Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterfiockaday@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, May 15,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NBA Playoffs: San Antonio
at L.A. Lakers, Game 6
5 p.m., ABC
UO softball
faces PSU
in regional
showdown
Oregon opens NCAA Regional
tournament play at 2 p.m. today
against No. 6-seed Penn State
Softball
Mindi Rice
Sports Reporter
The No. 17 Ducks take another step
up today with their first game in the
2003 NCAA Regionals.
No. 3-seeded Oregon faces off against
No. 6-seed Penn State at 2 p.m. on the
California State-Fullerton field.
“When you go to regionals, any team
can beat any team,” head coach Kathy
Arendsen said. “It’s who wants it more
and who has the confidence to say ‘why
not us?’ I believe we’re going to go there
and we’re going to play our hearts out.”
The Ducks (32-17 overall, 10-11 Pacif
ic-10 Conference) finished an outstand
ing year with their weekend homestand
against California and Stanford. Five
Oregon seniors ended their days at Howe
Field with two wins in three games.
Oregon’s 10 Pac-10 wins are an
achievement for the senior class. Dur
ing their first three years at Oregon, the
Ducks won a combined nine confer
ence games.
The Ducks won 11 of their last 15
games to end the regular season. All four
losses were to Pac-10 teams, including a
4-3 loss at No. 2 UCLA and an 8-0 loss
against No. 1 Arizona.
“We’re playing well at the right time,”
Arendsen said. “We have a shot. This
team knows how to win and handles it
self well in crucial pressure situations.”
Penn State (30-21,9-9 Big Ten Confer
ence) finished the season with six wins
in its final 10 games, missing the Big Ten
Tournament by one game.
The story of the Nittany Lions’ season
was their junior pitching ace, Marisa
Hanson. Hanson led the team with a 1.27
ERA and 149 innings pitched despite a
line drive that broke her jaw during an
April 19 game against Michigan State.
Hanson returned to the pitching circle
the next weekend and pitched one in
ning in the Nittany Lions’ 2-1 loss to
Akron. She has since worked her way
back into the regular rotation.
Penn State senior Gina Bianchini
broke a school career record with her
46th hit of the season, giving her 230 ca
reer hits. Bianchini, who played in every
Penn State game this season, ended the
regular season with 50 hits and led the
team with a .338 batting average.
“They’re a solid ballclub and well
coached,” Arendsen said. “They have to
come to the Pacific time zone, so now
they have to adjust.”
The Fullerton, Calif., regional is Ore
gon’s first since 2000, when the Ducks
went 2-2 in the New Orleans, La., re
gional. After losing its first game, Ore
gon bounced back to win two games be
fore losing to Southern Mississippi to
end its season.
“We just have to go and take care of
our business and play ball,” Arendsen
said. “We’ll be in a familiar area — we
go to L.A. a couple times a year — so
.* Turn to Softball, page 13 .....
team
Janette Davis (right) elbows a Minnesota competitor at the Pepsi Invitational earlier this season. Her coach said Davis has 'gutsiness' and runs with heart
Just a name game
senior Janette Davis will take
on a competitive 400-meter field
this weekend in hopes of finishing
in the top three in Los Angeles
Women’s track and field
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
As Janette Davis toed the line for her first
400-meter race on the traveling squad, she
awaited the announcements before the start.
It was the 2000 Stanford Invitational. Davis
was still a freshman and new to collegiate track
and field.
The introductions came and although some
names were unfamiliar, one was a shock.
Christy Ganes, 1996 Olympic 4x100 meter
gold medalist and three-time World Champs
4x100 meter gold medalist, happened to be in
her heat of the 400 meters.
“That was the big introduction to Pac-10
and Division I,” said Davis, now a senior on the
Oregon women’s track team. “Just being fresh
men and just not really knowing what was go
ing on, we look back and kind of laugh because
now it’s all over and we’re seniors.”
Fast forward to this weekend’s Pacific-10
Conference Championships and Davis knows
her competition. After four seasons of making
a name of her own, the crowd might know who
she is, as well.
Davis’ personal best of
53.87 seconds, set at the
Oregon Invitational on
April 26, puts her fourth
in conference rankings
and sixth in the region.
The 22-year-old senior
is back in a competitive
400-meter field that is any
body’s race, after a sixth
place finish last year.
What: PaolQ
Track and Field
Championships
VAmK Saturday
and Sunday
nweti Field,
Yet none or it is good enough.
Davis’ goals have remained the same all
year: Finish top three at Pac-lOs, finish top five
at regionals, advance to nationals and become
top three all-time at Oregon.
Turn to Davis, page 13
Despite history, UO baseball
___:_- r\.
S2M& ffi , „ ffi s s' ✓ VSSS$&
stays dormant
ilj i c-t- yccu 3 an iv.c wicyui I
fielded a baseball team, and it
doesn’t look like it will soon
Baseball in Oregon
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
On May 7, 1981, baseball in Eugene
got the ultimate ax.
University administration — headed
by then-Viee President Ray Hawk —
brandished the knife that severed the
sport’s affiliation with Oregon. Men’s
gymnastics, women’s golf and women’s
soccer also got the ax, but it was base
ball that had tradition. It was baseball
that was imposing on the school’s ath
letic budget, then close to #4.43 million.
It has been 22 years since baseball
was played at Oregon. In that time,
Lane Community College filled that
baseball void, but even the Titans’ bats
have been silenced recently. They’ve
got only one more season in Eugene
before the program will be disbanded.
“I can’t understand how that can hap
pen,” Oregon State volunteer assistant
Marty Lees said. “And without Oregon
.having.a.baseballxslub, (Eugene).players.
will have to go to farther places to play.
Now, 25 to 30 baseball players aren’t go
ing to have a place to play.”
Oregon’s decision in 1981 came be
cause of two reasons. First, Title IX,
part of legislation passed in 1972,
forced college programs to rethink the
way they did business. Second, Oregon
baseball was not bringing in enough
money and was too expensive to fund.
“For people that actually participat
ed, it was devastating,” said former
player and Oregon Hall of Fame mem
ber Larry Hanson. “They dropped the
sport for all the wrong reasons.”
Had the Ducks finished better than 2
14 in the Pacific-8 Conference in 1981,
the program may have been saved,
then-head coach Mel Krause believed.
“We just never got in the door to re
cruit the blue-chip athletes in
.Turn.to Baseball, page 12.
Lane head coach Donny Harrel (standing) guided the Titans to a 30-10
recoFd-tkis year. The Lane program wll becut next year. ... • -».