HO softball wins
4 of 5 in Las Vegas
■Ducks upset No. 13
Alabama and improve
season record to 7-3
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
After a weekend in Las Vegas at
the UNLV Classic, the Oregon soft
ball team’s record stands at 7-3.
The Ducks, who lost only one
of five games over the weekend,
defeated Central Michigan, Alaba
ma, Kansas and Kent State.
On Friday, Oregon faced Cal
Poly with freshman Lindsey Kon
tra in the pitching circle. With the
score tied 3-3, the Mustangs
scored five straight runs to hand
Kontra her first
loss of the sea
son in an 8-3
decision.
That same af
ternoon, the
Ducks faced
Central Michi
gan and picked
up a 9-8 win. Senior Connie Mc
Murren came in to earn a save by
recording the final two outs of the
game with the bases loaded.
Sophomore Anissa Meashintubby
had pitched the entire game to
that point, striking out five and
walking three.
Andrea Vidlund hit her second
and third home runs of the season
against Central Michigan. Junior
Alyssa Laux was 3-for-5 in the game.
No. 13 Alabama fell to Oregon
on Saturday in an 8-3 upset, due
in large part to the complete game
pitching by Kontra, whose record
now stands at 3-1. She allowed
just one earned run in the game.
The Oregon bats were on fire
swatting 11 hits (after 13 against
Central Michigan). Lakeesha
Eversley and Kristi Hall each hit
home runs for the Ducks.
“We are hitting the ball ex
tremely well right now, and the
hits are coming at the right time,”
Oregon head coach Brent Rincon
said. “Lindsay Kontra continued
to put pressure on a very good Al
abama team and really took them
out of their game.”
Kansas was the next team to fall
to Oregon in a 9-7 game that in
cluded another Eversley home
run and two more hits from Laux.
Lynsey Haij was 2-for-4 in the
game with a triple and three RBI.
McMurren pitched the entire
game for Oregon to record her first
win of the season.
In the final game of the week
end, Meashintubby was handed
the ball again and pitched Ore
gon’s first shutout of the season, a
4-0 win over Kent State. Meashin
tubby (3-0) allowed only four hits
while striking out four. Eversley
swatted two doubles and Haij hit
a double that drove in the first
Oregon run.
“To finish the tournament 4-1 is
really a testament to how far
we’ve come,” Rincon said. “We
competed hard all weekend and
are really looking forward to con
tinuing that next weekend.”
Oregon travels to Arkansas for
three games next weekend.
E-mail sports reporter Chris Cabot
at chriscabot@dailyemerald.com.
Sports briefs
Byers finishes tied for ninth
Oregon’s Aaron Byers shot a fi
nal-round 76 and finished tied for
ninth Friday at the Taylor Made
Waikoloa, played at the 7,074-yard,
par 72 Waikoloa Kings’ Course.
Byers’s three-day total of 1-over
217 was tied for ninth with seven
other golfers and marked the Al
bany senior’s third top-10 finish in
five events this season.
The Ducks shot a 308 Friday and
moved up one spot to 20th in the fi
nal standings at 904. No. 1 Georgia
Tech won the tournament at 4-un
der 860, with Oklahoma eight
strokes back at 868. Individual
medalist Troy Matteson led the Yel
low Jacket charge with a final
round 73 that put him at 6-under
210 for the tournament.
Junior John Ellis had a final
round 76 for Oregon and finished
tied for 64th at 226. The Ducks re
turn to the mainland for the Cleve
land Southwest Invitational, March
4-5 in West Lake Village, Calif.
—from staff and wire reports
No. 1 Duke falls to Maryland
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (KRT) —
A spray of roses, some painted
black, others dark blue, sat in one
corner of the Maryland locker room
Sunday afternoon with a sarcastic
sympathy note attached.
“Turtles, the whole world feels
your sorrow over your loss ... but
only in fairy tales can a turtle beat a
rabbit,” the note, apparently sent by
an anonymous Duke fan, read.
“I guess we’re going to have to
send them back,” Maryland guard
Juan Dixon said after the third
ranked Terps manhandled top
ranked Duke, 87-73, in thunderous
Cole Field House.
The Terps can do whatever they
want with the flowers. They did
with the Blue Devils.
“The team that deserved to win,
won,” Duke head coach Mike
Krzyzewski said after his Blue
Devils became the seventh top
ranked team to lose in the 47-year
old arena, which will be replaced
next season.
The ramifications of Maryland’s
eighth straight victory could be far
reaching.
The victory gives Maryland (21
3,11-1) a one-game lead in the ACC
regular-season race with two weeks
remaining. If the Terps win their
four remaining league games, they
will end Duke’s (22-2,11-2) streak
of five consecutive regular-season
championships.
No wonder Dixon, who finished
with 17 points, said, “This is a spe
cial win.”
From the outset, Maryland had
Duke discombobulated and the
Blue Devils never recovered.
The Terps effectively pushed the
ball inside and repeatedly went to
6-10 sophomore Chris Wilcox, who
won his duel with 6-9 Mike Dun
lea vy, scoring a career-high 23
points while getting Dunleavy into
foul trouble.
— Ron Green Jr.
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Blazers
PORTLAND (KRT) —There
was a lot of attention paid to the
gathering of Phil Jackson, Kobe
Bryant and Michael Jordan on
Tuesday. It can be fun, too, when
ever Jackson and Bryant cross
paths with Scottie Pippen.
Pippen, who played for Jackson
in Chicago, has bowed out of the
playoffs against Bryant and the Lak
ers all three of his post-Chicago sea
sons. Consider Sunday a small
measure of standing regained,
which is why Pippen could gleeful
ly run over for post-game greetings
before the teams left the floor.
After Portland’s 111-105 victory,
Pippen hustled over to shake hands
with Lakers assistant Jim Cleamons
and then Jackson — going for the
hug when Jackson went for the
handshake.
Pippen, who has missed 16
games for the Trail Blazers this
season with a knee injury, has
been more aggressive offensively
lately — scoring in double figures
five consecutive games before
Sunday. Against the Lakers, his fi
nal stats weren’t great — five
points, seven assists, four
turnovers, two blocks — as he bat
tled foul trouble. But he still made
what Jackson and Bryant consid
ered the play of the game.
Portland was up, 96-91, with less
than five minutes left — and Bryant
was rested and just beginning what
would be a fourth quarter scoring
run. But with Pippen on him, Lak
ers forward Rick Fox made a bad
pass toward Bryant that was easily
stolen by Bonzi Wells, who scored
at the other end.
Seconds later, Fox picked up his
dribble in the backcourt, and Pip
pen swarmed him. The officials
ruled an eight-second backcourt vi
olation before Fox called timeout.
Portland’s Shawn Kemp hit a
jumper for a 100-91 lead with 4:01
to play, and the Blazers held on
from there.
While Pippen was the one keep
ing the Blazers under control in the
game’s latter stages, his teammates
kept scoring. Bonzi Wells (27
points), Rasheed Wallace (25),
Ruben Patterson (22), Dale Davis
(12) and Kemp (10) led the way,
and the 111 points were the most
posted against the Lakers in their
past 17 games.
— Kevin Ding
Knight Ridder Newspapers
4
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