
home and ready to play hard and
swing the bats well.”
But Oregon is the hot team at
the plate.
Eight of the 10 Duck runs in
the first game against Portland
State came via the long ball, in
cluding two- and three-run
homers by Lindsey Welch and
Melisa Jeppsen in the top of the
fourth inning and capped by a
three-run shot by Melinda Wal
ton in the fifth.
Welch and shortstop Jill
Robinson each hit a three-run
homer in the Ducks' 9-6 loss in
Game 2.
Halfway through its conference
schedule, Ore
gon ranks sec
ond in the Pac
10 with a .306
team batting av
erage and has at
least one player
ranked in the
top 10 of every major offensive cat
egory, including hits, runs, home
runs and runs batted in.
Those were the keys to the
Ducks’ early season Beaver
sweep.
“I think we’ll have the advantage
having beaten them earlier in the
season," Gamez said. “But we need
to be on top of our game. Every
weekend is big for us from here on
out. We need to be ready to go.”
The key this time around may
be the Game 2 starter, which has
yet to be announced. Gamez had
hoped to make a decision after
the Portland State doubleheader
but failed to do so after starters
Bethany Smith (10-5) and Chris
tine Birnbaum (4-1) struggled to
get batters out. Smith gave up
five runs and six hits in the
Game 2 loss, while Birnbaum al
lowed six runs on 12 hits in
picking up her fourth victory of
the season.
“We’ll have to wait and see,”
Gamez said Wednesday. “It may
be a situation where Jennie Cook
has to pitch the first game, then
wrap up the second one if
the game is close.”
Cook, who leads the Ducks
with a 17-9 overall record, has
made a habit of pitching the first
game of important doublehead
ers, only to return hours later and
close out Game 2.
The junior pitcher accom
plished this feat against the
Beavers on March 14, when she
held Oregon State to just two hits
and no runs in the first game,
then came on in the fifth inning
of Game 2 and held the Beavers
scoreless again. Cook picked up
her team-high 10th and 11th vic
tories of the season.
Oregon State (20-13, 3-5) en
ters this game having split three
of its four Pac-10 doubleheaders
this season. The Beavers hold a
66-53 series advantage over the
Ducks but haven’t beaten them
since April 30 of last season.
NICK MEDLEY/Emerald
After unnning the steeplechase last weekend, Micah Dams ttnll sit out
Saturday's Brutus Hamilton Memorial in order to prepare for next
week's Pepsi Invitational at Haynvard Field.
Men: Field events important for UO
m Continued from Page 11
next week with Colorado, Arizona State and Wash
ington, We know that that’s going to be a tough one
and we like to do well at home."
The Ducks are not even going to bring two of the
athletes who did their fair share in last week’s victory
over the Cougars.
Piotr Buciarski — who cleared his career outdoor
best of 17 feet, 10 1/2 inches in winning the pole
vault and who turned in second-place performances
in the 100-meter dash and long jump last week —
will get a long-needed weekend off. So will junior
Micah Davis, who competed in a tough double last
week, winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase and fin
ishing third in the 5,000 meters.
“Piotr competed all through the winter and I think
needed a break," Dellinger said. “Micah Davis won’t
be going down, so he can get some preparation for a
good steeplechase at the Pepsi meet.”
Dellinger said the meet also gives the Ducks an op
portunity to try some athletes in “some alternate
events.”
Richard Girvan, a junior from Ireland who sur
prised many in winning the 800 meters last week
end, will compete in the 1,500 meters Saturday.
Jody Mortimore, who won the long jump last
weekend, is scheduled to compete in his first 100
meter dash of the season, in addition to the long
jump.
As they did last weekend, the field events are ex
pected to carry the Ducks in Berkeley.
Gregg Bleakney, who overtook Washington State's
Hilary Mawindi on his final attempt to win the triple
jump with a season-best mark of 52-6 1/2 last week,
headlines a strong group of Oregon jumpers.
“I feel comfortable going into it,” Bleakney said,
“and I'll be going against some good jumpers.”
Bleakney said his mental approach going into Sat
urday’s meet is completely different than last Satur
day.
“Last week I was just trying to win and this week
I’m just going to try to jump far," he said, the differ
ence being that he was a bit conservative in his ap
proach down the runway last week in order to be
sure to get a mark with each jump and not scratch.
