Oregon Daily Emerald
Thesday, February 15, 2005
“Once and for all, I did not use
steroids nor any illegal substance. ”
Former baseball player Mark McGuire after being accused
of using steroids in Jose Canseco’s new book
■ Duck softball
Ducks win two, lose two in Classic
BY CLAYTON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
The final day of the Louisville Slugger
Desert Classic didn't treat the Oregon softball
team kindly, as the 13th-ranked Ducks lost
to both No. 8 Michigan and Oklahoma State
on Sunday.
Oregon fell to Michigan 9-0 in its first game
of the day as Duck freshman Alicia Cook
(2-1) took the first loss of her early collegiate
career. She gave up six runs on six hits in
1 2/3 innings of work.
Cook’s counterpart, Michigan’s Jennie
Ritter, shut down the Ducks. She went the
entire game giving up only three hits
and striking out six batters, improving her
record to 2-0.
The Ducks had to endure a rough
first inning as Michigan jumped out to a
4-0 lead, highlighted by Michigan third
baseman Grace Leutel’s double that scored
two for the Wolverines.
Michigan scored all nine of its runs in the
first three innings of the game. The Wolverine
offense was led by designated hitter Nicole
Motycka, who went 3 for 3 with two RBIs
and a run. Also contributing to the victory
was second baseman Tiffany Haas, who
went 3 for 4 with a homer, two runs scored
and an RBI.
The Ducks finished the weekend much as
they began it — roughly.
Oregon fell to Oklahoma State 3-2 on
a walk-off home run by Cowgirls first base
man Jennie Killman in the bottom of the
seventh inning.
Oregon fell behind early, trailing 2-0
after Oklahoma State scored a run in both the
second and third innings.
The Ducks fought back as center fielder
Suzie Barnes hit her third home run of
the weekend, hammering a two-run homer
to tie the score. The sophomore hit her first
career home run Saturday in the Ducks’
victory over UC-Riverside and hit another
later that evening in Oregon’s win against
Texas State.
Johnson and Oregon starter Amy Harris
(2-2) then quieted down until Harris gave
up a home run to Killman to end the game.
Harris went six innings and gave up three
runs on five hits while striking out five
and walking two.
Johnson (3-2) dominated Oregon hitters,
striking out 11 while giving up five
hits and the two runs off of Barnes’ home
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
Oregon center fielder Suzie Barnes, seen here last season, hit her first career home run against UC-Riverside
in the Ducks’ win on Saturday. The sophomore hit three homers in four games during Oregon’s trip
to the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas.
run in seven innings of work.
On Saturday, Oregon defeated UC-River
side 11-3 on the strength of Barnes’ hitting.
She went 3 for 3 with a home run, a double,
four runs and two RBIs.
The Ducks scored in every inning except
the second.
Ani Nyhus picked up her first victory
of the season going 3 2/3 innings while still
trying to recover from an arm injury.
In the night game, Oregon was powered
by back-to-back home runs to defeat Texas
State 7-1.
Oregon trailed 1-0 until the sixth inning,
when freshman left fielder Lovena Chaput
hit a home run to tie the game. Barnes
stepped up next and drove a ball
out of the park to give the Ducks a lead
they wouldn’t relinquish. Oregon scored
four in the sixth and three in the seventh
to wrap up the game.
Harris shut down the Texas State offense,
limiting the Bobcats to four hits and one run
while striking out five and walking four in
her seven innings pitched.
Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen said
her team’s willingness to fight and stay in
the game was key to the victory.
“I couldn’t be happier with how we
battled today,” Arendsen said. “We put
pressure on them in the fifth inning and
came back again in the sixth. I am very
pleased with how we continued to believe
we could do this.”
Oregon will travel to California on Friday
to play in the UC-Riverside Invitational,
where their first matchup will come against
Portland State at 10 a.m.
claytonjones@dailyemerald.com
■ Duck track and field
Track team
overwhelms
competition
at Iowa State
Distance runner Eric Logsdon
also shined as he took sixth at
Washington's Husky Classic
BY BLAU HASTES
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
Sprinters Eric Mitchum and Matt Scherer
paced the Duck indoor track team this week
end, registering NCAA provisional times in the
60 meter hurdles and the open 400 meter at the
Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa.
