Thursday
May 11,2000
Volume 101, Issue 150
Emerald
. Jkndjiere’s to i v
Mrs. Uobinsoii
f
Kevin Calame Emerald
Jill Robinson became Oregon’s all-time leader in career and
single season home runs last weekend, crushing the 32nd
homer of her career and 15th of the season.
■ Jill Robinson isn’t only one of
the best players in Oregon
softball history, but also one of
the most outgoing
By Matt O'Neill
Oregon Daily Emerald
“I wish I was rich, so I could go out to
breakfast at the Glenwood everyday,”
Jill Robinson said. “I hate going home
to eat cereal or oatmeal, or fruit. I mean
I don’t really hate them, I just want
greasy potatoes and eggs sometimes.”
“You can make that stuff at home,”
her roommate An
drea Gustafson said.
“Yeah, but then I’d
have to clean up af
terwards,” Robinson
replied.
Robinson is one of
the best players in
Oregon softball history and has some of
the biggest games of her career on the
horizon.
But right now the slugger who heads
to the plate with Simon-and-Gar
funkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” blaring
t from the speakers at Howe Field is
K worried about something else.
K Getting breakfast after a gruel
H ing morning practice at the
Moshofsky Center.
|^ft That’s just the way Robinson
m
She lives in the now; she is
fgj^k off the wall.
^| A conversation with the af
fable superstar is a joy ride
ranging from topic to topic,
from her dogs, to her life with
her roommate Gustafson, to her fiance.
She holds Oregon’s all-time career
home run record (33), and the Ducks’
Kevin Calame Emerald
Robinson’s teammates appreciate her antics on and off the field.
single season home run record (15). In
addition to those accomplishments,
Robinson is one of the most down-to
earth athletes to put on a Duck uniform.
On her dogs
Robinson has three dogs, a minia
ture Doberman Pinscher (Pumpkin),
and two Dachshunds (Patches and
Buddy). Three dogs are unusual for
any college student, let alone a stu
dent-athlete. But for Robinson, it’s not
so strange.
“I love to talk about my dogs,”
Robinson said. “We couldn’t get
enough I guess. We started out with
one, but then we decided she was
lonely. So we got her a friend.
“We ended up breeding Patches be
cause she was so unique and beautiful.
- We didn’t mean to end up with the
Turn to Robinson, page 15A
j
Catharine Kendall Emerald,,
Head coaidi Chris Russeftsaid he’s seen Leslie Ebinfpfeon-court intensity improve in his first season of Pac-10 Conference play.
■■vi*
y->
V- -a -<
think I will be.
■ The growth curve for
freshman Leslie Eisinga has
been steep, raising hopes for
the tennis team’s future
By Robbie McCallum
for the Emerald
Getting into the flow of things
is what Leslie Eisinga is all about.
The freshman tennis player has
tested the waters at Oregon and is
ready for bigger and better things.
The Helleveetsluis, Nether
lands native came to Eugene not
knowing much about Oregon or
the Pacific-10 Conference. But an
up-and-down tennis season
taught Eisinga much about the
system and the Pac-10.
“I’m just trying to get used to
things as fast as possible," Eisinga
said. “I haven’t had a lot to adjust
-. to in Pac-10 matches. The more I
^et usedTo'iJh the better player I
• .
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1 .^.rnkW^r--'
The intense style of play head
coach Chris Russell teaches has
changed the way that Eisinga has
looked at tennis.
“I’ve seen him grow, not so
much technically, but in the kind
of intensity that we need out of
him on a day-to-day basis,” Rus
sell said.
After a rocky start to the season,
in which Eisinga
lost five of his
first six singles
•matches, he
turned a corner.
Near the end of
February, Eisin
ga and doubles
partner Guiller
mo Carter upset the top-ranked
doubles team in the nation. The
freshman-senior combo outlasted
Stanford’s Geoff Abrams and Alex
Kim, 8-6.
Eisinga, whose current singles;
Turn to Tennis, page 14'A
C;;?