In the long jump, Mortimore goes into the meet as
the Pacific-10 Conference leader after last week’s ef
fort, although he may see limited duty because of an
ankle injury.
Freshman Damian Olson looks to make some
noise in the high jump after going 7-0 1/2 last week, 1
1/4 inches off an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
Oregon’s javelin trio of David Ovall, Shawn Ras
mor and Ben Mitchell, who all broke the 200-foot
barrier last week, are expected to lead the Ducks in
the throwing events.
Other Pac-10 teams scheduled to compete in the
meet include California, Stanford and Southern Cali
fornia.
Women: Two will compete in 3 events
■ Continued from Page 11
think that effort really helped us
as a team. Now it will give us a
boost to the individual competi
tion this week where we mini
mize the team score.”
With a month to go until the
Pac-10 Championships, Heinonen
said the Ducks are in a position to
make a big splash in the league
meet.
“We’ve already qualified 20
people for the Pac-10 meet,” the
head coach said. “We’re well
ahead of where we’ve been in the
past. I think we’re in position to
do really well at the end of May.”
Leading the way for the
women is junior distance runner
Marie Davis, who won both the
1,500 and 3,000 meters last
weekend. Davis will concentrate
on the 1,500 in the Bay Area after
recording the nation’s top 3,000
meter time so far — nine min
utes, 20 seconds — at the Oregon
Preview on March 21. Davis’ sea
son best in the 1,500, 4:19.60, is
the fourth best in the nation this
season.
Among the athletes who will
be doubling at the meet will be
Aisha Wallace (100- and 200-me
ter dashes and 4xl00-meter re
lay), Stacy Robson (200 and
triple jump), Katie Crabb (1,500
and 4x400-meter relay), Jennifer
Thomas (100-meter hurdles and
long jump), Chris Cvitanich
(shotput and hammer) and Mau
reen Morrison (discus and ham
mer).
Two women will compete in
three events at the Brutus Hamil
ton. Tish Henes and Nicole Com
missiong will both run legs in the
4x100 and 4x400 relays, while
Henes will run the 400 hurdles
and Commissiong is entered in
the 400 meters.
“It’ll be a great chance for
Nicole to run a 400 against some
fast people without having to
worry about a 200 afterwards,”
Heinonen said.
Also of note for the women is
the return of Sue Morris. A 200
and 400 runner, Morris has
missed competition with an
Achilles injury since the Oregon
Preview but will run the 400 in
Berkeley.
Campus Briefs
Hughes invited
to ABL combine
Natalie Hughes, a Kodak honor
able mention all-American and
first-team all-Pacific-10 Confer
ence selection, has been invited to
compete at the American Basket
ball League combine April 22-26 at
the Koret Center in San Francisco.
The ABL combine precedes the
league’s draft on May 5, which
features five rounds and likely 50
players drafted.
Hughes led the Ducks in scor
ing (15.3 per game), assists (89 to
tal) and minutes played (32.6 per
game) last season. The only player
to have started all 27 games,
Hughes was also second on the
team with 34 steals and fourth
with a .723 free-throw percentage.
Her all-American recognition
marks Oregon’s first Kodak hon
oree since Lauri Landerholm in
1987, and she also becomes the
first guard to lead the team in
scoring since that same season.
Hughes had eight games of
more than 20 points last season,
incl uding a career-high 30 against
then-No. 17 Western Kentucky.
Her biggest shot of the season,
however, was a 14-foot jumper
with two seconds left that
clinched a 68-66 victory against
then-No. 7 Arizona, a team that
advanced to the Sweet 16.
In two years at Oregon, Hughes
ranks 10th all-time with a .314
three-point field-goal percentage
and is 11th with a .714 free-throw
percentage.
Bibby announces
NBA draft eligibility
(AP) — Arizona all-American
sophomore guard Mike Bibby
moved toward millionaire status
Thursday, announcing he’s leav
ing school to make himself avail
able for the NBA draft.
Next up, he’ll get to ponder
whether he’ll be a top-five lottery
pick, and which offense among
the NBA’s worst teams he’ll likely
be chosen to run — perhaps Den
ver, Golden State, the Los Ange
les Clippers, Toronto, Vancouver
or maybe Dallas.
Some NBA officials believe the
19-year-old Bibby will be the first
point guard taken.