The No. 16 Oregon women’s softball team will travel south to take on the No. 9 Arizona State Sun Devils in a three-game series this weekend with hopes to avenge two tough home losses from the week prior.
The Ducks haven’t played on the road since matching up with Oregon State in Corvallis on April 3, and will be challenged by an Arizona State squad that puts up more runs (7.41 per game) than any other team in the nation besides Arizona. The question at this point is whether Oregon will be able to take something positive from its 1-2 series with No. 1 Washington.
“What’s going to tell is how we bounce back,” first-year Oregon head coach Mike White said. “You know, are we just going to let that be a turning point the wrong way or something we build on actually beating the No. 1 team in the country?
“I think there are a lot of good positives coming out of that weekend that if we do play error-free ball we’ll play with anybody — you just can’t make mistakes at this level.”
Oregon (30-8, 6-2 Pac-10) was able to steal a game from National Player of the Year candidate Danielle Lawrie and the top-ranked Washington Huskies at home last weekend, but even that lone win wasn’t satisfying enough for the Ducks. Oregon arguably could have taken all three games of that series, and cutting down those strings of untimely miscues will be crucial as the team moves forward.
“Like coach White said, the game knows no difference,” freshman pitcher Jessica Moore said. “They don’t know ranks, they don’t know who Danielle Lawrie is. She’s the No. 1 pitcher in the country, but the game doesn’t know that.”
Moore (13-4) has been nothing short of outstanding in her first year with the Oregon program, which comes as no surprise given her demeanor following the Washington series. Moore’s 1.08 ERA ranks second in the conference, and she also sits alone in first place with four saves this season.
Sophomore pitcher Samantha Skillingstad (10-4) picked up the Ducks’ lone win last weekend, striking out three, walking two, and allowing just four hits in her five innings of work. On the year, Skillingstad has fanned 100 batters in her 78 innings pitched.
“They’ve definitely gotten stronger and have more confidence at the mound,” Oregon shortstop Kelsey Chambers said of the Oregon pitching staff. “So it makes the infield have more confidence when they’re fielding the ball to know that their pitchers believe in them.”
Having started all 38 games at shortstop, Chambers understands White’s emphasis on trying to eliminate errors, though sometimes they’re inevitable.
“There’s no reason that one error should lead to more, and that’s what they’ve got to understand,” White said.
Arizona State’s potent offensive attack won’t hesitate to take advantage of small slipups, especially with a talented sophomore Katelyn Boyd leading the way. Boyd leads the Pac-10 with 107 total bases and 47 runs scored this season and also ranks third with a .432 batting average. Her team-high 14 home runs is the second-best mark in the Pac-10.
Fellow sophomore Annie Lockwood has shown the ability to drive the long ball as well, tallying 11 round-trippers on the year. Teammate Lesley Rogers has helped shoulder a portion of the offensive responsibilities, batting .359 with 45 runs scored.
The Sun Devils were swept by visiting California last weekend, a team Oregon swept at home two weeks ago with each game being decided by two runs or less. As if the seven Pac-10 teams listed in the top-20 wasn’t evidence enough to show the depth of the conference, a strong showing against ASU could help Oregon make a move in the league rankings.
“We’re second place in the league,” White concluded. “And you know with a good weekend we can stay right there, if not sneak back up on top. So it’s the world in front of us.”

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