Oregon daily emerald., May 23, 2005, Image 9

Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, May 23, 2005
“I wouldn ’t do the Magic Hour again, but I would do
TV again. The Magic Hour is not me. Anything I
would do, I would have to be me. ”
Magic Johnson
■ Duck softball
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
Lovena Chaput, seen here earlier this season, and the rest of the Oregon softball team failed to qualify for the Super Regionals for the first time in two years after falling
to No. 10 Oklahoma on Sunday, 2-1, in the first game of the Regional.
Season comes to a heart-racing finish
The Ducks couldn't come back
from a two-run deficit against
No. 10 Oklahoma, losing 2-1
BY CLAYTON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
Living by the seat of its pants after capturing
two must-win games Saturday, the Oregon soft
ball team’s season came to an end Sunday when
the Ducks lost their first game of the Regional
tournament Friday against lOth-ranked Okla
homa in Norman, Okla., 2-1.
It marks the first time in three seasons the
Ducks haven’t reached the Super Regionals.
A rough first inning sealed the Ducks’ (35-25
overall) fate against the host Sooners (50-15).
Oregon gave up the only two runs Oklahoma
would score in the game on a double steal and
an error by left fielder Lovena Chaput.
The Sooners started the inning with back
to-back singles by Norrelle Dickson and
Kristin Vesely off Oregon ace Amy Harris. Ok
lahoma’s Christina Enea sent a deep fly ball
to right field that was caught, allowing Dick
son to advance to third base.
With clean-up hitter Heather Scaglione at the
plate, the Sooners executed a perfect double steal
to score Dickson from third and move Vesely to
second. Scaglione singled to left later in the at
bat, and a Chaput error allowed Vesely to score,
giving the Sooners a 2-0 advantage.
Oregon fought back in the bottom of the sec
ond and had runners on second and third, but as
was the case most of the day, the team couldn’t
get to Oklahoma pitcher Kami Keiter. First base
man Kristi Leiter popped out to end the inning.
The Sooner pitcher dominated the Ducks most of
the day, giving up six hits and an earned run
while striking out eight and walking two.
With two outs in the top of the fifth, Harris was
replaced by freshman Alicia Cook after giving up
a single to Enea and walking Scaglione. Cook
Kate Horton | Photographer
Amy Harris became the Ducks’ all-time leader in
career strikeouts when she reached 476 against
Wichita State on Saturday.
retired the next seven batters to keep the Ducks
alive for a rally. The Elmira native didn’t give up
an earned run during the entire tournament
(9.1 innings), and batters hit a microscopic
.033 against her.
Duck hitters finally got to Keiter in the bottom
of the fifth inning. Senior second baseman Erin
Goodell singled, followed by a Suzie Barnes dou
ble to put runners on second and third with one
out. Chaput drove in Goodell on a groundout to
the second baseman, but the Ducks couldn’t
scrape together anything else as Sabol ended the
inning by popping out to the catcher.
Oregon threatened again in the bottom of the
sixth inning. Beth Boskovich walked and Ashley
Richards reached when the Sooners attempted to
get Boskovich at second but were unsuccessful.
With runners on first and second and no outs,
Keiter once again shut down the Ducks' bats, get
ting Kayleen Hudson to pop out and pinch hitter
Ann Marie Topps and Goodell to strike out.
The Ducks were given a third chance to tie the
score in the last inning, but they failed to convert.
A single by Barnes and a single by Chaput put
runners on first and second with one out.
Oregon couldn’t capitalize with tying and win
ning runs on base, as Keiter mowed down Sabol
and Boskovich to end the game and secure the
Sooners a spot in the Super Regionals.
Oregon’s journey to the Regional final started
last Friday when the Ducks fell to No. 14
Louisiana-Lafayette in a high scoring battle, 7-5.
The Ragin’ Cajuns used four home runs to
gamer the victory against the Ducks.
