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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1999)
Friday May 21,1999 Best Bet NBA Playoffs Indiana vs. Philadelphia 5 p.m., TNT Oregon unable to find offense in loss A loss to first seed Texas at 12:30 p.m. today would eliminate the Ducks from the postseason By Tim Pyle Oregon Daily Emerald In her first collegiate postseason appear ance, freshman pitcher Connie McMurren sparkled. The problem was, she did not receive any offensive support from the rest of the Oregon softball team in Thursday’s 1-0 loss to No. 10 Illinois-Chicago at the NCAA Softball Re gionals in Chicago. Now, the No. 19 Ducks, the regional’s fourth seed, are one loss away from elimina tion with first-seed Texas their opponent at 12:30 p.m. today. The Flames (66-15 overall) took advantage of playing on their campus — although sec ond-seed DePaul is officially the regional’s host — by riding the pitching of junior Samantha luli to victory. Iuli, who finished the regular season 37-7 with a 1.09 earned-run average, threw her 17th shutout in limiting Oregon (39-28) to just two hits. She also added to her season total of 351 strikeouts in 289 innings pitched by striking out nine Ducks. “Sam kept us off balance most of the after noon,” Oregon head coach Rick Gamez said in a released statement “She started with the rise ball and just kept getting it higher and higher. “We were very undisci plined at the plate. We’ve got good aggressive hitters, but we kept chasing balls out of the zone.” At first, the Ducks, who have now scored just three runs in their last four games, looked like they would break out of their of fensive slump. Oregon outfielder Jill Robinson led off the game with a double. But Iuli sandwiched three outs, two of them strikeouts, around an intentional walk issued to Triawn Custer to escape the first inning unscathed. With McMurren, 15-12 with a 2.55 ERA entering the game, keeping Illinois-Chica go’s bats in check, the game remained score less through three innings. But in the bottom of the fourth, the Flames manufactured what would prove to be the only and winning run. Shortstop Jennifer Tiffany reached base on Ducks third baseman Christi Shelton’s er ror and advanced to second on Gina Arnold’s single. A fielder’s choice got Tiffany to third, before Iuli drove her home with a sacrifice fly to center field. Oregon was unable to generate another base hit off Iuli until pinch-hitter Kelly Planche singled with one out in the Ducks’ last at-bat. From there, Jennie Cook struck out looking and Andrea Gustafson flied out to end the game. NCAA Softball Regionals Thursday: Hlinoi$*Chicago1, Oregon 0 Today: Oregon vs. Texas, 12:30 p.m. Pac-10 Championships NickMedley/FmeraUI Sophomore Ryan Keith, making his second postseason appearance, leads a trio of Duck javelin throwers into the Pac-10 Championships in Tempo, Ariz. Pac-lOs next hurdle for qualified Ducks After a trying regular season, members of the men’s team are ready By Allison Ross Oregon Daily Emerald The outdoor track and field season has been in hill swing since March, but this week end is the true beginning. Before each meet, members of the Oregon men’s track and field team were aiming for two goals: a Pacific-10 Confer ence Championships-qualify ing mark and an automatic NCAA bid. Today, the 23 athletes who did qualify for the Pac-lOs in their respective events, begin competition at Sun Angel Sta dium in Tempe, Ariz. For some of the competi tors, the road to the Pac-lOs was simple — pole vaulter Pi otr Buciarski qualified, not only for this weekend but also for the championships, with his season-best vault of 18 feet, 2 1/2 inches in mid April. Howard Moore clinched his spot in the 200 and 400 meters in April as did Ryan Keith in the javelin. For some, including Micah Davis, the defending champi on in the steeplechase, quali Turn to MEN, Page 9A Many members of the women’s team hope to secure NCAA marks By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald Marie Davis has never won a Pacific-10 Conference title. The five-time All-American won eight races last season be fore the Pac-10 Champi onships, but her chances of winning were diminished by a foot injury. Davis still fin ished the 3,000 meters at last season’s Pac-lOs in a record second-place time of 9 min utes, 33.25 seconds. After the race, Davis was in so much pain that she could n’t walk. But when Davis toes the line for the 3,000 today at the Pac-10 meet, she won’t feel the pain of an injury that ham pered her earlier this season. “I’m in just as good of shape, maybe better, than last year,” Davis said. “I got in jured a year ago, but this year I’m ready to go. It’s my last time out there, so I want to go out and do absolutely as well as I can and know that I com pletely gave it my all.” Davis — who also competes in the 5,000 on Saturday — is Turn to WOMEN, Page 9A UO struggles to 10th place in first round The men’s golf team is one shot out of NCAA-qualifying position heading into today’s play By Brett Williams lor the Emerald The bad news for Oregon is it didn’t play to its capabilities during the opening round of the NCAA West Regionals on Thursday in Tucson Ariz., finishing 10th, The good news is the majority of the rest of the field didn’t play well either. The Ducks managed a 297 during the first round, a high score for Oregon but only four shots off sixth place. And the Ducks are just one shot off cracking the top nine, which is necessary to advance to nationals. Oregon’s performance irked head coach Steve Nosier. “We’re not satisfied,” Nosier said. “I actually thought it was going to be worse than it was because other teams were struggling. I am just glad to day was only 18 holes.” Oregon started off slow and had to fight back into position. Ryan Lavoie was four over after four holes, and had trouble recovering the rest of the way, finishing with a 76. Derek Croskrey had woes on the green, where Nosier estimates he missed “four putts inside four feet.” Even Oregon leader Ben Crane , who finished second individually at the tour nament last season, finished the day tied for 14th. Putting was a thorn in the Ducks’ feathers throughout the first round. “We putted very poorly,” Nosier said. “I saw very few putts go in the hole, and we’re | usually a very good putting team. ” Nosier believes his team will recover dur ing today’s second round. “We have some work to do, but we knew we’d have to work when we came down here,” Nosier said. Arizona State, last season’s regionals co champion, led the pack with a score of 283, courtesy of Jeff Quinney and Matt Jones. Both players shot a 69 to tie Fresno State’s Todd Rose for second place individually. Brigham Young’s Jose Garrido is in first place with a 68. The Cougars are tied with Nevada-Las Ve gas for second place in the team standings with a score of288.
