Joanna Gail oozed urgency in her words following another close loss.
The loss, two weeks ago, prompted an emotional team meeting that broke off into a players-only meeting with seniors preaching the importance of the final games of their college careers. The seniors shared with the underclassmen what they were feeling.
“You can never know the feeling until you are there in our shoes,” she said. “I can’t tell. I know that everybody here loves us and cares about the game and is passionate about that so I would never say they don’t feel the urgency, but it’s just different as a senior.”
Oregon’s 3-1 defeat in Corvallis gave another illustration of the Ducks’ glaring lack of hitting this season, but also began the stretch drive of the season.
This is Oregon’s chance to define how people will look back on this season.
Will they make a repeat trip to the NCAA Tournament after last year’s record-breaking success? Will a team laden with six seniors fall short of its own high expectations? Will they finish above .500 overall for that matter?
So many questions, so little time until the answers will emerge.
Oregon has had to wait for the third and final game of the Civil War series with poor weather twice postponing the game until today at 3 p.m. at the OSU Softball Complex.
Following today, Oregon will head home for the final eight games of the season with the opportunity to decide how its season will end.
Oregon already surprised Pacific-10 Conference power Arizona on Friday with a 2-1 upset in Tucson against potent pitcher Taryne Mowatt.
Two losses followed in games against Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz., but with the Ducks staying within the state for their final stretch of games, they should have an opportunity to move out of the bottom of the Pac-10 standings.
Oregon has been within a run or runs of beating Oregon State and upcoming opponents Stanford and California with the Ducks relying on solid pitching. It has been the lack of consistent hitting that has kept Oregon from having more than two conference wins.
The not-so-hidden secret behind Oregon’s lack of hitting success has been the absence of All-American shortstop Jenn Salling.
The Port Coquitlam, British Columbia native, who provided the oomph in Oregon’s lineup last season, took a special Olympic redshirt so she could join the Canadian National Team in preparations for the Beijing Olympics. Oregon knew she was going to be leaving well in advance, giving it time to adjust without her in the lineup. As much as you can prepare, it’s tough to replace an individual who hit .481 with 14 home runs and 73 RBIs last season.
Losing Salling though is apt to losing a Michael Jordan, a Tim Duncan or a Kobe Bryant. The NBA playoffs are on, so I figure an NBA analogy is worthwhile. And plus, Salling is that good of a hitter.
The Pac-10 is the elite conference for Division I softball. Salling has talent that would enable her to play for any of the teams and be a regular in the starting lineup.
What makes Jordan, Duncan and Bryant franchise players extends beyond the statistics they put up on a nightly basis. They were and are cornerstones of teams because of the impact they have on the players around them. They make the Steve Kerrs, Bruce Bowens and Sasha Vujacics regular contributors, who on their own may or may not be a part of a team’s rotation.
Salling had that type of impact.
But without her, a lot has fallen on Oregon’s five seniors who have this final portion of the season to define how they want to their last college season to be remembered.
[email protected]