Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NBA Playoffs:
Indiana vs. Miami
5 p.m., ESPN
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Hank Hager
Behind the dish
Numbers
don't lie
for softball
Numbers, especially statistics, are big in
the softball world.
They tell the story. Suggest a trend. Give
reasons for a demise. And tell us why the
most valuable player is indeed the MVP.
So let's take a look at the Oregon soft
ball team, past and present. I^t's try to fig
ure out their 2004 season, where it's been
and where it might be going.
This is all, of course, up in the air. So far,
it has been a season of misdirection.
The Ducks, ranked 12th in the nation in
the USA Today poll and two spots higher
in the ESPN version, round out their 2004
regular season with a game Friday at Howe
Field against Stanford, then a doublehead
er the following day against California.
These games take extra special impor
tance after three tough, but relatively un
expected, losses.
Oregon (35-14 overall, 9-9 Pacific-10
Conference) was swept by Arizona and
Arizona State this past weekend on the
road. Arizona, ranked first in the country,
is obviously no slouch and easily defeated
the Ducks, 5-0.
Arizona State, which sits last in the con
ference, got the Ducks in two straight, 1-0
and 3-0.
What do these figures mean? Well, sim
ply that the Ducks are in danger of dunk
ing themselves under the .500 mark in
Pac-10 play. Oregon batted a paltry .223
against the Wildcats and Sun Devils,
Turn to HAGER, page 8
Oregon
aided by
consistent
field play
Oregon has had only a few
problems with inconsistency,
although no one area of their
playing is the main source
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
While the No. 12 Ducks (37-17 overall,
9-9 Pacific-10 Conference) hover one
game below their conference win total
from last season, they remain among the
top 15 teams in the nation.
In the Pacific-10 Conference, five teams
are currently ranked among the top 10,
and Oregon has beaten all of them at least
once.
The Ducks have been helped by consis
tency, although not often is one area con
sistent for the majority of the time.
During March, the Ducks were on an
Turn to CONSISTENT, page 10
Andrus confident heading into Pac-lOs
Abby Andrus expects to further her top track
efforts this weekend in Tucson, Ariz.
By Alex Tam
Sports Reporter
Abby Andrus is anticipating a return to the NCAA Champi
onships.
Andais, a redshirt senior from Peoria, Ariz., set a new per
sonal best in the heptathlon this past Saturday at the first por
tion of the Pacific-10 Conference Championships.
"1 was really happy with it," Andrus said. "It was just solid
all the way around. Overall, I was pretty satisfied."
I ler total score of 5,325 points beat her previous best by 22
points and ranks her fifth on Oregon's
all-time list. Andrus sits right behind
two-time All-American Jennifer
Thomas at 5,452 points, who posted
- the mark in 1998.
Andrus said she feels really good
heading down the final stretch of the season.
"I'm just trying to recover from this weekend," Andrus said.
"I felt like my hurdles were good, along with my high jump
and the 800.1 felt really prepared for it and physically, I felt re
ally fresh."
Andrus achieved a personal best in the high jump when she
cleared the bar at 5 feet, 5-3/4 inches. She also won the 800
meters by with a time of 2 minutes, 18.48 seconds — two sec
onds faster than Arizona State's Jackie Johnson, the eventual
winner of the two-day heptathlon event.
Andrus' personal coach Rock Light said they met right be
fore the 800 to discuss how she was going to approach the
race.
"I asked Abby what her plan was going in," Light said. "And
she said she had to take it out from the start and try to get away
and she did. She ran a season best and made it look smooth.
Afterwards, she was extremely happy and proud."
In the long jump, Andms finished fifth with a mark of 18
02 1/2, only a foot behind first-place finisher Grace Vela of
Washington.
Andrus "had a good decent jump on a day that nobody
jumped well and everybody struggled with the crosswinds,"
Light said.
Andrus is also going to compete in the team competition at
the Pac-10 Championships in Tucson, Ariz., this weekend. She
will participate in the 400-meter hurdles and the 4x400 relays.
Turn to CONFIDENT, page 9
WOMEN’S
Erik R. Bishoff Photographer
Sarah Malone hopes to recover from a minor injury before the Pacific-10 Championships.
Career wrap-up approaching for King
Danielle Hickey Photo Editor
Chris King is the lone senior on the Oregon tennis team this season. He
and the Ducks will play Vanderbilt on Saturday in Mississippi.
Oregon’s only senior on the tennis team will be a key player
when the Ducks take on Vanderbilt; he currently has 49 victories
By Clayton Jones
Freelance Reporter
The wait for Oregon senior Chris King is over.
After four long years, 98 singles and 78 doubles matches at Oregon, King will see a
program participate in the NCAA Tournament that previously went 8-13 in his first
season and never won a Pacific-10 Conference match until this year.
"Honestly, 1 was shocked to hear we made it," King said. "Usually this time of year
we are done, even though we feel like we should still be playing. 1 thought it was going
to be the same this year."
As the team's lone senior, King has watched the program grow under the direction
of head coach Chris Russell. It has gone from a team seen as an easy win to a team
seen as one that will give any other in the country a tough match, especially after their
upset victories over No. 23 Washington and No. 34 Arizona
State this season.
"This is the best team we've ever had since I've been here,"
TENNIS King Past we would have a couple guys that
_ would keep to themselves, but this year were tightly knitted
and everybody hangs out."
Russell, who has dealt with the frustrations of the past four years along with King,
feels good about getting his senior a chance to be in the tournament.
"I Ie's heard us talk about making it here for so long," Russell said. "I don't think
there's a greater gift this team can give him than this and hopefully we can give him
more."
Before he set foot on a court in Oregon, King's tennis journey began in Salinas,
Calif., where he was ranked in the top five among all Northern California junior play
ers.
"1 started playing when I was five, but I started really playing competitively when I
was 14," King said.
King ended his junior tennis career by winning back-to-back singles champi
onships at the Central Coast Section Boys Tennis Championships in 1999 and 2000.
King then came to F.ugene in the fall of 2000 and compiled an 8-8 singles record as
a freshman.
There wasn't any sophomore slump for King, as he compiled one of the best sea
sons in Oregon men's tennis history by going 23-10. His 23-win season ranks him
second all-time in Oregon history for a single season.
Turn to CAREER, page 9
WEN'S