“Right now we’re just outplaying teams,” softball head coach Kathy Arendsen said, after her squad won its second tournament in as many weeks.
Outplaying, outpitching, outhitting, outrunning; more specifically, winning.
Oregon is hitting each of these two weeks into preseason play. The Ducks have reasons to look up — 8-1 is the best start for Oregon softball since at least 1986, when records were first kept. Oregon now hopes to continue its good fortune into the third tournament of the preseason in rainy San Diego.

Outpitching
In the first Pacific-10 Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week awards of the season, Oregon freshman Amy Harris was awarded Pitcher of the Week. Harris, who is 3-1 in the Ducks’ 8-1 season, earned back-to-back wins over ranked teams Friday and Saturday.
Harris, a graduate of North Eugene, is only the second Oregon pitcher to win the award. Connie McMurren, another North Eugene graduate, won the award as a freshman in 1999.
In the most recent tournament, Harris had nine strikeouts and only allowed one run in 13 2/3 innings pitched.
In five appearances, Harris has pitched 27 2/3 innings, with an ERA of 0.65, one complete game and a team-high 26 strikeouts. Her one loss came against Arkansas, 3-1. Harris earned only one of the three runs.
Sophomore Lindsey Kontra is 3-0 this season with a complete game. The pitching staff has a combined ERA of 0.94, while opponents have a 4.00 ERA.

Outhitting
Three Ducks are batting over .400 after two tournaments. Junior Jenn Poore is hitting .476 in 21 at-bats, while senior Andrea Vidlund is batting .462. Senior Lynsey Haij, who has played in all nine games, is hitting .464.
Oregon has 71 hits and 37 runs in nine games. Vidlund and sophomore Mari Lyn Petrick each have a home run on the season.
The Ducks have outscored their opponents 37-13 thus far in the season. Oregon is batting .278 as a team, while opponents are hitting .227 against the Ducks.

Outrunning
Oregon’s opponents are 7-for-11 in stolen base attempts, while Oregon is 9-for-9 in stolen bases.

Winning
With as well as they are playing, the Ducks look to possibly be a force in the Pac-10 once the season starts.
In the first tournament of the preseason, Oregon went 4-1 to win the tournament. The Ducks only loss came in a 3-1 game to Arkansas, when Oregon committed two errors that gave Arkansas the winning runs.
In the most recent tournament, Oregon defeated Southeast Louisiana, then beat No. 9 Florida State, 3-1. The next day, the Ducks beat No. 17 Georgia, 3-2, before taking the tournament with a win over Florida A&M. The back-to-back wins over Florida State and Georgia marked the first time since 2000 that Oregon has beat ranked teams in back-to-back games.
The Ducks face four teams in the Campbell/Cartier Classic, which was affected Thursday by heavy Southern California rains. The schedule of the tournament was altered.
Oregon starts against California-Santa Barbara (9-1) at 5:30 p.m. today. Saturday, the Ducks take on California-State Northridge (3-3) at 10 a.m., and No. 4 Michigan (0-0) at 8 p.m. before closing the tournament against host San Diego State (2-3) at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
The Campbell/Cartier Classic is Oregon’s third preseason tournament of the six in which the Ducks will participate.