THE BULLETIN • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2021 B3
COLLEGE SOFTBALL | OREGON DUCKS
Revenge
Freshman shortstop
Alyssa Brito has
emerged as key player
Continued from B1
BY JAMES CREPEA
The Oregonian
EUGENE — Opportunity
first came knocking for Alyssa
Brito in the offseason.
The former top-40 recruit,
but there wasn’t necessarily an
obvious opening on Oregon’s
infield for her to play imme-
diately. Jasmine Sievers opting
out of the season due to her
pregnancy created an opening
at shortstop, where Brito has
taken over and gotten off to a
red hot start.
“Coming in I knew I had to
compete,” Brito said. “We’re at
a collegiate level now that ev-
erybody is good. Coming in
I didn’t really have any goals
such as that, but I said to my-
self compete every day, give ev-
erything I’ve got every practice
and every day. Competing con-
stantly.”
Brito earned the starting job
and leads the No. 8 Ducks (7-
0) with a .389 average through
their first two weekends, with
two home runs and seven
RBIs. Making those figures all
the more impressive is Brito
opened 0 for 6 with a couple of
walks and is 7 for her last 12.
“She brings a great energy to
our team and we have seen it in
practice,” center fielder Haley
Cruse said. “She is a superstar,
and I know she’s going to con-
tinue to build off of that.”
Brito’s first clutch hits came
in the comeback win over
Grand Canyon, when she hit a
two-run double to tie the game
and a critical RBI single, both
with two outs. She had a pair of
solo home runs and an RBI tri-
ple during two wins last week-
end at Fresno State, earning
Brito Pac-12 freshman of the
week honors, and been perfect
in the field thus far.
“Alyssa has been excellent on
defense,” Oregon coach Mel-
yssa Lombardi said. “You can
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“Coming in I knew I had to
compete. … I said to myself
compete every day, give
everything I’ve got every
practice and every day.
Competing constantly.”
— Alyssa Brito, Oregon Ducks
freshman softball player
see her bat is starting to get a
little hot as well.”
Both of Brito’s home runs
last weekend were well beyond
the fence, though her team-
mates haven’t been surprised by
the power she’s displayed.
“She would hit 300-foot
home runs at practice,” second
baseman Allee Bunker said.
“We’re like, ‘OK, she’s going to
do big things for this team.’ Her
fielding at short is incredible, as
you can see the past couple of
weekends.”
As Oregon prepares for
its toughest games yet, with
top-ranked UCLA twice and
against Utah during a trip to
Tempe, Ariz. on Sunday and
Monday, Brito has become a
major player for the Ducks.
The former three-time Cal-
ifornia all-state honoree has
played with and against several
of UCLA’s players before, so the
heightened level of competition
shouldn’t be daunting.
“I think my hard work and
dedicating myself a lot to get-
ting better every day has helped
me over the years and I’ve
tried to carry that into college
and do the best that I can each
game and put everything out
there,” Brito said. “I want to go
in there and be aggressive and
also make that at-bat as tough
as possible on the pitcher, that’s
challenging them. Just try to
pass the bat to my teammates
and get something going.”
Bryan Byerly/Utah Athletics file
Oregon State’s Taylor Jones (44) elevates for a jump shot over Utah’s
Lola Pendande (12) on Jan. 31 in Salt Lake City. Jones had 15 points
and six rebounds as the Beavers won 84-74.
Yelich
Continued from B1
He spent the initial stages
of spring training in 2019
working his way back after a
fractured kneecap had ended
his 2019 season prematurely.
The Brewers believe he will
benefit from having this en-
tire preseason to get ready for
a more typical 162-game cam-
paign.
Just don’t assume the dis-
Up To
COVID-19 has taken much
away this basketball season,
but in a weird way delivered
a gift to the Beavers’ roster in
Talia von Oelhoffen.
A senior at Chiawana High
in Washington and a Novem-
ber OSU signee, von Oelhof-
fen opted to graduate early
and enroll at Oregon State for
winter quarter. She didn’t of-
ficially practice with the Bea-
vers until four days before her
Jan. 24 debut.
Von Oelhoffen has been
beyond advertised. She has
scored in double figures in
five of seven games, including
a career-high 19 points against
USC. Between von Oelhoffen
and Goodman, the Beavers
are sure to have a dynamic
lead guard on the floor for 40
minutes.
Much has been made of
von Oelhoffen’s precocity, but
Graves thinks it’s overrated.
She’s a good college player,
whether von Oelhoffen is 18
or 22.
“These kids are playing at a
high level in club basketball.
Her age, I don’t think it really
matters,” Graves said. “She’s
a good fit for them. She’s pa-
tient. She can really shoot the
ball, she’s an excellent passer.
She really plays well in their
pick and roll.”
The adversity of 2020-21 hit
Oregon State squarely in the
jaw early this season. Rather
than shrug and make the best
of it, the Beavers adapted and
flourished. OSU is 14 games
into the season, and as coach
“I feel like you need to be motivated every year. If you’re not
motivated, stay at home, kind of, in my opinion. A major
league season requires so much out of you. It asks for a lot.
And you have to give the game a lot. If you’re not willing to
meet the game at that level, it’s not going to go well for you.”
— Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder
appointment of 2020 has put
a chip on Yelich’s shoulder.
Yelich doesn’t believe any ad-
ditional incentive is necessary.
“I feel like you need to be
motivated every year,” Yelich
50% off
“It’s almost March, and
because of that, there’s
this massive urgency to
grow quickly.”
— Scott Rueck, Oregon State
women’s basketball coach
Scott Rueck said, “in a nor-
mal year and normal amount
of games we played for us, it
would be about Jan. 10. We
would have just played our
first weekend in Pac-12.”
Nothing normal about this
season.
“Obviously it’s not. It’s al-
most March, and because of
that, there’s this massive ur-
gency to grow quickly,” Rueck
said.
Graves believes the lack of
games has played in Oregon
State’s favor. The Beavers have
played Pac-12 front-runners
Stanford, Arizona and UCLA
once each, rather than twice
like Oregon and other Pac-12
teams.
“They’ve had a lot of time to
focus on them. They’ve done
a great job. They look really
good,” Graves said of OSU.
Sunday returns the series
back to its uber-competitive
nature of the past few years.
The only thing missing are
packed houses in Gill Coli-
seum and Matthew Knight
Arena because of COVID-19.
“It’s not the way you want,
for sure. The fun of this is go-
ing into a hostile arena,” Rueck
said. “Unfortunately and sadly,
we are getting used to it. But
it’s certainly not nearly as fun.”
said. “If you’re not motivated,
stay at home, kind of, in my
opinion. A major league sea-
son requires so much out of
you. It asks for a lot. And you
have to give the game a lot. If
you’re not willing to meet the
game at that level, it’s not go-
ing to go well for you. So like
I said, previous seasons are ir-
relevant, in my opinion. They
have no bearing on what you
need to do in the future. Ev-
ery year’s a fresh start.”
*
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