Their coach said he believes they’ve learned that they need to get up for every game — including those with opponents who seem way overmatched. And especially for Portland State.
The No. 23 Oregon softball team faces the Vikings (15-15 overall, 2-2 Western Athletic Conference) today in Portland.
And if the Ducks (24-13, 1-2 Pacific-10 Conference ) don’t go into the affair focused and fired up, they could be in for another scare — or worse, a loss.
It happened last season, when a 17th-ranked Oregon team lost the second game of a double header in Portland, 5-4, in extra-innings.
“A valuable lesson,” head coach Rick Gamez said a year later. “It’s a reminder: If you don’t go out and play, these teams can come out and beat you.”
And in their other meeting last season, Oregon had to fight for a couple of close wins 8-4, 5-3, for Gamez’s 400th and 401st career wins.
And then again a week and a half ago in its home opener against a scrappy-but-less-talented Simon Fraser team that the Ducks needed a late-inning rally to beat.
Clearly, the not-so-great teams have a tendency to show up against the Ducks.
“Obviously [Portland State] is not a great team,” Gamez said. “But they can be a very good team.
“We’re gonna make sure that we play aggressive, we’re gonna try not to allow them to stay in the ball game. Because if you allow them to stay in the ball game, they’ll stay in the ball game long enough to beat you. And hopefully we’ve learned.”
Oregon is coming off a tough weekend road trip. The Ducks dropped two of three in the desert, losing first to No. 2 Arizona on Friday and then bouncing back for a convincing 10-0 win against Arizona State on Saturday, before falling to the Sun Devils 7-3 on Sunday.
So a strong performance against Portland State is of added importance because it would figure to help Oregon heading into its conference home opener Friday afternoon against No. 3 UCLA.
“We’re gonna go out and play hard, make sure we get it done,” Gamez said.
The Vikings are playing their first season as a member of the WAC. Until this season they competed independent of any conference.
Offensively, they’re led by freshman catcher Erin Newlean, who is hitting above .350.
In the same category, the Ducks are led by Triawn Custer, whose average is .431. And after an outstanding performance in Arizona, Phoenix-native Christi Shleton was named Pac-10 Player of the week. The sophomore clocked two home runs and had six RBIs in three games. Senior second baseman Jill Robinson is hitting .382 in addition to having hit a team-leading 10 home runs.
Sophomore Connie McMurren (9-9) is Oregon’s top pitcher with a 2.74 earned average.
Senior Danielle Haag has appeared in 11 games and has an ERA of 1.84, while freshman Andrea Vidlund holds an ERA of 2.76 through 18 games of work.
“We just want to make sure that we stay sharp,” Gamez said.