Scoreboard
NCAA Regional
SMU -3 Oregon 1
Oregon (36-29)
AB R H RBI BB
Gustafson, 2B
3 0
Laux, SS
2 0
Coe, DH
2 0
Hutchison, PR
0 1
Robinsin, CF
4 0
Welch, RF
3
Custer, 1B
4
Vidlund, LF
4
Ray, 3b
3
Planche, C
2
Shelton, PH
1
Totals
IP
McMurren
8 3 3
SMU (60-11)
AB R
Berman, SS
4 0
Collins, RF
5 0
Stevens, LF
4 0
Johnson, DH/3B
2 2
Ford, 1B
3
Seals, PR
0
Peters, C
2
Gant, 2B
2
Tanner, CF
4
Martin, 3B
1
Edwards, PH/DH
3 0
2 0
0 0
1 0
0 0
1 0
1 1
0 0
1 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
28 1 615
R ER H SO BB
H RBI BB
1
1 1
0
2
0 0
0 0
1 0 1
2 0 0
0 0
1 0
1 1
0 1
0 0
0 0
Totals
30 3 8 3 5
IP R ER H SO BB
Blades
8 11 6 12 5
Player of the Game
Andrea Gustafson
Best Bet
NBA Playoffs: Blazers vs. Lakers
6:30 p.m., TNT
Gustafson went a com
bined 4-for-6 against
Southern Mississippi
pitching sensation
Courtney Blades in
two losing efforts. The
senior had a total of
six hits for the Ducks
in their four games in
the NCAA Regionals.
Gustafson also record
ed three assists Sunday
at second base.
Monday
May 22,2000
Volume 101, Issue 157
Effierald
Oregon fights hard, comes un shv
The softball
team wins two
NCAA Regional
games, but the
all-time
strikeout
leader beats
them twice and
ends their
season
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Without Courtney Blades,
the Ducks may have been head
ed to Oklahoma City for the
College Softball World Series.
With Blades, however, the
No. 19 Oregon softball team
(36-29) is coming back home,
with their season finished.
But at least Oregon can take
solace in the fact that their two
NCAA Regional losses came at
the hands of one of the nation’s
premier pitchers.
On Thursday, second-seeded
Southern Mississippi (60-11)
knocked off the Ducks 3-0 be
hind Blades and her 10 strike
out, complete game perform
ance.
Oregon proceeded to bounce
back in the double-elimination
tournament
by perform
ing a come
back win
over North
western
State 4-1 on
Friday, and a
wild 4-3 victory over 17th
ranked Louisiana-Lafayette on
Saturday.
The two wins set up the re
match with SMU for Sunday,
and the Ducks came out ready
to conquer the strikeout queen.
Blades, who had 21 strike
outs in 13 innings pitched on
Saturday night in her team’s
heartbreaking 1-0 loss to LSU,
showed no signs of fatigue
against the Ducks.
The NCAA record holder for
strikeouts in a season and a ca
reer added some more victims
to her total, as Blades got 12
Ducks to go down on strikes en
route to SMU’s 3-1 extra inning
win.
But it was a win that she had
to fight for in front of 566 fans
at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge,
La.
The Golden Eagles clung on
to a 1-0 lead for most of the
game, before Oregon tied it up
in the bottom of the sixth.
Missy Coe opened the inning
with a walk, and Jill Robinson
followed that up with a picture
Turn to Softball, page 12
M
ii They
played ex
tremely hard
this weekend.
They never
gave up...
from the first
pitch all the
way to the
very last.
Rick Gamez
head coach jj
Nat Johnson finishes third in the long jump.
[jte ■‘•.■V4
Scott Barnett Emerald
Mary Etter scores points for the Ducks with her third-place finish in the discus throw.
Men Fein, womennot-so-fineatPac-10
Jason Boness
takes home
the high
jumpPac-10
title as the
men finish
seventh
overall at the
conference
title meet
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Under the hot sun and against gusty winds,
Oregon’s Steve Fein was running in close sec
ond behind Stanford’s Brad Hauser with less
than two laps to go in the 5,000 meters.
The race was Fein’s first at that distance since
last June’s U.S. Track and Field Championships
at Hayward Field. But he was determined to not
let that show, and midway through the bell lap,
Fein launched his final attack.
Amidst Prefontaine-esque chants of “STEVE!
STEVE! STEVE!” from the Hayward Field audi
ence, the Ducks’ senior took the lead with 300
Turn to Men, page 12
■The young Oregon women's squad
struggles at the Pac-10 Championships
By Mirjam Swanson
Oregon Daily Emerald
Head coach Tom Heinonen knows about
turnarounds.
“The year after we won the NCAA track ti
tle [in 1985] we scored zero points in the
NCAA meet — at that point I thought we
would never be a factor again,” Heinonen said.
“And then we won two [Pacific-10 Confer
ence] titles [inl991 and 92] and got fourth in
Turn to Women, page 11