Golfers hope to extend season at Trysting Tree
■ The Oregon women s golf
team needs to finish eighth or
higher this week to make it to
the NCAA Championships
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
For the Oregon women’s golf
team, this is it.
One tournament, one chance for
the Ducks to get to the NCAA Cham
pionships.
Oregon will make the 45-mile
trek to Corvallis today for the NCAA
West Regionals, which will be held
at the Trysting Tree Golf Course. The
Ducks will face a field of 19 other
teams — 12 ranked in the nation’s
top 50 — and must finish in the top
eight or they’ll face elimination
from the NCAA Championships.
“We have our work cut out for us,”
Oregon head coach Shannon Rouil
lard said. “I believe that if we stick to
our guns and play really well we’ll be
[at the NCAA Championships]. ”
When Rouillard found out about
the Ducks’ 12th seeding at the region
als, she said the Ducks would focus on
the teams seeded 8-11. Those teams are
No. 17 Michigan State, No. 35 Wash
ington, No. 31 Furman and No. 26 In
diana. Oregon needs to beat all those
teams to advance in the postseason.
“Our goal is to break 305 three
days in a row,” Rouillard said.
Rouillard will take an inexperi
enced team to this year’s regionals.
Senior All-American candidate Jeri
lyn White is the only current Ore
gon golfer who competed in the
postseason last year, while White
and senior Dawn Berry competed
two years ago. White and Berry will
both head for Corvallis this season,
and joining them will be junior
Kathy Cho, freshman Lacy Erickson
and sophomore Megan Heckeroth.
“With our team, and how inexpe
rienced they are, who knows what
we could shoot,” White said. “I’m
keeping positive thoughts, though.”
The Ducks start play today and
conclude Saturday in Corvallis.
Smith
continued from page 11
Oregon would tack on four more
for the game, including a two-run
blast from freshman Kate Peterson,
and ride the right arm of pitcher
Connie McMurren all the way to a
confidence-boosting 7-0 victory.
“You get to a point where you
have to put everything else aside
and worry about the now, and not
focus on what’s already hap
pened,” Oregon head coach Rick
Gamez said. “I was proud of the
kids the way they came back. ”
Peterson, who went 2 for 3 in
game two, admits that the season
has been tough on her and her
teammates, but she insists that this
is a squad with no quit in it.
“We’re always here to battle,” Pe
terson said. “We’re going to put up
our fight and even if we struggle,
we’re going to keep fighting.”
Even though the Vikings (23-36)
are only a fourth-place team from the
Western Athletic Conference and not
a Pac-10 juggernaut, the dominating
Oregon shutout win provided a rare
bright spot for the Ducks as they pre
pare for season-ending games with
No. 5 California and fourth-ranked
Stanford this weekend.
“We’re going to come out and
leave everything on the field in our
last two games,” Peterson said.
“I’m a believer in that sports teach
you more about life than anything
else. Sometimes you have bad
years, but I’ve learned a ton this
year.”
Peterson also contradicts coach
Lombardi’s earlier statement that
winning is “the only thing.”
“I don’t believe winning is every
thing,” she said. “If you come out
and give it your all, then you can
walk away satisfied. ”
As the cellar-dwelling Ducks,
who will lose only one senior from
their current lineup, head toward a
postseason-less conclusion, per
haps another noted Lombardi
quote would suit them better:
“It’s not whether you get knocked
down; it’s whether you get up. ”
Jeff Smith is the sports editor of the Emer
ald. He can be reached at
Smittside@aol.com.
Softball
continued from page 11
“That was definitely something
she needed,” said head coach Rick
Gamez of McMurreri’s seven-strike
out, one-walk performance. “After
throwing last weekend at Washing
ton, she was a little bit disappoint
ed, but she threw very well today
and that’s going to help her cdnfi
dence going into this weekend.
“We’ve expected that from her all
year long, but obviously it hasn’t
happened for all of us. It is good to
see that she still has that in her. ”
The Ducks (28-37 overall, 1-17
Pacific-10 Conference) added two
more runs in the third inning on a
Laux double down- the right-field
line, scoring Lisa Wangler and Haij.
“The big key was just making the
routine plays,” said Laux, who fin
ished the day 4 for 6 with five RBI.
Freshman Kate Peterson hit a
two-run home run in the sixth to put
the Ducks ahead 7-0. McMurren
started a 1-6-3 double play in the top
of the seventh to end the game.
“It was nice to go out together and
hit the ball, which we’ve been strug
gling with lately,” Peterson said. “I
was seeing the ball well all day and
just needed to connect right. It felt
good to see it and rip it.”
In game one, Haij doubled in two
runs to put the Ducks up 2-0 in the
third.
Oregon freshman pitcher Anissa
Meashintubby held Portland State
(23-36 overall) scoreless until the fifth
inning, when Kiauna Anderson —
the key to the Vikings’ sweep over the
Ducks earlier this season — singled
in a run to cut the Ducks’ lead to 2-1.
In the next inning, the Vikings
scored three runs on a Meashintub
by throwing error to come from be
hind and win,4-2.
All of Portland State’s runs were
unearned. Meashintubby, who
struck out six while allowing eight
hits, fell to 4-2 on the season.
Morgan Seibert (17-19) picked up
the win for Portland State.
With the victory in the first game,
the Vikings took three of four games
from the Ducks this season, their first
series win against Oregon since 1985.
Hutchison was 5 for 6 on the day
with a double, one RBI and one run
scored.
To conclude the season, Oregon
hosts No. 5 California Friday and
No. 4 Stanford for a doubleheader
Saturday.
2001
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