About halfway through their pre-practice warmup, Ann Marie Topps looked at Alicia Cook and said “You’ve got that pop today.”
If her numbers are any indication, Cook has had that pop all year long.
Through the first part of Oregon’s season the righthanded senior from Elmira has slung her way to an eye-catching 13-1 record, six times whitewashing the opposition and going the distance in all of her 14 starts. During her 98 innings pitched, Cook has notched a .86 earned run average, struck out 67 hitters and allowed just 69 hits, which figures to less than one per inning. She chalks up her success to an improved game away from the ball, which has helped her feel more confident and in turn spot the ball better.
“I think I’m just more confident mentally. I think I’m locating the ball a lot better.”
Things weren’t always this bright for Cook, though. At this time last year she had been deemed academically ineligible and found herself on the outside looking in.
“Obviously it’s gonna be hard. I want to be out there helping my teammates any way that I can be. I mean, I just tried to support them any way that I can,” Cook said.
By the time she got her grades in order the preseason was over and Pac-10 play was set to begin. While
Oregon, without one of its foundations, had marched to a 16-10 mark. On paper, the record was more than adequate, but certainly it was worse than it could have been with Cook in the fold.
The Ducks wound up going 4-17 in conference, but on April 28 Cook turned in arguably the most lustrous gem in the club’s history. She retired all 15 hitters she faced en route to the club’s first perfect game and a 9-0 victory over the fifth-ranked Stanford Cardinal.
Just under a year later, Cook takes none of the credit for herself, choosing instead to credit her teammates for her accomplishment.
“It was a great game. I mean, Jill obviously helped me out hitting the grand slam. I think we just felt on top of our game that day as a team.”
Oregon enters this weekend’s Cascade Clash sporting a 24-3 mark and a No. 14 national ranking. The Ducks will play doubleheaders against Utah State, Towson University and South Dakota State on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The six games will be the first at Howe Field for Oregon this season. Head coach Kathy Arendsen sees a team that is coming into its own and one that will be a force to be reckoned with this year in the Pac-10.
“Obviously I’m very proud. We’ve been on the road for five weeks and we’ve performed very well and I think we’ve been amazingly consistent considering we haven’t been home much. This team has a lot of talent, a lot of heart and great chemistry,” Arendsen said.
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