Sports Editor.
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, April 1,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
MLB: Seattle at Oakland
7 p.m., Fox Sports
Adam Amato Emerald
junior pitcher Anissa Meashintubby and the Ducks will square off with Portland State in two games this afternoon.
Softball takes on
‘dangerous’ PSU
No. 19 Oregon takes a break
from conference play to match up
with Portland State this afternoon
in a twi-night doubleheader
Softball
Mindi Rice
Sports Reporter
After a disappointing weekend trip to Ari
zona, the No. 19 softball team heads north
for a doubleheader against Portland State
that begins at 4 p.m. today.
The Ducks (17-9 overall, 1-3 Pacific-10
Conference) take a break from Pac-10 play
after losing 2-0 to No. 13 Arizona State on
Friday and then losing 4-1 and 8-0 to No. 2
Arizona on Saturday and Sunday.
Portland State (8-14 overall) is coming
off a sweep of Seattle University in a home
doubleheader. The Vikings took eight in
nings to beat the Red Hawks 3-2 in the first
game and won the second game 7 -3.
The Vikings won only one game of five
in each of their first two preseason tour
naments, then split their four games in
the Tulsa Invitational. Since then, Port
land State has played four straight dou
bleheaders, sweeping two and being
swept in the other two.
“They’re a dangerous team, well coached,
talented,” head coach Kathy Arendsen said
of PSU. “We’re hitting them between Pac-10
series, so there’s a very legitimate chance
that we’re going to let down somehow and
this is a team we can’t do that with.
“We have a win against Oregon State.
If we can beat Portland State in this se
ries then at least we’re ahead in the state
championship. They’re a quality non
conference team.”
The Ducks had a tough weekend with the
Arizona trip. Arizona State is the sixth
ranked team in the conference while Ari
zona is one of three Pac-10 teams — along
with UCLA and Washington — in a close
battle for first place nationally.
“Playing on the road in the Pac-10 is so
difficult,” Arendsen said. “We’ll have to play
better defense and we’ve got to hit the ball. If
we’re only going to get eight hits in three
games we’re not going to be very successful.
If we can only score one run in three games,
I can guarantee we won’t be successful.
“We just have to build on the experiences
we had this weekend.”
Friday’s game was a pitcher’s duel
through four innings before an Oregon er
ror let Arizona State score its two runs.
Freshman pitcher Amy Harris struck out
seven batters in six innings pitched.
“I thought we could have won Friday
night,” Arendsen said. “We put ourselves
into a possibility to win Saturday and we just
didn’t play well (Sunday).”
Turn to Softball, page 12
Club cyclists
dodge rain in
spring’s races
The Oregon Club Cycling team opened its season in
the Corvallis mud and Eugene cold during break
jon Roetman
Freelance Sports Reporter
The Oregon Club Cycling team got its collegiate racing sea
son underway during the break, when the Ducks were hoping
for sunny weather.
Instead, they were greeted with a wet and muddy season
opener March 22 in Corvallis as the Pacific Northwest weather
was in classic form.
The Oregon State
University Spring
Classic Road Race
featured a three-mile
stretch of dirt road,
which was trans
formed from a harm
less dust creator into a slippery mud bath, placing more strain
on cyclists.
“It was a tough road race,” senior student coordinator Brad Rit
ter said. “Everyone was covered in mud after the race.”
Despite the rough conditions, the Ducks had four cyclists
place in the top 15 in their respective divisions. Alex Rock fin
ished fifth in the men’s “A” division. Derek Darves came in sixth
for the Ducks in the men’s “B” division, while Ritter finished
seventh and Ben Hurley 12th.
While most people would think of stormy weather as a reason to
keep the bike in the garage, the Ducks know a little mud goes along
with all the work required to stay competitive in the world of colle
giate cycling.
The Ducks’ cycling season begins long before races start. In the
offseason, cyclists set goals, including times they want to achieve or
certain races they want or need to win. Of course, every time a cy
clist enters a race, he or she would like to win, but there are times
during the year when a certain division is lacking in points and a
race really needs to be won.
Being in good enough shape to achieve those goals is ad
dressed with specialized weight training and plenty of riding. Cy
clists start with 18 to 20 hours per week of long-distance en
durance training to build stamina. During the season, a cyclist
will shift to high-intensity training, consisting of higher speeds
Turn to Cycling, page 12
Duck doesn’t duck as Swoop swings
The Oregon and Utah
mascots tussle at halftime
of the Ducks’ loss to the Utes
in the NCAA Tournament
Nashville notes
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
Phil Knight offered a kind word af
ter the game. Joey Harrington passed
a note expressing his support. Athlet
ic Director Bill Moos patted him on
the back.
An Oregon player? Nope. All this
was heaped on Mai Williams, also
known as The Duck.
In one of the most bizarre events
on a bizarre afternoon in Nashville,
Williams — who has been the main
man in the Duck suit for four years
— got in a mini-fight with Swoop, the
Utah mascot, at halftime of Oregon’s
first-round loss March 21. CBS re
played the incident over and over,
and of course it made Sportscenter
the night of the game.
Williams said he was just trying to
protect the Duck cheerleaders.
“My main concern was that (the
cheerleaders) had worked so hard on
this dance, and it turned out to be,
because we lost, the last game for a
lot of those girls,” Williams said. “I
thought that was totally disrespect
ful. Everything is scripted, and so
there was a scripted halftime, and he
did not stay off the floor, so I had to
react to that.”
Oregon was scheduled to take the
floor first for their halftime routine.
But when the dancers started,
Swoop, on stilts for his halftime per
formance, came out of a tunnel on
the other end of the floor. Williams
Turn to Men's, page 13
Adam Amato Emerald
The Duck, seen here at Oregon's last home game, wasn't celebrating against Utah in Nashville.