Scoreboard
NCAA Round One
SMU 3 - Oregon 0
Oregon (34-28)
AB R H
Gustafson, 2B
3 0 2
Laux, SS
3 0 1
Coe, C
2 0 0
Robinson, CF
2 0 0
Welch, RF
3 0 ,1
Custer, DH
3 0 0
Vidlund, LF
2 0 0
Ray, 3B
2 0 0
Shelton, 1B
3 0 0
McMurren, P
0 0 0
Totals
23 0 4
IP R ER H
McMurren
6 3 3 5
SMU (58-10)
AB R H
Berman, SS
3 1 1
Collins, RF
3 1 0
Stevens, LF
2 0 1
Johnson, DH
3 0 1
Ford, 1B
2 0 0
Seals, PR
0 0 0
Peters, C
3 1 2
Gant, 2B
3 0 0
Tanner, CF
1 0 0
Martin, 3B
2 0 0
Blades, P
0 0 0
Totals
22 3 5
IP R ER H
Blades
7 0 0 4
RBI BB
0 0
0 0
0 1
0 1
0 0
0 0
0 1
0 0
0 0
0_0_
4 3
SO BB
3 2
RBI BB
0 0
0 0
0 1
2 0
0 1
0 0
1 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
_0_0
3 2
SO BB
10 3
Player of the Game
| Southern Mississippi’s
Courtney Blades.
I 10 strikeouts. Four
hits. No runs.
As she has been
| throughout her career;
the NCAA’s all-time
leading strikeout
queen shutdown her
opponents. Blades
| entered the game
having struck out 570
! batters this season,
| and 1680 over the
| course of her career.
| Conference USAs play
er and pitcher of the
| year didn’t let the
| Ducks usually potent
offense get going. Ore
gon second baseman
Andrea Gustafson:
“She’s as good as any
pitcher we’ve faced.”
Best Bet
NBA, Indiana vs. Philadelphia
3:30 p.m., TNT
Friday
May 19,2000
Volume 101, Issue 156
Emerald
Oregon’s offense sliced by Blades
The Ducks’
bats are
stymied by
Southern
Mississippi
Hurler
Courtney
Blades en
route to a 3-0
defeat in the
NCAA
Regionals
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon knew it was going to
have to score some runs to
have a chance at knocking off
the nation’s best pitcher.
After all, the Ducks were 26
3 this season when scoring at
least four runs, and 8-24 when
they don’t.
Make that 8-25. Because,
once again, it was just too
much Courtney Blades.
Back on Feb. 13, the No. 19
Oregon softball team got a first
hand look at the nation’s strike
out queen, as the Ducks fell to
No. 8 Southern Mississippi 3
0.
More than
three months
later the
teams met
again, this
time in the
NCAA Regional softball tour
nament in Baton Rouge, L.A.
But the result was the same, as
second-seeded SMU again cap
tured the 3-0 win over fifth
seeded Oregon, in front of 473
sun-drenched fans at Tiger
Park.
The loss drops the Ducks to
34-28 and into a possible elimi
nation game today at 11 a.m.
against No. 6 seed Northwest
ern State, who lost to top-seed
ed LSU 7-1. Southern Missis
sippi (58-10) captured its 23rd
straight victory and will take
on LSU tonight at 7 p.m. in the
double elimination tourna
ment.
The Ducks had no answer
for Blades (47-5), as the hurler
struck out 10 through seven
- .—- " :' , J
Catherine Kendall Emerald
Andrea Gustafson was one of the few Ducks to reach base against Courtney Blades, as she went 2-for-3.
scoreless innings, while walk
ing three.
“She’s as good a pitcher [as]
we’ve faced in the Pac-10,”
said second-basemen Andrea
Gustafson, who went 2-for-3 at
the plate. “She has a great rise
ball, and her change-up just
drops off the table. She keeps
us off-balance and guessing.”
Oregon did improve in the
hit department, however.
Blades gave up four hits, com
Turn to Softball, page 12A
Duck golfers on bubble after round one
Junior T.J. Duncan is one of two Ducks under par at the NCAA West Regionais.
■The Ducks are hanging
on for dear life after the
first round of the NCAA
West Regionals
By Peter Hockaday
for the Emerald
After one round at the NCAA
West Regionals in Fresno,
Calif., the Oregon men’s golf
team is in the middle of a wild
west shootout, golf style.
The Ducks are in 10th place
at the West Regionals, where
the top 10 teams will advance
to the NCAA Championships in
Auburn, Ala., later this month,
despite shooting only two-over
par as a team.
Oregon leads California,
Stanford and Oregon State, all
tied for 11th, by a single stroke
but trails UCLA, in ninth, by
two. Only 10 strokes separate
the No. 2 through 10 teams.
“We didn’t play at the level
that we needed to,” Oregon
head coach Steve Nosier said.
“We didn’t play bad, but against
this competition you just have
to have good rounds.”
Some of the best teams in the
country are bunched at the top
of the leader board at the re
gionals.
Turn to Golf, page 13A
NCAA West
Regionals
Team leaders
1. Brigham Young
(276)
2. Arizona (280)
3. Fresno State
(281)
Arizona State
(281)
10. Oregon (290)
Individual Leaders
1. Manuel Mer
izalde, BYU (68)
Parker McLach
lin, UCLA (68)
24. Chris Carna
han, Oregon (71)
T.J. Duncan,
Oregon (71)