In softball the ability to have a short memory can make or break an athlete.
For Oregon’s Monique Fuiava, it’s something that’s come with three years of collegiate experience.
“She can have one bad at-bat and then come out the next at-bat and really perform.” Oregon head coach Mike White said. “She’s separating things.”
“Some people tend to carry their bad at-bats over and they’ll have another bad at-bat and then all of a sudden it snowballs.”
Fuiava, who’s started all 29 games at first base for the Ducks this season, has seen her fair share of ups and downs during her time at Oregon. With a team that’s now 24-5 and climbing the national polls each week, Fuiava says it’s the little things that have changed this year to get the team to where it is now.
“Just the attitude itself.” Fuiava said. “I feel like we have a better attitude and a better approach as a team collectively, and individually. We look forward to the next game, in the past it just been like dreadful or it just wasn’t a good thing to look forward to.”
Fuiava has proven that she can stay healthy through the wear and tear of the lengthy softball season, starting in 137 games over the course of her career, missing only six contests.
“She’s able to play relaxed,” White said. “Which is good, but then when it comes to at-bats in the games she really focuses and plays hard.”
Batting .316 on the season, Fuiava has knocked in 14 RBIs to go along with her three home runs, bringing her career total to 18. While the offensive numbers may not exactly jump off the page this season, the junior boasts a .977 fielding percentage in leading a stellar infield unit for the No. 21 Ducks.
Fuiava communicates with her teammates on the field throughout the game, something that has been a part of her game for quite some time now.
“Yeah, I’m kind of loud so it was a given,” She said. “Being loud and being talkative to my teammates was just in the job description I guess. So I mean it doesn’t bother me at all.”
As a sophomore last season, Fuiava was a part of the Ducks 16-34 campaign that featured a discouraging 3-18 run through the Pacific-10 conference schedule. The trick this season, she says, will be getting the first-year players — Oregon starts four of them — past the names on the other uniforms and sticking to their game.
“Just tell them it’s just another game.” Fuiava said. “Don’t look at their jerseys, all you’ve got to know is there’s just somebody else in the other dugout.”
In the last two seasons, Oregon has tallied eight conference wins, a number that White would like to see matched this spring.
“We’ve got to try and get one game a weekend.” White said. “I don’t think we can go out there and expect to sweep somebody, so if we can go out there and win one game a weekend and we end up with seven wins in the Pac-10 then we’d be really happy with that.”
Fuiava and White seem to have a similar levelheaded approach to the game, even though they’ve spent less than an entire season together. They both understand losses are nearly inevitable when playing in the rigorous Pac-10; it’s how they can get the team to bounce back that will ultimately decide their fate.
Win, loss, or draw, Fuiava has her sights set down the road to May 28 and the beginning of super regional play.
“We are aiming for postseason,” Fuiava concluded. “Upperclassmen are aiming for further than we’ve ever gone.
“Furthest I’ve gone is regionals, so my goal is to make it to super regionals. If we make it there, then take that one game at a time.”
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