The Ducks fell behind early after a one-out
home run by ULL’s Danyele Gomez to give the
Ragin’ Cajuns a 1-0 first-inning lead. It was
Gomez’s 20th home run of the season.
The score remained the same until ULL scored
three times in the top of the fourth inning to push
the lead to 4-0.
The Ducks cut the lead to 6-5 in the bottom
of the sixth inning after Boskovich crushed a
three-run homer, but they couldn’t quite
make it all the way back.
“We had several opportunities in the game,
and we weren’t able to get the timely hitting
we needed,” Oregon head coach Kathy
Arendsen said.
Oregon came back Saturday with an extra-in
ning victory against Wichita State. Richards dou
bled with two outs in the top of the eighth inning
to drive in two and help the Ducks win 3-2.
Harris led the team in batting, going the
distance for the Ducks’ lone earned run in the
contest. With her five strikeouts in the game,
she became Oregon’s all-time leader with
476 career strikeouts. In the game against Ok
lahoma, her two strikeouts also gave her the
SOFTBALL, page 12
■ Duck golf
Team out,
LaVoie in
for NCAA
tourney
Gregg LaVoie will be the lone
representative for Oregon after
the team failed to receive a bid
BY SCOTT J. ADAMS
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
The final round of the NCAA West Re
gional on Saturday found the Oregon men’s
golf team trying to improve upon its dismal
score Friday and to find a way into the
NCAA Championships. Despite spectacular
play by Gregg LaVoie and Jay Snyder, the
Ducks fell short of qualifying by six strokes
and finished tied for 14th.
An even par 280 — the lowest score of
the third round — wasn’t enough to vault
the Ducks into the top ten, where all bids to
the NCAA Championships were awarded.
The tournament, played at the par-70,
6,742-yard Stanford Golf Course, was a mi
crocosm of the Ducks’ season: a frustrating
start followed by a stellar finish, leaving the
team just shy of reaching its goal.
Although Oregon will miss out on the
Championships, head coach Steve Nosier
was still pleased at the way his squad
played Saturday.
“We had a heck of a round today,” Nosier
said. “It’s too bad that we didn’t have a bet
ter second round, but I’m really proud that
these guys finished strong and represented
Oregon the way they did.”
Although the tournament marked the
end of Oregon’s season as a team, LaVoie
will continue play June 1 at Caves Valley,
Md., for the NCAA finals. The Pasco,
Wash., native earned one of two possible
individual seeds awarded to the top players
at the Regional competing for a team not in
vited to the NCAAs. LaVoie delivered con
sistent scores of 70, 70 and 71 to finish tied
for 10th at 1-over 211 with Washington’s
Erik Olson. LaVoie’s trip to the Champi
onships will be the second of his career and
the first individual berth for an Oregon
golfer since Ben Crane in 1997.
“Gregg has got tremendous potential as a
golfer, and we’ve finally begun to see that
on a consistent basis this spring,” Nosier
said. “I hope this trip to the NCAA Champi
onships, where he will be competing
against the best golfers in the country,
brings out the competitor in him and helps
Gregg realize there’s another level he can
reach with his abilities.”
Snyder recorded Oregon’s lowest score in
the final round by shaving two strokes off
his previous career-low with a 67. The
sophomore walk-on carded four birdies and
finished tied for 61st at 220. Chris
Dukeminier also saved his best round for
last, improving his score Friday by four
strokes and tying for 66th. Teammate Justin
St. Clair ended the tournament tied for
49th at 218.
Matt Ma came into this tournament as
Oregon’s hottest golfer in spring but could
not find his rhythm over the weekend, fin
ishing with a pair of 77s in the first and
third rounds and carding an 82 on Friday.
He finished tied for 128th at 237.
Top-seeded UNLV and No. 2 New Mexico
of the Mountain West Conference defended
their top seedings at the tournament by fin
ishing first and second place, respectively.
The Running Rebels shot a final round 288,
GOLF, page 12