The first half of the Pacific-10 Conference softball season was a half of streaks. The No. 23 Oregon Ducks (29-17 overall, 4-6 Pac-10 ) are in the middle of a five-game winning streak, the last three wins coming in the Pac-10. But before this current stretch, the Ducks dropped five in a row — all conference games.
During the losing streak, Oregon’s offense only managed 15 hits in five contests, four of them being the home stand which included No. 1 Washington, No. 3 UCLA, and No. 12 Oregon State. Freshman Andrea Vidlund managed the homestand’s only run on her first home run of the season.
As the Ducks’ luck changed so did their offensive effectiveness. In the last five wins, Oregon bats have produced 33 hits and 23 runs.
The power has returned as well. There were six home runs, a double and 22 runs batted in.
Senior Andrea Gustafson led the weekend charge, going four for 10 with two RBIs in three games against No. 9 Stanford and No. 8 California.
Assault on the
record books
Senior center fielder Jill Robinson has spent her final season as a Duck rewriting many of the Oregon career records. Coming into the year, Robinson was tied with teammate Triawn Custer for fifth all-time in home runs with 18. She was sixth in RBIs with 91 and seventh in hits at 165.
With 12 round-trippers on the year, Robinson has moved into sole possession of second-place with 30 — only one behind Kathy Stahl at 31. While her 38 RBIs are second on this year’s team behind Lindsey Welch’s 40, Robinson remains second behind her teammate with 129 career RBIs, 10 behind Welch’s all-time mark of 139.
Robinson has climbed four spots on the hits list so far with her 47 base hits this year. Her 212 career hits are third best in Oregon history, and she is only 22 hits behind Julie Cavanaugh for No. 1 all-time.
Like Robinson, Welch is aiming at some records. She is currently ranked first in RBIs with 139 and fifth in hits with 202, one of only five Ducks with 200 or more career hits.
She is also knocking on the door in the home run department. Her 26 career dingers put her third all-time behind Robinson and Stahl.
While Robinson and Welch came into the season tied for seventh in doubles at 20 apiece, they have both risen three spots together to fourth all-time at 31.
Run support
Sophomore hurler Connie McMurren has finally gotten some run support to go along with her superb pitching. During the last home stand, McMurren had pitched a total of 20 innings, allowing only two runs on 12 hits, but she didn’t get a win for her efforts.
What a difference a change of scenery will do for one’s confidence.
On the recent road-trip, McMurren picked up three wins and a save in four games of work. The difference was run support. In her previous losses, McMurren did not get any help from her teammates as the Ducks scored only one run. However, during her current two-game winning streak, Oregon has scored 13 runs in the three games which McMurren got a decision.
The two wins improved McMurren’s season record to 12-12.
In the middle of the Pac
The recent sweep of the Bay Area teams improved Oregon’s Pac-10 record to 4-6 and puts them smack-dab in the middle of the conference race.
The Ducks are currently in fifth place and are ahead of three other teams who are ranked higher than them in the national polls.
