Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Monday, May 17, 2004
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
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NHL Playoffs:
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7 p.m., ESPN
Oregon earns No. 2 seed for NCAA Regionals
The Ducks will play at Florida State in an eight-team
regional tournament that includes four teams from
Florida; UO opens against Bethune-Cookman
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
The No. 12 Oregon softball team has a date with No. 7-seeded
Bethune-Cookman in Tallahassee, Fla., at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
The Ducks (38-19 overall, 10-11 Pacific-10 Conference) re
ceived the No. 2 seed in the regional hosted by No. 4-ranked and
No. 1-seeded Florida State when the NCAA Softball Regional
Tournament brackets were announced Sunday.
"We're a two seed and that's a great accomplishment for this
group, Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen said. "This is a very
quality region; I think it matches well for us."
SOFTBALL
A crowd ot family and Inends gathered
with the players and coaches in the
Pittman Room at the Casanova Center for
the selection show, broadcast on ESP
NEWS. It was a smaller crowd than the one
that gathered in the same location last sea
own anu me itiisiuii tinu suusequem rusn oi excitement tnat fol
lowed last season's selection show were missing Sunday.
"The biggest difference is that it wasn't a surprise," Arendsen said.
"Last year, we truly were hoping that our names might show up
there. This year, we knew. We felt very confident that we were go
ing. It was a matter of where and who our opponents would be."
I he where was answered with the fourth region announce
ment. During the first and second regionals — Arizona and UC1A
— the Ducks knew they could not play at another Pac-10 school.
The third regional, at host school Baylor, was an option, but when
no Pac-10 school was announced, Oregon's coaches realized that
Arizona State, the only Pac-10 program not ranked in the top 25,
Turn to REGIONALS, page 8
Tim Kupsick Photographer
Oregon’s Beth Boskovich (left), Ani Nyhus (left center) and Heather Munson (right) await the NCAA Regionals announcement Sunday at the Casanova
Center. The Ducks face Bethune-Cookman at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Oregon will travel to the Tallahassee, Fla., regional.
Ducks close out regular season with 1-2 weekend
Four Oregon seniors play their final
games at Howe Field this weekend,
beating Stanford and losing to Cal
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
Amid the emotions of Senior Day and the ex
pectation of Sunday's announcement of Ore
gon's NCAA Regional Tournament destination,
the No. 12 Ducks closed their regular season at
home with a 1-2 weekend to stumble their way
into an NCAA Regional No. 2 seed.
Oregon (38-19 overall, 10-11 Pacific-10
Conference) opened its weekend on a high
note Friday with a 1 -0 win against No. 7 Stan
ford before dropping Saturday's doublehead
er, 3-1 and 5-2, to No. 3 California at Howe
Field. It is the 15th consecutive season that
Oregon has failed to achieve a better-than
.500 conference record.
Friday's win was typical of a Pac-10 game —
a pitchers' duel decided by few hits and fewer
runs. In the second inning, both the Cardinal
and the Ducks stranded two runners on base.
Stanford saw just two more baserunners the
entire game.
Oregon catcher Jenn Poore stopped the First
sparks of a Cardinal rally in the fifth inning. After
Stanford second baseman Meghan Sickler hit a
double with two outs, Poore caught Sickler off
base and fired to Oregon shortstop Breanne
Sabol to end the inning. First baseman Beth
Boskovich helped out Poore in the sixth,
backing her up on a foul popup. The ball
bounced off Poore's glove and right into
Boskovich's waiting mitt.
"Our defense was extraordinary, maybe
the key to the game," Oregon head coach
Kathy Arendsen said. "That's what we do best —
we're a team. We played like that today
and it showed."
The Ducks scored their only run in the bot
tom of the sixth inning. With two outs, center
fielder Suzie Barnes dropped a single right in
front of Stanford left fielder Jackie Rinehart.
Barnes scored when Poore lined a double off the
right-field wall. It bounced back into shallow
right field, past Stanford's outfielders.
