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Sports briefs
Softball swings for
fourth tourney win
The Oregon softball squad will head
to St. George, Utah, this weekend in
search of its fourth tournament crown
of the season. The Ducks have won
three of the four tournaments they’ve
played in preseason action, and have a
good chance to get No. 4 at the Red
Desert Classic.
Oregon (12-5 overall) will be the
only ranked team making the trip to
Utah. The Ducks will face Utah State
and Brigham Young today, then
Arkansas and tournament host Utah
on Saturday before closing the tour
nament against Alabama-Birming
ham on Sunday. Arkansas already
beat Oregon this season, a 3-1 battle
at the Southwest Texas Tournament
on Feb. 2.
This weekend’s tournament is al
most the final preseason tournament
for the Ducks. Oregon will head to
San Jose, Calif., next weekend for a
tournament, play a home double
header against Portland State on
March 13, then open Pacific-10 Con
ference play at Oregon State on
March 15.
Track set for Pac-1 Os
The Oregon men and a small con
tingent of women will make the trip
to Seattle this weekend for the Pac
10 Invitational.
The men will be led by sprinter
Samie Parker, who currently ranks
11th nationally in the 60-meter
dash, and Adam Kriz, who ranks
eighth in the weight throw. Kriz is
coming off an outstanding perform
ance at the Mountain Pacific Cham
pionships, where he threw a person
al-best of 67 feet, 7 inches.
On the women’s side, the pole
vaulters will be the only group trav
eling to Seattle. But it is perhaps
Oregon’s most exciting unit, as
Becky Holliday and Niki McEwen
rank second and third, respectively,
in the nation, and Kirsten Riley is
ranked No. 24.
—Peter Hockaday
UCLA tops OSU in Corvallis
Lee Jenkins
The Orange County Register (KRT)
CORVALLIS — A few years too
late, UCLA has found its starting
point guard.
For the third game in a row,
Cedric Bozeman sat out because of
a strained right shoulder, and for
the third game in a row, the Bruins
didn’t seem to need him.
Senior Ray Young continued a
campaign for comeback player of
the year with 19 points and a ca
reer-high nine rebounds, none more
important than the last.
With one minute remaining at
Oregon State, and UCLA ahead by
one point, Dijon Thompson
missed a free-throw-line fade
away. But the 6-foot-3-inch Young
hustled for the rebound and con
verted the putback.
“The game was close, and I had
to make something happen,” Young
said after the Bruins’ 69-66 victory.
“I was just being active.”
This prolongs the best week of
Young’s career, in which he racked
up 40 points and nine assists
against the Bay area schools. He
nailed three-pointers on consecu
tive possessions in the second half
Thursday and gave UCLA an
eight-point lead that stood up
down the stretch.
“Ray Young is a guy who strug
gled for four years to put the ball in
the basket,” Oregon State coach Jay
John said. “Now (the basket) looks
as big as the Pacific Ocean.”
The Bruins finally found a way to
at least slow down Oregon State for
ward Philip Ricci, who was getting
used to pushing them around.
UCLA rotated both freshman
centers and an assortment of for
wards against Ricci, often at the
same time. They dared the Beavers
to hit an outside shot, and usually
they could not, making 5 of 22
three-pointers.
Although Ricci finished with 15
points and five rebounds, he had to
sweat for each one. By contrast,
when Ricci was at Pauley Pavilion,
he powered for a career-high 26
points, 14 rebounds and a victory.
“UCLA was a lot more aggres
sive this time,” Ricci said. “Back
in L.A., I had single coverage.
Tonight, I had two guys on me and
it was a lot tougher.”
© 2003, The Orange County Register
(Santa Ana, Calif.). Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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Matsui goes deep in
first spring contest
Josh Robbins
The Orlando Sentinel (KRT)
TAMPA, Fla. — For one day, at
least, Hideki Matsui lived up to
the hype.
Making his spring training debut
for the New York Yankees on Thurs
day, the slugger displayed the pow
er and steely nerves that made him
a superstar in Japan.
Matsui hit a two-run home run
in his second at-bat with the Yan
kees, rocketing a fastball from
Cincinnati Reds left-hander Jim
my Anderson over the right-field
fence at Legends Field.
“Fm very happy that I could play
like this in the first game of the pre
season,” Matsui said through his in
terpreter, Roger Kahlon.
Matsui, who received a three-year
contract for $21 million to join the
Yankees, had plenty to be happy
about, even if rain had scattered the
announced crowd of 10,169 at Leg
ends Field.
He went l-for-3, including a scald
ing line drive that was caught by Reds
second baseman Rainer Olmedo.
Matsui faced a total of 18 pitches,
nine of them during his second at
bat. With two strikes, he forced a
full count and fouled off three pitch
es before hitting his home run in
the third inning.
“He’s a great player,” Yankees
first baseman Jason Giambi said.
“There’s no doubt about it. He
took a great at-bat today and hit a
home run. That’s the part of the
game that a lot of people don’t re
alize — that he is a great hitter.
He’s not only got a lot of power,
but he’s a great hitter.”
Not only did Matsui impress his
new teammates, who stood up to
meet him once he reached the
dugout after his home run, but he
also no doubt satisfied his fans in
Japan, where the game was tele
vised live at 3:15 a.m.
Thursday’s game attracted about
130 Japanese journalists, according
to Isao Hirooka, a former sports
writer who covered Matsui in Japan
and was hired by the Yankees
specifically to deal with the Japan
ese media.
Before taking batting practice,
the Yankees gathered in right field
to stretch and warm up. At 9:46
a.m., as a trainer led the team
through a drill designed to stretch
players’ right hamstrings, 43 mem
bers of the Japanese media contin
gent stood on the gravel nearby,
scribbling notes, taking photographs
or shooting videotape that would be
beamed back home.
“He was the most popular profes
sional athlete in Japan,” said jour
nalist Yoric Kittaka, who writes for
the Kyodo News, a Japanese wire
service. “And a guy like this coming
over here and playing for the Yan
kees (is) going to be a great story, I
guess, for everyone.”
What everyone wants to know is
whether Matsui, 28, can generate
the same kind of results in the ma
jor leagues as he did in Japan’s Cen
tral League, where he won three
MVP awards for the Tokyo-based
Yomiuri Giants.
Last year, Matsui hit 50 home runs
while compiling a .334 average. He
hit at least 34 homers in each of his
final seven seasons in Japan.
Yogi Berra, the Hall of Fame
catcher who played for the Yan
kees from 1946-63, watched the
Yankees’ batting practice beside
Manager Joe Torre and bench
coach Don Zimmer.
“It looks all right,” Berra said of
Matsui’s swing. “We still can’t tell
now. Wait till the games start.”
© 2003, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.