Less than one week after suffering its first loss of the season, the Oregon softball team won’t have much time to marinate on the mistakes that led to the loss. Instead, the No. 2 Ducks will have to atone for the errors on the go when they face No. 1 Florida (17-0) in the San Diego Classic in San Diego, California on Friday.
This game has all the makings of a potential national championship series down the road, as both teams advanced to the final four of last year’s Women’s College World Series. Florida defeated the Ducks during the WCWS on the way to winning the national championship.
“Of course there is a lot of hype riding on this game,” White said. “It is an important game — it’s really about us playing the game we play and performing well.”
Oregon has kept its No. 2 national ranking through the first three weeks of the season. The Ducks started the season with 15 straight wins, including four wins over top-25 teams, before losing to No. 7 Baylor last Sunday in the final game of the Baylor Invitational.
Freshman Jenna Lilley has filled the loss of Courtney Ceo, a unanimous all-American last year. Lilley leads Oregon in nearly every offensive category with a .510 batting average, 25 hits, 18 runs, 15 RBI’s and six doubles.
Five different Oregon players already have at least two homeruns on the year with Koral Costa leading the way with four. Danica Mercado has three, as well.
As a team, Oregon averages 7.5 runs per game and posts a team batting average of .378 as well as a .589 slugging percentage. The Ducks have scored in double figures in four games while run-ruling opponents in six games.
Defensively, returning all-American Cheridan Hawkins is the ace of the staff, but she has done most of her damage when coming out of the bullpen. She leads the team with four saves while posting a 5-1 record in 10 appearances.
“She threw really well in relief,” White said of Hawkins after last weekend’s performance. “In the couple of games she started, she wasn’t using all of her pitches — after the third inning (against Baylor), she started to use all of her pitches and was successful.”
Hawkins started the year on a tear as she didn’t give up a run through her first 21 innings in the pitcher’s circle. She has a 0.40 ERA through her first 34.2 innings thrown.
Karissa Hovinga and Geri Ann Glasco make up the final pieces of the pitching staff mainstays. They’ve combined for a perfect 9-0 record while amassing 51.1 innings and a 2.32 ERA.
As a team, the Ducks give up just two runs per game but have been particularly effective in the end of the games. In the sixth and seventh innings, Oregon has given up four combined runs on the season.
Florida has yet to lose on the year and has been throttling opponents.
The Gators have scored in double figures six times on the year while getting a season-high 20 runs in their win over Mercer last Sunday. Florida’s main source of offense comes from the long ball. The Gators have a .336 batting average, but they have totaled 29 homeruns and averages 8.3 runs per game.
While White acknowledges that a victory over the Gators would be a big win for his team, the Ducks are looking to keep the early-season momentum going. Oregon has much bigger plans for late in the season and this is another stepping stone on that road back to the WCWS.