Junior Ani Nyhus won the battle of the
hurlers, giving up three hits and striking out four
for her ninth shutout of the season.
"It feels a lot better than it did last weekend,"
Nyhus said. "We were excited to get one run
across the board and my (team's) defense today
was impeccable."
The win against Stanford gave the Ducks their
third and final series win against a Pac-10 oppo
nent. Oregon also won a series against No. 8
Washington and No. 18 Oregon State.
Saturday's losses to California dropped
Oregon to 10-11 in Pac-10 play. Oregon was
Turn to SOFTBALL, page 8
Oregon men take 2nd, women repeat 7th at Pac-lOs
The Oregon men have a
great meet but finish
second to UCLA at the
highly competitive Pac-lOs
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
Oregon couldn't have asked for a
better performance this past week
end at the Pacific-10 Conference
Championships in Tucson, Ariz.
MEN’S
TRACK
' However,
UCLA was just
a little better.
The Bruins,
the favorites
entering the
meet, used strong second-day per
formances in the 800 and 1,500
meters to overtake the Ducks and
claim the conference crown. UCLA
finished with 143 points, 13 ahead
of Oregon (second, 130).
The Ducks entered Saturday's
action with a 67-49 lead on the Bru
ins but lacked depth in several key
events down the stretch. Despite
UCLA's efforts, Oregon's second-place
finish marked the third consecutive
top-two Pac-10 finish for the Ducks
under head coach Martin Smith.
"I thought the men competed
hard and dug down deep time and
time again and did not back down,"
Smith said. "We came as close to our
projected score as you could. UCLA
simply responded with an amazing
team effort of their own, and they de
serve credit for that."
Arizona State finished third (120),
followed by Southern California
(95) and Arizona (93).
Sophomore Eric Mitchum and
freshman Tommy Skipper earned in
dividual Pac-10 titles in the 110-me
ter hurdles and the pole vault,
respectively.
Mitchum defended his top seed by
running his second-fastest wind-legal
time ever (13.62 seconds), edging
UCLA's Anthony Golston (second,
13.79) on Saturday. The Calumet
City, 111., native's top wind-legal
Turn to MEN, page 9
Kirsten Larwin earns her
best height in Pac-10
competition at 13-6 1/4
By Alex Tam
Sports Reporter
Individual achievements highlight
ed the Oregon women's effort Saturday
at the Pacific-10 Conference Track and
Field Championships in Tucson, Ariz.
Although seven women set new
WOMEN’S
TRACK
persona!
bests, the
Ducks fin
ished in sev
enth place —
the same fin
ish as the
2003 campaign — with 58 points in
the nine-team competition. UCLA
won its eighth consecutive conference
championship with 174 1/2 points.
Oregon head coach Martin Smith
said he was proud of his team's per
formance during a rebuilding period.
"I thought our women had an
outstanding meet," Smith said.
"Individually they all strived to
maximize their potential and should
be commended for doing the same
thing all season."
The best showing for the women
came in the pole vault. Senior Kirsten
Larwin took fourth place with a new
personal best after clearing the bar at
13 feet, 6 1/4 inches on her third and
final attempt. It was her best career
showing at the Pac-10 Championships.
Larwin credited the sunny 96-de
gree weather at Roy P. Drachman Sta
dium for one of the best efforts in her
four-year career at Oregon.
"What a way to go out," larwin said.
"I got some key third attempts at the
last two heights. It was a little nerve
racking, but 1 also knew that it was cer
tainly doable and 1 just went after it."
Fellow pole vaulter Emily Enders
finished right behind Larwin in fifth
place and also broke her personal
best by four inches at 13-2 1/4. En
ders surpassed expectations as she
had entered the event seeded 12th
with a prior best of 12-10 1/4, set at
Turn to WOMEN, page 9
Danielle Hickey Photo Editor
Eric Mitchum, seen earlier this year, captured
one of two individual Pac-10 titles for Oregon
this weekend in Tucson, Ariz.