When the No. 15 Oregon softball team returned home from its first Pacific-10 Conference series of the 2011 season, second-year head coach Mike White gave his players simple instructions on how to improve.
The message was clear: Focus on one individual weakness from last weekend and home in on that aspect throughout the week of practice. Coming off a relatively disappointing weekend in Seattle where the Ducks (29-6, 1-2 Pac-10) dropped two out of three against the returning Pac-10 champion Huskies, there has been plenty to work on.
In the two losses against Washington, 3-2 and 4-2 in doubleheader action Saturday, Oregon flew out a combined 10 times and left 10 runners on base. Coupled with a three defensive errors on the weekend, the Ducks have made a point to follow the game plan as they welcome No. 3 Arizona State this weekend.
“I just think it was all things we could control,” first baseman Monique Fuiava said. “Like our confidence and our execution … there was a lot of glitches in our swings and our fielding fundamentals, but I think if we put it all together we’ll be fine this weekend.”
Fuiava, a 5-foot-8 senior out of Las Vegas, has been a major spark plug for the Ducks offensively this season. She leads the team in batting (.440), doubles (nine) and RBI (32), while ranking second in hits (33), and third in home runs (six), and walks (11).
Against the Huskies, Fuiava went 4-for-9 on the weekend with three runs scored, a pair of doubles, four RBI, and Oregon’s lone home run of the series in the 4-2 loss in game two. That round-tripper, the 25th of her career, moved Fuiava into a tie for seventh place all-time on the Ducks’ career list.
Fuiava also received praise for her defensive efforts after she tracked down a foul ball along the first base line and extended over the fence to make the snag, which she credits to Oregon’s overall mantra this season.
“One thing we always say is to go balls to the wall,” Fuiava said. “I treat every at-bat as if it’s my last, whether it’s a strikeout or a home run. I’m not pushing because I know I gave it my all.”
Regardless of the outcome of their first conference series of the season, the savvy veteran — now on her fourth trip through the rigorous Pac-10 slate — says the experience Oregon’s younger players got against Washington was invaluable.
With a trio of freshmen in Courtney Ceo, Kailee Cuico and Alexa Peterson, as well as junior college transfer Christie Nieto, each getting their first Pac-10 series behind them, Fuiava hopes to see less of a deer-in-the-headlights approach against the Sun Devils.
“At the moment, we let their name get bigger than the actual opponent,” Fuiava said. “Having a lot of younger players out there it’s like oh-my-gosh Pac-10 jitters, and I’m like, ‘You guys, they’re nine players against us. That’s it.’”
Despite the inexperience, Oregon has leaned on several of those new faces offensively this season, particularly Ceo and Nieto.
Ceo, a Meadow Vista, Calif., native and prep Under Armour All-American as a senior at Bear River High School, has been on a torrid pace in her first collegiate season. The freshman has started all 32 games she’s played in, and leads the team in at-bats (105), runs scored (28), and hits (44).
Meanwhile Nieto, a 5-foot-9 junior lefty from Mt. San Antonio College, ranks third in batting (.355), and leads the team with 16 walks and seven hit-by-pitches. The duo has four home runs on the year, respectively, which ties for the fifth-best mark on the team behind Kelsey Chambers (eight), Samantha Pappas (seven), Fuiava (six) and Kaitlin Vitek (five).
With an extra emphasis on the mental aspect, Fuiava expects a strong weekend against Arizona State.
“I guess just that swag that you have when you know you can win,” Fuiava said. “As long as we go in with that mentality, I think we’ll be fine.”
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Ducks softball in search of ‘swag’ for remainder of Pac-10 season
Daily Emerald
April 5, 2011
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