It has been 15 years since an Oregon softball team won a game against Arizona in Tucson, Ariz.
Just four times since Feb. 14, 1989, have the Ducks beat Arizona in Pacific-10 Conference play.
Tonight at 7 p.m., the No. 10 Ducks (37-14 overall, 9-6 Pacific-10 Conference) have their best chance in recent history to change their fortune as they face No. 1 Arizona (48-3, 12-2).
Oregon is 1-1 this season against the Wildcats, with a 6-1 loss and 1-0 win at Howe Field. The Ducks were the first team to beat Arizona in conference play.
“I expect that it’s going to be a great game,” Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen said. “I think we’re going to be a lot tougher than they think we’re going to be.”
The Wildcats are coming off a 2-1 upset by No. 7 Stanford at Arizona’s Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium on Sunday. It was Arizona’s third loss of the season. The Wildcats’ first loss came in a preseason tournament to Washington. Their second loss was to Oregon.
“I know Arizona is going to be an angry and upset team because of the fact that they lost their last game as well,” Arendsen said. “I’m sure they’re going to be very focused on getting back on track.”
Most Pac-10 schools have a losing record at Hillenbrand, as the Wildcats routinely lose a single-digit number of games each season.
“Arizona is probably one of the toughest places to play,” second baseman Erin Goodell said. “Not just because they’re one of the best teams, but they have good fans and it’s just a really tough place to play. It would be amazing to beat them there.”
Arendsen is a career 2-4 against Arizona, 1-4 while at Oregon.
Saturday and Sunday, the Ducks face unranked Arizona State (31-27, 1-13) at 7 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively. Oregon beat the Sun Devils 1-0 when Arizona State came to Howe.
Arizona State’s sole conference win is against Oregon State.
“We have an opportunity to take a series from both of those teams,” pitcher Ani Nyhus said. “I think after playing Arizona, we see that there’s no team in the conference that can’t be beat.”
The Ducks are coming off a two-game sweep, 1-0 and 3-0, of Portland State in a doubleheader Wednesday at Howe Field. Sophomore Amy Harris pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings in the first game to pick up the win. Nyhus earned her second save of the season when she came in relief.
Oregon’s sole run in the first game came on a home run by left fielder Dani Baird.
Senior pitcher Anissa Meashintubby threw a complete-game shutout in the second game of the doubleheader. She gave up three hits and struck out seven Vikings.
In the bottom of the third inning of the second game, Oregon scored a run on an error by Portland State’s catcher.
The Ducks added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Third baseman Ashley Richards scored on a double by catcher Jenn Poore. Poore advanced to third on the throw home before scoring on a single by Goodell.
“I think we know what we need to do,” Poore said. “I think we realize that our intensity and our energies have a lot to do with our winning. We need to get everybody pumped up.”
Oregon closed its homestand with a 5-3 record after going 2-1 against Arizona State and Arizona then going 1-2 against UCLA and Washington.
“I’m looking for a very hostile environment at Arizona,” Arendsen said.
Contact the senior sports reporter
at [email protected].