At this time last year, the Oregon women’s softball team was already three weeks into offseason, but as the old adage goes, what a difference a year makes.
Coming off a 3-0 sweep at the Atlanta Regional last weekend, the Ducks (36-19) now sit within two wins of reaching the 2010 College Softball World Series.
The Ducks left early Thursday morning en route to Columbia, Mo., where they’ll match up with the Columbia Regional Champion Missouri Tigers in a best-of-three series. Oregon will play ninth-seeded Missouri in a single game on Saturday afternoon, followed by a second contest on Sunday morning with a third game played immediately after if necessary.
Missouri is a relatively unfamiliar opponent for Oregon head coach Mike White and his squad, having faced one another just three times in program history. The Ducks met up with Missouri at the San Diego Classic tournament last season, coming up on the short end of an 8-7 loss in nine innings. The last time Oregon defeated its Big 12 Conference opponent was back in 2004 when most of the current roster was still in middle school.
“The first thing that I found out was that their ace pitcher is hurt,” White said. “So I think that bodes well for us. It doesn’t mean we’re automatically going to score some runs, we’ve still got to play ourself, but it’s much better than facing their great pitcher from last year.”
Like Oregon, Missouri went a perfect 3-0 in Regional play, defeating Creighton 3-2 the opening day followed by a 3-1 win over No. 18 Illinois on Saturday and another 4-2 beating of Illinois on Sunday. Missouri (49-11) features a talented trio of underclassmen in freshman shortstop Jenna Marston (.376, 64 hits, 16 doubles, five home runs, 52 RBI, and 15 stolen bases), sophomore right fielder Ashley Fleming (.360, 49 hit, nine home runs, 42 RBI, and 14 stolen bases) and freshman third baseman Nicole Hudson (.327, 49 hits, 14 doubles, 9 home runs, and 39 RBI).
“We think they’re going to play things pretty straight up,” White said. “They’ve got some very good speed — especially at the top of the order.”
Junior center fielder Rhea Taylor ranks fifth nationally in stolen bases, reaching safely on 45 of her 48 attempts in this season.
Oregon, on the other hand, used an outstanding effort in the circle from freshman pitcher Jessica Moore, who was backed up by a defense that made only one error in three games in Atlanta. In Moore’s 18 1/3 innings pitched last weekend, she scattered just 17 hits and allowed only one home run to a Georgia Tech team that ranked second in the nation in round trippers this season.
White said Moore struggled with pitch location in the latter half of Pacific-10 Conference play, but when the time for postseason came she was ready for the challenge.
“Her location was great,” White said. “That first game against Auburn set the tone for the whole weekend, and she just went from there. Then when she finally ran out of gas, Mikayla Endicott was ready to come in and just slam the door shut.”
Endicott was awarded the win in Oregon’s 4-3 comeback victory over Georgia Tech on Sunday, striking out four of the five batters she faced in her 1 2/3 innings. Offensively, freshman right fielder Allie Burger and senior center fielder Neena Bryant paced the Ducks with .545 and .500 averages, respectively, while freshman second baseman Kaylan Howard drove in a team-high five RBI.
Bryant, Oregon’s only senior to start in more than half the team’s games this season, said she’s just excited for the chance to play at a new level.
“It’s definitely exciting,” Bryant said. “Obviously I’ve never been there before, our program hasn’t been there for a while, so it’s definitely positive no matter how this weekend pans out for us.”
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