It is perhaps the ultimate Jekyll and Hyde situation for a collegiate softball program, or at least Oregon’s version — impeccable defense one game followed by a deluge of errors in a losing effort the next game.
It can happen in a day, a weekend or a week apart, and this season it has happened for the No. 15 Oregon softball team.
Most recently, the Ducks won Friday’s game against Oregon State, 2-0, and didn’t commit an error while helping starter Ani Nyhus earn a third one-hitter.
Saturday, Oregon (30-10 overall, 4-2 Pacific-10 Conference) lost its final game of the season to the Beavers, 7-4, behind four errors. Both teams had eight hits and just three of the seven runs given up by Duck pitchers were earned.
“For me, personally, when you make an error you kind of think about it for the rest of the game and you’re kind of pressing,” shortstop Breanne Sabol said. “I think that’s what kind of happens when you notice other people making errors on the dirt or you see bad hops and you start thinking about it.”
Sabol, second baseman Erin Goodell and catcher Jenn Poore are the returning infielders from last season’s squad. Sabol started all but one of Oregon’s 56 games at shortstop last season and has started all 40 games in the same place this season.
Both Sabol and Goodell say the snowball effect of errors is more a mental hurdle than anything else.
“Especially individually, when you make an error yourself, you kind of lose a bit of confidence and that can affect the way you play the rest of the game,” Goodell said. “Once you get down on yourself and one thing happens, you start thinking about that too much and it’s going to just keep going like a domino effect.”
The split personalities have been restricted to the infield this season. The regular outfielders have drastically fewer errors than the infielders, as is common in softball and baseball.
“(The outfielders) have a good understanding of one another and where people are going to be,” outfielder Dani Baird said. “We have a lot of trust knowing that if I’m going to go and lay out for this ball, someone’s going to back me up and cover me. We hold each other accountable.”
In the outfield, players have a few more seconds for reaction time, although they often have more ground to cover. Infielders can’t depend on each other to back them up — if an infielder misses a ball, the next closest player is likely an outfielder.
The errors that have plagued Oregon recently have ended up in key situations — a missed throw that would have ended an inning or a misplayed bunt that would have saved a run — giving the errors a more direct effect on the game.
“You try not to (be waiting for the next one), but sometimes that’s just the way it goes,” Goodell said. “We all know that we all have the potential to be the best defensive team there is — we have the talent and we have the potential — but sometimes you just get in that mode where it goes back to the confidence thing. When one thing goes wrong, you start to question your ability even though you know you have the ability.”
As a team, Oregon’s fielding percentage is .955. Opponents are fielding .966 against the Ducks.

Sharing the burden
Oregon’s success this season has come behind the bats of the team rather than a select group of hard-hitters.
The Ducks’ top three hitters — Poore, Ashley Richards and Kayleen Hudson — are each 4 for 45 in Oregon’s past five games. Despite the slump for the Ducks’ leading hitters, Oregon went 3-2 in those five games.
“They’re frustrated probably more than I am,” Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen said. “That’s part of the game, that you go up and down. They had some hot streaks where the ball must have looked like a beach ball to them, and right now it probably looks like a golf ball.”
This season, Poore leads the Ducks with a .339 average. Richards is second, hitting .336 and Hudson is hitting .323, rounding out the top three.

Still climbing the hill
Oregon finished its first Pac-10 series of the season Saturday when the Ducks wrapped up the three-game battle with Oregon State with a 2-1 record.
“Oregon State is a very good ballclub,” Arendsen said. “We’re very thrilled about (the series win). It was one of the goals we set this year.”
Although the Ducks have finished one conference series, most of Pac-10 play remains ahead. Oregon opens its series against Washington on Friday and UCLA on Saturday. The following weekend, the Ducks face Arizona and Arizona State for the first time this season to hit the halfway mark of the Pac-10 season.