With two top-five conference teams looming on the horizon, the No. 18 Oregon softball team must first contend with Portland State today. The Ducks (30-18 overall, 4-6 Pacific-10 Conference) host the Vikings in a doubleheader at 2 p.m. at Howe Field.
Despite the fact that Portland State (20-28, 6-8 Western Athletic Conference) is unranked, sophomore catcher/ designated player Missy Coe insists that the team is not looking past them.
“We need these wins to go into the weekend with some confidence,” Coe said. “We can’t look past them at all. We need the wins going into the weekend.”
The Ducks saw themselves in a situation eerily similar to this one last week, as they hosted Hawaii in a double header before heading to Corvallis to face Oregon State. Whether Oregon was looking past Hawaii or not, the Ducks came away with a only a split.
In the first game, “we didn’t come out like we needed to,” Coe said. “We needed to come out and look at it like a Pac-10 game — which we’ll do tomorrow.”
The last time the Ducks played was that doubleheader against Hawaii more than a week ago. The team was supposed to face Oregon State, but the game was rained out. The break in action should help the team more than hurt it.
“It’s not going to hurt us all that much because we have 48 games under our belts now,” head coach Rick Gamez said. “The couple days off might actually help us out with our aggressiveness.”
Looking at today’s contests as if they were conference games should give the Ducks an advantage over their opponent, according to Gamez.
“There is no better pitching than we’ve seen in the Pac-10,” Gamez said. “So if we stay focused and disciplined then we’ll score runs. We can’t take Portland State lightly because last year they beat us.”
Oregon’s offense has been on a roll lately, scoring 35 runs in the last seven games and belting nine extra-base hits, including three home runs, beginning with the two wins in the previous meetings between the teams. Oregon won both ends of a twin bill in Portland, 7-5 and 7-5.
“We’re being more aggressive and looking for the right pitches,” Coe said. “I think that we are seeing the ball well right now. When the whole team is hitting well; it’s sort of contagious.”
Coe has been a big contributor to the team’s recent power surge, knocking in five runs on three extra base hits including two home runs.
“We’ve just been working on my mechanics a little bit,” the Medford native said. “I’ve changed my stride, and I’m seeing the ball pretty well right now.”
Not only have the Ducks’ been healthy at the plate, but they have been playing their best defensive ball of the season. During the weekend when they were swept by UCLA and Washington, the team committed seven errors in three games. In the seven games since, the Ducks have dramatically improved in the field, committing only seven errors.
“We’ve just basically gotten our act together,” Coe said. “We’re playing together and stepping it up to the level we need to reach for the weekend.”
Winners of six of the last seven, the Ducks have jumped on the scoreboard first five times. It’s something that the team looks to continue today.
“We want to jump on them early in the game,” Coe said. “The earlier we score the more successful we are as a team.”
Gamez understands the importance of picking up these games for positioning for post-season play. The Ducks are looking to make a run in the second half of the season heading into the end of conference play.
“Every win is crucial,” Gamez said. “We need to get in good position for the post-season. These games are extremely important for us, not only for the post season but also for our confidence.
“With Arizona and Arizona State coming in this weekend, a couple wins will do a lot for us.”