Blair Williamson sat and waited.
Sitting behind an experienced outfield of Sari-Jane Jenkins, Neena Bryant and Kayleen Hudson left few opportunities to make an impact for the Oregon softball team.
The situation changed last weekend when Hudson, a senior, was switched out after struggling at the plate in favor of the sophomore Williamson, who spent last season as a reserve and continued in that role this season.
She stayed focused on playing well within the practice setting and welcomed the extra time on the field last weekend.
“It wasn’t a complete surprise, but it was a nice surprise,” said the Salem native.
Williamson earned a starting spot last Friday after a pair of pinch hits the previous week versus UCLA and Oregon State. She continued her hot streak at the plate with two doubles against Arizona State’s All-American pitcher Katie Burkhart.
“You definitely get into a rhythm if you do something good then you can easily build off it and carry that momentum through each at-bat,” Williamson said.
She remained in the lineup the next day with Arizona visiting and picked up another hit. On Sunday, coach Kathy Arendsen adjusted the lineup, moving Williamson into the lead-off spot and moving freshman Cortney Kivett into the ninth spot.
“I admit I’m a little surprised,” Arendsen said of Williamson’s play.
Williamson, who entered the Oregon State game hitting .125, is now hitting .240 on the season and .500 in conference play.
Williamson came to Eugene as a freshman right-handed hitter and the coaches adjusted her to bat as a left-handed slap hitter. Arendsen says she was struggling a little to start this season, so in the last month and a half assistant coach J. Gaudreau has taught Williamson to hit from the left side.
“It’s been an ongoing process,” Arendsen said. “Blair’s a great competitor who works very hard and it came together.”
The productive play of Williamson has offset the recent slump by Hudson, who is hitless in eight at-bats in Pac-10 play.
“We’re not down on Kayleen at all and Kayleen will play this weekend, but probably not in Blair’s spot,” Arendsen said.
The speedy Kivett, who enjoyed an 15-game hitting streak during the non-conference portion of the season, has also struggled, batting .188 in Pac-10 play.
“Let Cortney move down (in the order), where maybe she has a little less pressure … (where) she’s not quite so hard on herself,” Arendsen said.
Successful trip
Arendsen says she sees a successful trip this week consisting of two wins. If they earned three, Arendsen would be ecstatic in this latest stage of Pacific-10 Conference play.
The Bay Area visit starts with a visit to California (32-15, 1-5 Pac-10) followed by two games with No. 8 Stanford (34-7, 1-5). The Cardinal are currently tied for last place in the Pac-10.
“We hope to get them while they’re trying to figure it out,” Arendsen said.
Oregon, meanwhile, carries some momentum from its 3-2 upset of then-No. 8 Arizona after losing the first five games to start conference play.
“I think it would have been a lot harder, going off pretty much all losses in the Pac-10,” shortstop Lovena Chaput said. “That would be a lot harder, but now we have a little momentum … (and) we can know we can beat anybody.”
First timers
For Kivett and the other freshmen, this is their first time experiencing Pac-10 competition. Kivett says everything she’s seen so far has been what she expected.
“It is tough but anybody can beat anybody,” she said. “You just have to go in with confidence.”
She had seen Arizona pitcher Taryne Mowatt before. Only she had yet to get an idea of her abilities until she went against her last weekend. This is the same Mowatt who guided Arizona to its second straight national championship last June.
“She has pretty good movement,” Kivett said.
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