Oregon daily emerald., May 06, 2002, Image 9

Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald. com
Best Bet
NBA playoffs:
Dallas at Sacramento
6 p.m., TNT
Monday, May 6,2002
■«
mm
Jonathan House Emerald
Connie McMurren pitches her final game at Howe Field on Sunday—a 8-0 loss to No. 6 Washington. She also threw
Friday against No. 1 UCLA in a 2-1 loss. Senior Kristi Hall and McMurren were honored before the game on Sunday.
UCLA, Washington
topple Duck softball
■ In its final homestand of the
season, Oregon falls to No. 1
Bruins and No. 6 Huskies
in three games over the weekend
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
Chalk up three more losses in the
Pacific-10 Conference for the Oregon
softball team.
Oregon fell 2-1 to No. 1 UCLA (47-6
overall, 15-3 Pac-10) on Friday, 6-2 to
No. 6 Washington (41-16,10-8) on Sat
urday and 8-0 to the Huskies on Sun
day. The Ducks’ record falls to 23-28
overall and 1-17 in the Pac-10.
The three-game set at Howe Field
was Oregon’s final homestand of the
season and the last games for seniors
Connie McMurren and Kristi Hall in
front of the Eugene crowd. The 8-0
five-inning game (shortened by thfe
eight-run mercy rule) was not an ide
al send-off for Oregon’s two seniors
Sunday.
“We were so emotional about those
kids’ final day, and we wanted to do so
well that once we got started, we kind
of got paralyzed by our own emotion,”
head coach Brent Rincon said. “One of
the marks of this team all year is that
even through the difficulties we’ve
played hard and we’ve played with
passion and today we lacked those
things. Washington is a great ball club
— I put them right up there with UCLA
and Arizona as the toughest teams
we’ve played all year and in some
ways they are more explosive than
UCLA. They are on fire right now.”
Freshman Mari Lyn Petrick was the
only Oregon batter to get a hit off of
Washington’s combined pitching effort
of Tia Bollinger and Leslie Scott.
McMurren started the game in the
circle for the Ducks but only lasted
three and a third innings, allowing six
earned runs on seven hits and a walk,
while striking out one. McMurren’s
record dropped to 8-11.
One of the Eugene native’s losses
came on Friday against UCLA, where
she pitched one of her best games of
the season. The Bruins jumped on
McMurren early scoring a run in the
first. Except for a solo home run off
the bat of Tairia Mims in the third,
McMurren shut down the potent
UCLA offensive attack. She finished
with eight strikeouts to go along with
five- walks, six hits
and two runs al
lowed.
Oregon struggled
offensively against
UCLA’s ace pitcher
Keira Goerl, who
improved to 25-4.
Early in the contest,
Goerl retired 10
consecutive Oregon hitters, including
striking out the side in the third. She
finished with seven strike outs and
no walks, while allowing six hits and
one unearned run.
The Ducks finally broke through
with a run in the bottom of the seventh
when Janell Bergstrom led the final
frame off with a hard-hit double to
right center. She was advanced to third
when Petrick, who was pinch-hitting,
followed with a single to left.
Bergstrom scored during the following
at bat when Bruin catcher Stacey Nu
veman let a pitch get by her. Oregon
failed to knock Petrick in from second
as Rachel Tommasini grounded out to
second and Amber Hutchison ground
ed to Goerl.
“We played with the kind of passion
and competitiveness that is takes to
play in big games like that, and then
Washington comes in and we don’t
Turn to Softball, page 12
Shoeless freshman
runs memorable 5K
■ Eric Logsdon overcomes a missing shoe to run
the fastest outdoor 5,000 of Oregon’s 2002 season
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Just call him Shoeless Eric Logsdon.
Oregon middle-distance runner Logsdon, a redshirt fresh
man who had never run the 5,000-meter race before Friday,
ran the fastest Oregon rookie time in the event since 1980
— and did it with only one shoe.
Logsdon ran the last mile of the Cardinal
Invite 5,000 with only one shoe after an
other athlete inadvertently clipped him
and sent one of Logsdon’s shoes flying off
the track. His time of 14:04.85 qualified
him for the Pacific-10 Conference Champi
onships in the event, landed him on the
NCAA provisional list and was the fastest time for a Duck
freshman since Jim Hill ran 13:48.39 in 1980.
“I came in wanting to run 14:05 or so,” Logsdon said. “Con
sidering the circumstances, I was pretty happy overall.”
Logsdon had already qualified for the Pac-10 1,500 after a
personal best at the Oregon Invitational. His time in the 5,000
was the fastest outdoor time by an Oregon athlete this season,
and he finished third overall in Friday’s race.
Also at the Cardinal Invitational on Friday, steeplechaser
Turn to Men’s, page 10
Three UO women take first in Nebraska
_
Jonathan House Emerald
Charyl Weingarten, seen here at the Oregon Invitational, placed third Saturday in the
quadrangular meet in Nebraska. The junior has earned an NCAA provisional mark.
■The Oregon women’s track team
places second at the Quad meet
in Nebraska—which is the Ducks’
final road meet this season
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
Going into Saturday’s quadrangular
meet in Lincoln, Neb., Oregon was
ranked ninth in the nation by
www.team-power.org, one spot be
hind Kansas State and four ahead of
host Nebraska.
So much for the rankings.
Behind a solid overall effort, the
Ducks finished sec
ond at the Quad,
only flip-flopped
with their Midwest
ern foes. Head coach
Tom Heinonen’s
squad amassed 160
1/2 points on the day,
far behind Nebraska’s 230, but ahead of
Kansas State’s 134 1/2.
Wyoming placed fourth on the day
with 106 points. The Cowboys took
first only once in an individual event,
with Kim Demers crossing the finish
Turn to Women’s, page 10