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Emerald
Staff ace Connie McMurren said she feels responsible for Oregon’s rough season. McMurren is
9-17 this season, but shutout Portland State Wednesday while striking out seven.
down GUNNIN9
■ Junior Connie McMurren has
been through the worst season
of her softball career, but she's
still hungry fora win against Cal
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
With every delivery, Connie McMur
ren belts out an ear-jarring grunt that
would make Monica Seles proud.
The grunt is typically a sign of all
out effort, characterized by an ex
treme physical movement, often oc
curring during the performance of a
physical event.
For McMurren, however, the grunt
has had different meanings this season.
The ace of the Oregon pitching squad,
McMurren is battling through the worst
season of her life—but she’s not alone.
After three straight NCAA Tourna
ment appearances, the Ducks have had
their worst season in head coach Rick
Gamez’s five-year tenure.
Heading into today’s 2 p.m. game
againstNo. 6 California, Oregon is 28-37
overall this season and a dismal 1-17 in
the Pacific-10 Conference.
McMurren has 17 of those losses in
the circle — the most in the Pac-10 —
but two less than she had last year. Her
nine wins this year, though, are seven
less than her 16-19 record in 2000.
“I feel responsible for the outcome of
the year,” McMurren said. “I carry a lot
of that on my shoulders, but at the same
time, we have had a problem scoring
runs this year. It just compounds into a
vicious cycle and we can’t seem to break
out of it.”
Before defeating Portland State on
Wednesday, McMurren had lost 12
straight decisions, a span that dates back
to a March 12 victory over Purdue.
To McMurren’s credit, the Ducks are
only scoring an average of 3.4 runs per
game this season, compared to 4.6 runs
per game last year.
“We just need to get the love of the
game back,” McMurren said. “It’s been
such a huge struggle this year that we’ve
lost our focus. We need to ask ourselves
‘Do we still want to play softball?’
“I can honestly say that I still love
to pitch.”
Perhaps the pressure got to McMur
ren this season. As the Ducks’ opening
day starter, McMurren had high expec
tations after her 2000 season that includ
ed a 1.79 earned run average. Or per
haps, because she’d never really lost
before, the junior from North Eugene
High School just didn’t know how to re
act when hit with a rough spell.
As a high school senior, McMurren
was a first-team all-state selection after
going 18-0 with a 0.00 ERA, including
six no-hitters, 22 shutouts and 335
strikeouts. In three years at Oregon, Mc
Murren has led the team in innings
pitched each season while recording
361 strikeouts, second on the school’s
all-time list. She is on pace to become
Oregon’s career strikeouts leader, sur
passing Rachelle Taylor’s mark of 474
set in the early ’90s.
McMurren is also sixth in the record
books with 40 career wins.
“She’s always had it,” sophomore sec
ond baseman Alyssa Laux said. “It’s
good to see her pitching well again. ”
Regardless of what has happened this
year, one thing is for certain: The fire in
McMurren is still burning. The McMur
ren of old came to life Wednesday as she
pitched a brilliant, complete game
shutout against Portland State, allowing
four hits and sevens strikeouts while
walking one. The offense, after scoring
just two runs in the first game of a dou
bleheader, also picked up for McMur
ren, belting 11 hits in a 7-0 victory.
With the win, McMurren lowered her
ERA from 3.52 to 3.35.
Turn to Softball, page 8
MCMURREN
regular season Saturday
Twilight falls on Oregon’s
Tom Patterson Emerald
Lucretia Larkin is on the verge of qualifying for the Pac-10s
■The Duck women will look
for both improved marks and
improved national standings.
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
In the words of Oregon women’s
track and field coach Tom Heinonen,
this weekend’s Ore
gon Twilight meet
is supremely im
portant and incon
sequential at the
same time.
“The Twilight is
different things to
■ Kasahun looks to break four
minutes in Twilight Mile, other
Ducks looking for high marks
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
It’ll be twilight. The air will be cool,
the shadows will be long and the wind
will be calm. In
other words, it’ll
be perfect running
conditions.
The Oregon
men’s track and
field team hopes to
take advantage of
uiutjitjniptjupie, nemonen
said. “It’s a little tune-up for
some and a last chance for
others.”
The Twilight is the
Ducks’ last regular-season
home meet before they start
the postseason at the Pacif
ic-10 Conference Champi
onships next weekend. For
some Oregon athletes, that
means this weekend’s meet
is the last time they can
Turn to Women’s, page 8
On Tap:
What: Oregon
Twilight meet
Who: Oregon
men’s, women’s
track and field
teams
When: Saturday,
4:30 p.m.
Where: Hayward
Field
such good conditions this
Saturday at the annual Ore
gon Twilight meet at Hay
ward Field.
Only a handful of Ducks
will compete at Saturday’s
meet, which will mark the
last chance for Pacific-10
Conference and NCAA qual
ifying marks.
Senior distance runner
Michael Kasahun, who has
provisionally qualified for
Turn to Men’s, page 8
Emerald
Senior Michael Kasahun is a provisional qualifier in the 5000.