A tough road looms for Ducks
The Oregon softball team
plays at No. 1 UCLA, then
at No. 5 Washington
By Tim Pyle
Oregon Daily Emerald
There are road trips, and then
there are tough road trips.
The Oregon softball team’s task
this weekend just might need an
entirely new classification—mis
sion impossible.
After a stretch of 11 of 13 games
at home ended with a 4-3 win over
Simon Fraser of the NAIA on
Tuesday, the No. 18 Ducks (36-20
overall, 7-11 Pacific-10 Confer
ence) are rudely reintroduced to
the rigors of life away from Howe
Field this weekend.
In probably the nation’s tough
est road trip, Oregon plays in Los
Angeles against No. 1 UCLA in an
11 a.m. doubleheader Saturday
before flying to Seattle for a 1 p.m.
doubleheader at No. 5 Washing
ton on Sunday.
Ducks head coach Rick Gamez, in
his 11th season as a head coach and
his third season with Oregon, said
there is “no question” that this is the
most difficult trip he has faced.
“It’s by far the toughest road
trip, but everybody in the Pac-10
has to make it,” said Gamez, who
became the fastest head coach in
program history to win 100 games
with Tuesday’s victory.
So why does every team in the
Pac-10 have to make this grueling
trip?
The absence
of softball pro
grams at South
ern California
and Washington
State upsets the
scheduling bal
ance that exists
for other Pac-10 sports, such as
men’s and women’s basketball.
With the Bruins (49-2,16-2) and
Huskies (38-13,9-8) being the only
Pac-10 programs in their respec
tive areas, conference officials
have paired them.
So No. 8 Oregon State makes the
same trip as the Ducks, but in re
verse order.
Last season, Oregon managed a
split with UCLA, which was suf
fering a down season resulting
from NCAA sanctions, before be
ing swept by a score of 14-1 at
Washington.
This season, Gamez said he
would consider a 2-2 record for
the weekend a success.
That would be a significant im
provement from April 17-18, when
the Bruins and Huskies visited
Howe Field and handed the Ducks
four consecutive defeats, their
longest losing streak of the season.
After UCLA cruised to a 6-1 vic
tory in the first game behind the
dominating pitching of Courtney
Dale, the Bruins broke out their
bats in game two to lay a 16-1
whipping on Oregon.
The next day, the Ducks built a
5-0 lead on Washington in game
one, but the Huskies rallied with
eight unanswered runs for an 8-5
win. In the second game, ace Jen
nifer Spediacci led Washington
again, securing a 5-2 win with her
high-octane pitching and a two
run double.
“The big thing is that we’ve got
to have a little more intensity,”
Gamez said.
Oregon senior Katie Mackey
said the Ducks had a team meeting
this week to resolidify their goals
for the rest of the season.
“We’re trying to focus on every
single pitch in every single ball
game,” said Mackey, who paces
the team with 40 runs batted in to
accompany her 11 home runs and
.301 batting average.
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