Courtesy Florida Athletics
Florida’s Kristen Butler leads the Gators with a .311 batting average. The Gators are the No. 4 seed and the Ducks the No. 2 seed in the
Tallahassee, Fla. regional. Regional play begins Thursday for all eight regions in the NCAA Tournament.
SOFTBALL
continued from page 7
No. 3 South Florida
The Bulls (57-12), ranked 19th in
the country, were eliminated Saturday
by DePaul in the Conference USA
Tournament after winning their first
two games of the conference title race.
Four seniors depart from South Flori
da after this season, including the Bulls'
two leading hitters. Holly Groves tops
the team with a .424 batting average
and Leigh Ann Ellis is second at .400.
"We are very excited for the oppor
tunity to play in regionals," associate
head coach Stacey Heintz said in a re
lease Sunday. "It's great to be able to
play in the state and have our family
and friends there with us to join us as
we go for our goal to play in the Col
lege World Series."
South Florida plays Ohio State to
open the Tallahassee regional at 7
a.m. Thursday.
No. 4 Florida
The 21st-ranked Gators (40-18) end
ed their season Friday with a 7-5 loss to
Tennessee in the Southeastern Confer
ence Softball Tournament Sophomore
Kristen Butler leads Florida with a .311
batting average and 26 RBI.
"I am glad that we can play dose to
home," head coach Karen Johns said
in a release Sunday. "It will be great to
play in front of some Florida fans as
we set out to win a regional and ad
vance to the College World Series."
Florida will face Northridge at
noon Thursday.
No. 5 Cal State Northridge
Northridge (33-17), one of four Big
West Conference teams to be selected
for NCAA regional play, dosed its reg
ular season with a 3-2 loss to Big West
champion Long Beach State. The
Matadors have lost twice to Florida
this season, both by a 6-1 score in a
doubleheader March 12.
The Matadors had a 12-game win
ning streak coming into Friday's dou
bleheader against Long Beach State,
but they lost both games.
No. 6 Ohio State
The Buckeyes (34-23) are fresh off a
No. 6 seed in the Big Ten Tournament
last weekend. After a 5-1 win against
No. 3-seeded Iowa, Ohio State lost to
No. 2-seeded Illinois, 5-0. Ohio State
finished 8-11 in conference play.
Senior pitcher Kristi DeVries, Ohio
State's go-to pitcher, recently became
the second Buckeye ever to throw
more than 600 career strikeouts. De
Vries passed the 500- and 600-strike
out milestone this season and cur
rently has 613 in her career.
No. 7 Bethune-Cookman
The Wildcats (44-26), from Day
tona Beach, Fla., won their fifth
straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Confer
ence championship to garner a spot
in the NCAA Regionals. Bethune
Cookman has never won a game in
regional play, but the Wildcats are on
a roll after coming from the losers'
bracket to win the MEAC tide.
No. 8 Long Island
Long Island (27-26) earned a berth
in the tournament with its eighth
Northeast Conference tide. The Black
birds are led by freshman Jessie DePip
po, who is batting .373 while playing
catcher. Three more Long Island players
— Sayde Marzolf (.370), Krystal Mejia
(.346) and Alicia Ciccarello (.304) —
are batting over .300 this season.
Contact the senior sports reporter
at mindirice@dailyemerald.com.
RICE
continued from page 7
Nyhus, who spent the past two
years playing at Central Arizona
College, picked up her 10th confer
ence victory in Oregon's 10th con
ference win — the lone victory of
those six games, a 1-0 defeat of
Stanford.
The Ducks, who want to put the
past two weeks behind them, are
determined to find success in Talla
hassee, Fla., this weekend. They
know there are lessons to be learned
from every game this season, but for
now they just want to play.
As for Nyhus, she wants to see her
new home succeed as well. As with
most pitchers, the pressure will not
faze her. Instead, she will use it to
fuel her game.
"It could be any of us (that steps
up)," Nyhus said. "I hope it's me.
I'm sure Amy hopes it's her, Anissa
hopes it's her and Lindsey hopes it's
her. It's one of those things where
we'll see where it goes."
Contact the senior sports reporter
at mindirice@dailyemerald.com.
Her opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
GIVE
ME 5!
Run your “for sale” ad (items under $1,000)
for 5 days in the ODE Classified Section.
If the item(s) doesn’t sell, call us at 346-4343
and well run it again for another
5 days free!
f&mo:
Pregnant?
Talk with a friend.
1.800.848. LOVE
possiblypregnant.org
Fares are roundtrip from Portland. Restrictions apply.
Taxes not included. Fares subject to change.
Los Angeles
New York
London
Paris
Frankfurt
Mexico City
Lima
$175
$280
$453
$467
$580
$399
$639
Rio de Janeiro $769
Tokyo $581
Hong Kong $489
Bangkok $613
Sydney $939
Delhi $1043
Eurailpass issued
On-The-Spot
1430 S.W. Park Ave.
_ _ _ Portland, OR 97201
«« TRAVEL CUTS 503-274-2323
See the world your way 800-592-CUTS (2887)
portland@travelcuts.com
ASK US ABOUT OUR EXCLUSIVE FLEXIBLE FARES
www.travelcuts.com
8-11pm @ Riley Hall (13th&Pattersdn
free w/UO ID
MAy 21st'
lessens ■from brazil avui afHca^p^w. §
* refreshments served