Sports
Oregon Daily Emerald
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
“Anytime I’ve taken the mound, it’s
always been the old Samson-and-Goliath
story written about me. ”
Randy Johnson | Yankees pitcher
Erik R. Bishoff | Photographer
Oregon junior Dani Baird, seen here earlier this season, hit a game-winning single with bases loaded against Drake on Saturday at the
UNLV Rebel Classic in Las Vegas.
■ Duck softball
Baird drives in
winning run for
No. 21 Oregon
The Ducks edged by Drake with a 4-3 victory
to improve their season record to 10-8 overall
BY CLAYTON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
Late-inning heroics from the
21 st-ranked Oregon softball team
allowed it to salvage another 2-2
weekend as the Ducks beat Drake
4-3 Saturday at the UNLV
Rebel Classic.
Junior Dani Baird’s bases-loaded
single in the bottom of the seventh
inning snapped Oregon’s two-game
losing skid and improved the team’s
record to 10-8 on the season.
Oregon started off the inning
with a single to right by sopho
more Suzie Barnes that was fol
lowed by Ashley Richards reaching
first on an error by Drake third
baseman Katie Wappler. Barnes
moved to third on the play.
Beth Boskovich — who was 2 for
2 with a home run, a double and
two RBIs — was then intentionally
walked for the second time in the
game to load the bases.
Baird stepped up next and drilled
a single up the middle to score the
winning run.
Freshman pitcher Alicia Cook
picked up the victory for Oregon.
She went the full seven innings, giv
ing up seven hits, a lone earned run
and four strikeouts for her fifth vic
tory on the season.
Oregon fell behind in the top of
the fourth when the Ducks commit
ted two errors, leading to a two-run
inning for Drake.
The Ducks struck back in the bot
tom half of the inning when Drake
second baseman Shanna Cook
committed an error on a ball hit by
Richards. Boskovich followed with
a home run to tie the game at 2-2.
Oregon added another run in
the inning when hot-hitting fresh
man T.J. Eadus smacked an
RBI single through the left side of
the infield, scoring an already-on
base Baird and giving the Ducks a
3-2 lead. The Tltcson, Ariz., native
leads the team in hitting this
season with a .464 average.
But Drake struck back when
Lindsay Larry led off the top of the
fifth inning with a single. She stole
second base and scored on a Cook
single down the left-field line to tie
the score 3-3.
The score remained even until
Baird’s game-winning single, drop
ping Drake’s record to 8-2.
Oregon’s fortunes were much
different on Friday as the Ducks
were shut out by No. 25 Long
Beach State, 4-0.
The Ducks struggled from the
plate, as they were limited to four
hits by Long Beach State’s Kourtnee
Gervasi. She struck out eight in sev
en innings of work to pick up her
sixth win of the season.
Long Beach State scored an un
earned run in the top of the third to
take a 1-0 lead. The 49ers’ Lauren
Johnson laid down a bunt on a
squeeze play and Gervasi, who had
singled to begin the inning and ad
vanced on an error and a stolen
base, scampered home for the score.
The Ducks’ trouble on defense
continued as another unearned
run from an error scored in the top
of the seventh on a Marcel Torres
two-RBI double.
“Defensively, I know we are a
better team,” Oregon head coach
SOFTBALL, page 6
■ Duck tennis
Duck women breeze by
Boise State with 5-2 win
BY ALEX TAM
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
Boise State head coach Mark Tichenor paced
around the Student Tennis Center on Saturday,
glancing up at the scores and shaking his head as
his team dug itself into a deep hole in its dual
match against the Oregon women’s tennis team.
The Ducks (10-2, 1-1 Pacific-10 Conference)
scored the first five points in the match en route
to defeating Boise State (3-4) in a relatively stress
free 5-2 victory. It was Oregon’s 12th-consecutive
victory in regular season non-conference games,
dating back to last season.
“I was pleased with the way we played,” Ore
gon head coach Nils Schyllander said. “I think we
took care of business. We got to four (points)
pretty quick, and it wasn’t very stressful.”
The Ducks jumped out to a 1-0 lead after
sweeping all three doubles matches. The
15th-ranked duo of Daria Panova and Dominika
Dieskova improved to a 9-3 doubles record with
their triumph over Boise State’s Megan Biorkman
and Alissa Ayling, 8-2.
Dieskova then helped the Ducks take a
2-0 advantage when she defeated Ayling in
straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. The 20-year-old Diesko
va won the last five games of the match and im
proved her singles record to 9-3.
Oregon took control with a sizable 3-0 lead
when Panova stopped Biorkman’s late rally at
tempt in another straight-set win, 6-1,6-3.
“I think I played real good in the first set,”
Panova said. “Second set, she wouldn’t give up.”
Panova led the second set 5-1 before her op
ponent took a break point and then held serve.
Oregon’s No. 1 player said she was tired at the
end of her match because of a trip to Arizona a
week ago, and she “just wanted to win” as fast
as possible.
“1 was thinking, ‘The match is almost over, I
need to win one more game,' and (I finally got
it),” Panova said.
Senior Ester Bak then sealed the fourth point
— and victory — for the Ducks with her win
against Broncos’ senior Anna Curtolo, 6-3, 6-2.
TENNIS, page 6
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
Juniors Anna Leksinska, above, and Jamie Marshall improved their doubles records to 6-5 while helping Oregon
defeat Boise State 5-2 Saturday at the Student Tennis Center.