Webster leads wrestlers at national meet
Three Oregon wrestlers
compete in the NCAA
Championships and Webster
finishes as an All-American
Wrestling
Mindi Rice
Sports Reporter
The wrestling squad returned
one All-American to Eugene after
the NCAA Championships ended
March 22.
Oregon sent three wrestlers —
senior Casey Hunt, redshirt junior
Jason Harless and sophomore Shane
Webster — to the national tourna
ment. Harless and Hunt both made
quick exits, each picking up an 0-2
record, while Webster started strong
and ended with a sixth-place finish.
No. 12-seeded Webster opened
the tournament with a 3-2 decision
over Cornell’s Tyler Baier. In the sec
ond round, Webster faced lyier Nixt
of Iowa, taking a 7-4 decision with
two takedowns in the third period.
“Shane won a big match tonight,
probably the biggest match of his life,”
head coach Chuck Kearney said after
Webster’s match against Nixt. “It was
one of those hard-fought matches
where points were stingy, and then
the dam just broke for Shane.”
Webster also won his third match
with a strong third period. Tied at
one with Purdue’s Ryan Lange, Web
ster caught Lange for a takedown.
Lange escaped in the last 15 seconds
of the match to make the final score
3-2 in favor of Webster. Webster
guaranteed himself the All-American
honor with the win.
In the semifinals, Webster lost his
first match of the tournament to Carl
Fronhofer of Pittsburgh. Fronhofer
pulled out a 3-2 decision, holding off a
late takedown attempt by Webster.
“The match just as easily could
have fallen the other direction,”
Kearney said after Webster’s loss.
“Shane went out and wresded hard.”
In a match to determine if Webster
would wresde for third or fifth place,
he faced Oklahoma State’s Chris
Pendleton. Webster was caught out of
position and was pinned by Pendleton
17 seconds into the match.
Facing off with Webster for fifth
place, Lehigh’s Brad Dillon con
trolled the match, winning 11-6.
Webster, in his second national
tournament in two seasons, im
proved over his showing in last year’s
NCAA Championships, where he
went 1-2. Webster came into the
NCAA Tournament after a second
Turn to Wrestling, page 12
Softball runs into
ranked foes, loses
three in Arizona
The Ducks drop three games
in the desert this weekend
after a trip to Colorado is
canceled during the break
Softball
Mindi Rice
Sports Reporter
No. 19 Oregon got back into the
swing of things as the softball team
closed spring break in sunny Arizona.
The Ducks (17-9 overall, 1-3 Pa
cific-10 Conference) played their
first game in almost two weeks, a 2-0
loss to No. 13 Arizona State (24-9,1
0) on Friday evening.
Oregon was held to four hits in the
shutout, while the Sun Devils scored
their two runs on four hits.
In the fifth inning, Arizona State
put runners on second and third with
two hits and a sacrifice fly. An Oregon
error allowed the runners to score.
Freshman pitcher Amy Harris took
the loss, while striking out five and giv
ing up the two runs unearned.
“I’m disappointed because I feel
this is a game we should have won,”
head coach Kathy Arendsen said af
ter the game. “We are continuing to
pitch well, and we had chances to
win. I’m pleased that we continued
to battle late in the game after we
were down, getting hits and opportu
nities, but we just came up a little
short today.”
Sun Devil Desiree Serrano
earned the win to improve to 15-5
on the season.
The Ducks then headed to No. 2
Arizona (34-3,3-0) for two games on
Saturday and Sunday.
Against the Wildcats on Saturday,
Oregon scored its only run of the
weekend in a 4-1 loss.
In the fourth inning, senior Amber
Hutchison hit her second home run of
the season to break up the no-hitter.
Oregon didn’t get any more hits
during the game, giving Wildcats
pitcher Alicia Hollowell a one-hitter.
Arizona scored a run in the first
inning and another in the third in
ning to take the early 2-0 lead. After
Hutchison’s home run, the Wildcats
answered with two insurance runs in
the fifth inning.
Harris pitched 5 2/3 innings, strik
ing out six batters and giving up only
two earned runs.
“Arizona is a very sound ballclub,
and I thought we hung in there,”
Arendsen said after Saturday’s game.
Sunday, the Ducks were shut out
for the second time in three games
in an 8-0 loss.
The Wildcats had 13 hits in the
game, which was ended in the sixth
inning when Arizona went up by
eight runs.
Junior pitcher Anissa Meashintub
by and sophomore pitcher Lindsey
Kontra combined to earn five of the
eight runs and only two strikeouts in
the game.
Arizona scored once in both the
first and fifth innings, and twice each
in the third, fourth and sixth innings.
Oregon’s 1-3 conference start is
the Ducks’ best in two years, since
the Ducks finished the conference
season 1-20 in 2001. Overall, howev
er, Oregon’s 17-9 record matches its
record after 26 games last season.
Going into Friday’s game, the
Ducks had not played in almost two
weeks, since a 10-2 win at Oregon
State on March 15. Two days before
playing the Beavers, Oregon’s dou
bleheader against Portland State was
postponed due to weather. The
games were rescheduled for April 9
and will be the Ducks’ home opener
for the season.
Oregon had another trip canceled
due to weather. The Ducks were
scheduled to face Colorado State on
March 23 and 24, but the trip was
called off as Colorado was covered in
snow. The games will not be
rescheduled.
The Ducks’ next opponent is Port
land State on Tuesday afternoon.
The Ducks’ first doubleheader of the
season begins at 4 p.m. in Portland.
The Ducks then travel to California
to face Stanford on Friday and Cali
fornia on Saturday and Sunday.
Contact the sports reporter
at mindirice@dailyemerald.com.
Adam Amato Emerald
Shane Webster (top) improved on his 2002 NCAA finish by ending sixth in his weight class at this year's NCAA Championships.
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