Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, April 23,2002
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best Bet
NBA playoffs:
Orlando at Charlotte
5 p.m., TNT
Adam Amato Emerald
Sophomore Anissa Meashintubby threw a three-hit shutout in Oregon’s 6-0 win on Monday. The win in the
first game of the Ducks’ double header against Portland State broke Oregon’s 12-game losing streak.
Oregon softball snaps skid,
splits PSU double header
■The Ducks end a 12-game skid in
Game 1, but‘lack intensity’
in the Game 2 loss to Portland State
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon softball team finally
broke into the win column with a 6-0
win against Portland State on Tues
day afternoon to
snap a 12-game
losing streak.
But the enjoy
ment of the win
was short-lived,
as the Ducks sank
back into the los
ing skid with a 2-0
defeat in the nightcap of the dou
ble header held at Erv Lind Stadi
um in Portland.
Oregon’s record now stands at 19
22 overall (0-12 Pacific-10 Confer
ence), while Portland State is now 17
24 (6-8 Western Athletic Conference).
After winning the first game, the en
joyment of the win quickly dissipated.
“It felt great to get a victory and see
some smiles,” Oregon head coach
Brent Rincon said. “(But) I can’t even
express my level of disappointment in
losing the second game. I hoped we
would have stayed hungry.”
Rincon said that in the second game
his team “lacked intensity” and was
“undisciplined at the plate.”
The Ducks broke out of their losing
SOFTBALL
funk in the first game with the combi
nation of pitching from sophomore
Anissa Meashintubby, timely hitting
and near-flawless defense.
Meashintubby threw a complete
game three-hitter, allowing only
two walks to go along with eight
strikeouts.
Offensively, Oregon smacked 10
hits with shortstop Lynsey Haij lead
ing the way, hitting 3-for-3 with two
runs scored. The Ducks scored two
runs in the first inning, one in the sec
ond and three unearned runs in the
sixth. Alyssa Laux, Mari Lyn Petrick
and Amber Hutchison all connected
for doubles off Portland State’s Mor
gan Seibert, who was named last
week’s WAC Pitcher of the Week after
she compiled a record of 3-0 with no
earned runs.
In the contest, Seibert struck out six
Oregon hitters, which moved her into
first on the all-time strikeout list at
Portland State with 550.
The Vikings’ Nichole Ivie threw the
second game of the evening, holding
the Oregon offense to five hits and two
walks while striking out four.
Oregon senior Connie McMurren
threw well for the Ducks as she al
lowed just three hits to go along with
five strikeouts. She held the Vikings
scoreless through six innings when
they tallied the only two they needed.
Rincon called McMurren’s pitching
performance her second-best effort of
Turn to Softball, page 8
Game
results
Garnet:
Oregon 6, PSU'O
Game 2:
PSO 2, Oregon 0
RINCON
“It felt great
to get a
victoryand
see some
smiles
Brent Rincon
head coach
Ducks end
first round
in 10 th place
■The Oregon women’s golf team
shoot a 331 in dismal conditions
at the Pac-10 Championships
By Jesse Thomas
for the Emerald
The Oregon women’s golf team had
a rough first round Monday at the Pa
cific-10 Conference Championships,
as the Ducks shot a
331 to sit in 10th
place at Walla Walla
Country Club in
Washington.
Sophomore Lacy Er
ickson took charge for
the Ducks as the low
golfer, shooting an 80
to stand in a tie for 36th on a windy day
that saw only two players break par.
Senior Kathy Cho, Oregon’s No. 1,
had a first-round 81 to put her in a tie
for 40th, and freshmen Johnna Nealy,
Jaime Seefried and Jess Carlyon were
tied for 52nd at 85. Junior Kim Melrose
anchored the Ducks in a tie for 57th,
shooting 86.
“The winds were up today, and the
greens were quicker than they were in
practice rounds,” Oregon head coach
Shannon Rouillard said. “It was a rough
day all the way around, and the condi
tions seemed to make us second guess
ourselves, which made the course that
Turn to Golf, page 8
UO women’s tennis nabs ‘sweet’ Pac-10 win
■Before losing to Washington State
on Sunday, the Oregon women’s tennis team
defeats U W for first Pac-10 win in two years
By Peter Martini
for the Emerald
The long wait is finally over.
Behind strong singles play, the Oregon
women’s tennis team won its first Pacific
10 Conference match in
more than two years. The
No. 44 Ducks upset No. 19
Washington on Saturday
in their first home outdoor
match of the season before
losing to Washington State
on Sunday.
After losing the doubles
point, Oregon won three of the first five sin
gles matches to tie the Huskies, 3-3. The fate
of the Ducks rested on senior Janice Nyland’s
shoulders.
“She’s a senior, and we knew she would be
able to handle the pressure in that situation,”
Oregon head coach Jack Griffin said.
When sophomore Davina Mendiburu won
her match, which made Nyland’s match the
decisive point, Nyland trailed 5-4 in her
third set.
“I didn’t even think about the pressure or
the situation,” Nyland said. “I just tried to
play smart and win smart points. I wanted her
to make the mistakes.”
Nyland won the next two games to take a
6-5 lead, but Washington’s Dea Sumantri
won the next game to even the score. Behind
the support of her teammates and fans, Ny
land won 7-2 in the tie-breaker to win the
match 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7-2) and end the Ducks’
Pac-10 drought.
“I wasn’t as fatigued as she seemed to be
TENNIS
niiiMiimiiiiii ii i iimiiii
Jonathan House Emerald
Senior Janice
Nyland won both
of her singles
matches over the
weekend,
including the
deciding match
in Oregon’s
4-3 victory over
Washington —
the Ducks’first
Pac-10winin
more than two
years.
during the tiebreaker,” said Nyland, who also
won her singles match when Oregon last beat
Washington on March 7,1999. “It feels awe
some to beat a Pac-10 team. One of our goals
at the beginning of the season was that we
wanted to be respected in the Pac-10, and
now we are.”
It was the first Pac-10 win for the Ducks
since Feb. 20, 2000, when they
beat Arizona.
“This is a sweet victory,” Griffin said.
“We’ve had a tough time the last couple of
years, losing close matches and losing
some players.”
Sophomore Courtney Nagle won her
Turn to Tennis, page 6