Mitchum, a junior, finished third (7.76
seconds) in the 60 meter hurdles, tantalizingly
close to the NCAA automatic qualifying mark
of 7.70 seconds. The Calumet City, 111., native
ran a 7.74 in the preliminaries, a time that only
three collegians had beaten this year going into
Saturday’s meet.
Scherer, also a junior, won the meet’s
400 meter with a blistering time of 46.40
seconds. The time, which tied his indoor
school record front last year, kept the Sumner,
111., native ranked seventh nationally and
second in the conference behind Arizona
State’s Domenik Peterson (46.36).
Senior sprinter Kedar Inico, who currently
holds the nation’s 15th best 200 meter time
(21.10), did not race this weekend.
Distance runners excel in
Seattle; Skipper wins again
Senior Eric Logsdon bested another NCAA
automatic qualifying mark this weekend,
taking sixth (13:49.99) in the 5,000 meter at
Washington’s Husky Classic while topping the
NCAA automatic qualifying time of 13:53.10.
Logsdon, who has already qualified in the
3,000 meter for next month’s national meet,
broke the Oregon indoor 5k record set by Ryan
Andrus in 2004. The race was arguably the
most competitive in the nation, as the top-eight
finishers are all ranked in the top ten nationally.
TRACK, page 10
■ Duck tennis
Women suffer first loss of season to No. 9 Washington
BY ALEX TAM
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
Confidence was as high as ever
for the Oregon women’s tennis
team heading into Saturday’s dual
match against No. 9 Washington.
The 25th-ranked Ducks were
riding an eight-match winning
streak after defeating Washington
Mate 6-1 at
home on
Friday. The
team was
right where
it wanted to
be entering
its matchup
against a top-10 team and its rival
from Seattle.
“We started the season feeling
extremely confident. We need
to take it to the extra level. We
can’t wait for the Huskies,” Junior
Anna Leksinska said before the
Washington match.
However, the Ducks (8-1 overall)
faltered and were upended by
Washington, 5-2, despite jumping
out to a 1-0 lead after capturing the
doubles point.
Oregon then lost five of the six
singles matches to suffer its first loss
of the season.
The only singles victory
came from
sophomore
Dominika
Dieskova at
the No. 2
position,
who defeat
ed Dinka
Hadzic in straight sets, 6-3,6-0. The
22-year-old Dieskova, ranked
No. 34 in the nation, improved her
singles record to 8-1.
“Every time we play Washington
it comes down to a couple
of points here and there,” Oregon
head coach Nils Schyllander
said. “They are obviously one of the
best teams in the country, and that’s
where we want to be. ”
The Ducks remain confident as
they have another shot at the
Huskies on Mar. 22 in Seattle.
“If we keep playing the way we
have, we are very capable of beating
them,” Schyllander said.
Senior Daria Panova, ranked No.
31, suffered her first singles loss of
the season against the Huskies’ Dea
Sumantri in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
Panova’s singles record fell to 7-1.
The Oregon women begin Pacif
ic-10 Conference play in two weeks
when they travel to take on Arizona
Feb. 25 at 1:30 p.m. and Arizona
State on Feb. 26 at 11 a.m.
Men capture win after
losing twice last week
The Oregon men’s tennis team
broke its two-match losing streak
when it defeated UC-Santa
Barbara, 6-1 on Sunday.
The Ducks (6-3 overall) returned
to their winning ways after losing to
Boise State on Friday and Brigham
Young on Feb. 5 in two 6-1 defeats.
“It was good to get back on the
winning track,” Oregon head coach
Kevin Kowalik said. “We are still
trying to find our niche as a team,
but I felt we competed a lot better
than we did against Boise State.”
Senior Sven Swinnen improved
his singles record to 8-0 as he easily
triumphed over Santa Barbara’s
Ivan d’Argence, 6-1,6-2. Swinnen is
Oregon’s all-time leader in career
victories with 72.
Oregon’s only loss of the match
came at the No. 6 position after first
year Duck Chris Liao lost to Hagen
Brody in straight sets, 6-3,6-4.
The Oregon men hit the road
to face Minnesota on Friday at
3:30 p.m. and Northwestern on
Saturday at 6 p.m.
“We started the season feeling
extremely confident. ”
Anna Leksinska | Oregon junior
Danifxle Hickey | Photo editor
Oregon’s Anna Leksinska hits a backhand during
Oregon’s victory over Washington State on Friday. Two
days later, the Ducks lost at home to rival Washington.