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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1998)
BEST BETS NBA Playoffs Charlotte at Chicago, TNT (27) 5 p.m. Eifierald Oregon softball NICK MEOLEY/Emerald Jill Robinson and the rest of the Oregon softball team hate their sights set on postseason playfor the first time since 1994. Will Oregon extend its season? Oregon, with four games left on its schedule, is one of the selection committee’s bubble teams for an at-large bid By Joel Hood Sports Reporter With the NCAA’s postseason selection show just around the corner, the Oregon softball team knows there are as many different scenarios as there are Division 1-A teams. Here is some of what is already known: There are eight regional tournament brackets that hold four teams each. Of the 32 total teams selected, 16 are automatic qualifiers that include the champions of the 10 major conferences (Pac-10, Big Ten, ACC, etc...) and six play-in teams from several minor conferences. There are also 16 at-large selections that will fill out the tournament brackets, which will be announced at 5:45 p.m. on Sunday. All of this means just one thing for the Ducks — win as many of the four remain ing games they can (at California on Sat urday and at Stanford on Sunday) and hope for the best. Oregon (38-25 overall, 10-14 Pac-10) is one of the selection committee’s bubble teams for an at-large bid. One thing that works in the Ducks’ favor should they re ceive an at-large bid is that each of the Pac-10 teams selected will be placed in a different region. That means Oregon wouldn’t have to play another Pac-10 team — there have been as many as seven ranked in the top 25 this season at one time — until the Col lege World Series on May 21 in Oklahoma City. Each of the eight re gionai cnainpions quai j SDlToALL I ifies for the College World Series. Although the series bracket is single elimination, the four teams in each regional qualifying bracket will play double elimination. The odds on a World Series berth for Oregon are better than one might think. While Oregon’s only appearance in the College World Series came in 1989, the Ducks have made it to the postseason three times in the last nine years; the last appearance came in 1994 after they fin ished fourth in the Pac-10 at 12-12. That is right where the Ducks are this season — fourth overall in the conference with a one-game lead over California and a two-game advantage over Arizona State and Oregon State. “1 think we’re in a good spot right now,” said Oregon shortstop Jill Robin son after the Ducks' two-game split with Washington on Sunday. “Obviously, we need to win some more games, but we have a real good chance to make it to the postseason.” Coaches from around the conference can see as many as seven Pac-10 teams in this year’s field. “A lot depends on what Oregon does against California,” Washington head coach Teresa Wilson said on Sunday. Wilson, who is also on the regional selec tion committee to determine the postsea son brackets, said the Pac-10 should get seven teams into the postseason. Howev er, that makes it difficult to put all the teams in different regions. “It’s just so dang crazy,” said Stanford head coach John Rittman. “We beat the heck out of each other all season long. It’s hard to get everyone the recognition they probably deserve. I’d like to see everyone get in, but the nonconference records will Turn to TOURNEY, Page 8 Ducks hope Patterson saves the best for last Senior Paula Patterson hopes to go out on a victorious note in her final postseason with the Ducks By Tim Pyle Sports Reporter Scratch-and-sniff stickers and pins give Paula Patterson’s golf bag a pe culiar aroma and decoration. They also provide Patterson, the se nior captain of the Oregon women’s golf team, with the recognition and motivation to get more. In a reward system similar to how football players gain helmet stickers for on-the field achievements, Patter son’s head coach, Renee Baumgartner, hands out the stickers and Universi ty Bookstore pins to her players for scintillating practice play and tourna ment rounds of 74 or low er, respectively. PATTERSON Patterson will be looking to secure more ornaments for her bag when she begins her final NCAA postseason at the West Region als at Stanford Golf Club in Palo Alto, Calif., on Thursday. “I would like to give my last two tourna ments my all, forget about all that’s been happening and take it one round at a time,” Patterson says. “A top 10 finish would be nice.” If last season is any indication, the re gionals could very well be the site of some pin-deserving play for Patterson. She tied for fifth at the 1997 West Region als in Tucson, Ariz., and etched her name in the Oregon record books by shooting a school-record 68 in the final round. That fi nal round is a moment that Patterson says she counts among her most cherished in golf. Baumgartner says that magnificent round propelled the Ducks into the 1997 NCAA Championships, where they claimed sev enth place. "She took that upon herself, like ‘I’m go ing to play really well so that we don’t even have to worry about whether or not we’re going to make the cut,”’ Baumgartner says. “That was the lowest score that day under some tough conditions. She just took it all, and I was so proud of her.” Following the national championships in which she tied for 40th, Patterson was named a first team All-American. She fin ished'in the top 10 of all 11 tournaments in which she played before the NCAAs, had a 75.7 strokes-per-round average and was named the team’s most valuable player. Turn to PATTFRSON, Paae 9 Rugby team survives scare, finishes second in tourney The Oregon Club Sports men’s rugby team was given directions to the wrong field but made it to its first game on time By Eric Collins Freelance Sports Reporter A huge sinking feeling gripped every player who had just endured a sleepless, expensive, red-eye flight across the coun try to Albany, N.Y. Groggy members of the Oregon Club Sports men’s rugby team had just stepped out of their rented van at noon Friday ex pecting a banner, or at least a poster, to sig nal the Division II national rugby champi onship tournament site. But with their first game scheduled for 1 p.m., all they saw was a desolate sports field. No one was there. The Ducks had been given directions to the wrong field. After posting one of the best Oregon rug by records in recent decades to qualify for the championships, not to mention miraculously rais ing $13,700 in just weeks to pay for the trip, the sixth-seed ed Ducks knew they could place no higher than fifth if they forfeited the first game. But after a few frantic phone calls and logging two hours in the van, the Ducks found their opponents, third-seeded Cali fornia University of Pennsylvania, patient ly waiting for its Northwest challenger at the correct field. The Ducks had 20 minutes to warm up. It just might have given the Ducks the edge they needed. Despite the mishap, the Ducks defeated California University on Friday, They then tore through two-time defending Division II national champion Salisbury State Uni versity on Saturday before finally suc cumbing to UC San Diego in the Sunday championship game to finish second in the tournament. Turn to RUGBY, Page 12 (( We had really nothing to lose. ” Chris Lampe UO rugby hooker
