Women’s Recruiting News
by Jerry Thompson
Top In-State
Women Choose to
stay close to Home
Alicia Cook
Elmira’s Alicia Cook was pitching
softballs against the gym wall since she was
5 or 6 years old and had watched her older
sister Jenny pitch successfully for the
Oregon Ducks. Some thought it was almost
predestined for Alicia, the defending state
3A hurler for the Falcons, to become a Duck.
Not so, said Alicia’s mother, Pam Cook, who
has coached the Elmira softball team for the
past twelve years. She said Alicia’s biggest
reservation for choosing the Ducks would
be following her sister and not establishing
her own identity. Beyond that, Cook, who
was 23-0 last year, could have gone to any
of the big softball powers in the nation,
including UCLA, Arizona, Cal, etc. So why
did the Cook choose the Ducks?
Alicia told DI that she really liked the
new Oregon coaches, Kathy Arendsen,
J. Gaudreau, and Mike White. “I connected
with the coaches who are really nice. It just
felt right,” Alicia said. Pam elaborated on
Alicia's decision saying that the Oregon
coaches were “wonderful” and answered all
her questions and concerns. The Cooks had
witnessed first hand the ups, and mainly
downs, of the Oregon softball program and
they were encouraged, not only by last year’s
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surprise season, but they were impressed
with that fact that the Oregon players were
happy and “playing with smiles”. They said
it was evident that the players liked each
other and were having fun. Alicia knows
very well the huge time commitment that
softball requires and she wanted to be sure
that it was not just all business without
any fun. Pam put it this way: “The players
play for Kathy.”
Alicia said that being close to home was
an important factor. She wanted her family
to be able to see her play and to be able to
come home on weekends and watch her
nephew, Jenny’s son, grow up. Alicia could
have opted for Oregon State and still have
been able to do the above, but she felt more
comfortable with the Oregon program. The
Ducks contacted Cook this summer on the
first day allowed by the NCAA and Alicia
took a couple of weeks to make sure she
was making the right decision for here. She
verbally committed near the end of July.
Alicia is a senior at Elmira and at 5’11”
she is enjoying playing on the Falcon
basketball team. In softball they are looking
to repeat this spring. They lost by a score of
just 1-0 in 2002, but last year Alicia pitched
and won the state championship game.
Athletic Director John Guldager said that
Alicia has “gutted out” some injuries as she
has had rotator cuff surgery in the past as
well as knee surgery. He was quick to point
out that she came back well from it and
led her team to the state title. “Alicia is very
talented and highly motivated,” Guldager
stated. Alicia said that she has 5 pitches in
her repertoire: rise, drop, curve, screwball,
and changeup. She said her favorite 0-2
“out” pitch is the curve.
The future bodes well for the Ducks
since pitching is such a big part of softball.
Oregon is excited that they have been able
to add Cook along with last year's freshman
ace, Amy Harris, from North Eugene. The
goal is to keep signing the best players from
the state of Oregon for years to come. Who
knows, there may be a girl just starting
elementary school who has already started
throwing softballs against the wall and has
begun to dream. Alicia Cook would do
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8 NOVEMBER 13, 2003
DucksIllustrated
Kristen Forristall
Alicia Cook
nothing but encourage her-she knows that
dreams do come true.
Kristen Forristall
The player who many consider the
top high school women's basketball player
in the state of Oregon has chosen to join
Bev Smith's program which continues to
emphasize signing the state’s top players.
Last year the Ducks added two Portlanders,
6’ 6” Jessica Shetters from Wilson and
point guard Cicely Oaks from Grant.
On the November 12th early signing
date the Oregon women’s basketball
program enriched their program with the
addition of 6’ 2” Kristen Forristall from
perennial state champion Oregon City.
Kristen is just beginning her senior year
for the Pioneers where playing time is
very limited as they get all the players
“into the act”. Kristen has led Oregon
City in scoring and rebounding during
the last two seasons. Last year Forristall
averaged 12.5 points per game and
9 rebounds while averaging just 17
minutes of play (a high school game is
32 minutes long). The Pioneers under
long time coach Carl Tinsely, who
retired at the end of last school year,
won 9 of the last 12 state championships.
This year they will be coached by Brad
Smith. It looks like for at least the next
5 years Forristall will have a “Smith” as
her head coach. In addition, Kristen
is the first player from Oregon City
in 7 years to sign on with the Ducks.
Brianne Meharry was the latest.
With her success on the basketball
floor as well as the classroom (3.92 g.p.a.),
Forristall had many choices before her
as a student athlete. Kristen told DI
that Oregon was the first to contact
her a couple of years ago and they
remained very interested in her. Indiana,
Boston College, and Vanderbilt also
came calling and Forristall admitted
that there was no wrong choice to
be made with any of those schools.
She narrowed it down to Oregon
and Vanderbilt, both of whom she
characterized as having very competitive
teams with good team camaraderie.
“I chose Oregon because it was closer
to home and I wanted to represent my
home state,” Kristen stated. Academically,
Forristall plans on majoring in sports
marketing or advertising.
So, what kind of player is Kristen?
“I see myself as a “3”, a perimeter player
who can slash to the inside,” Forristall
said. Kristen should be able to use her
size and speed to her advantage against
smaller guards. Another reason Oregon
is excited to get Forristall is that she
plays both ends of the floor. She plays
with the passion needed for defense
and rebounding.
Forristall has played for some summer
all-star teams and she said she is going to
enjoy the competition between players in
the Pac-10 with whom she has already
played with or against. She mentioned
Candice Wiggins who opted for Stanford,
Jackie Holland at Washington, and Lauren
Patterson and Lindsey Plummer at UCLA.
It looks as if Bev Smith’s improving pro-
gram has added a player who will make
sure in the near future that the other Pac-
10 schools will know what competition is
all about when they play Oregon.