There’s no question the 16th-ranked Oregon softball team knows it has a monster task ahead of it in facing the No. 10 Arizona Wildcats at Hildenbrand Stadium this weekend.
Oregon, coming off a three-game series sweep over Pac-10 bottom-dweller Oregon State in Eugene last weekend, will be searching for its first win in Tucson since April 25, 2008. Cortney and Ashley Kivett, and Monique Fuiava are the only remaining members from that team, and the core of Oregon’s lineup in 2011 has never matched up with the Wildcats on their home turf.
In practice this week the approach remained the same, and the Ducks will take on another “faceless opponent” as they’ve tried to do in most outings this season. But even the players will tell you Arizona is far from that description, given that they finished second to UCLA in last season’s Women’s College World Series, which capped a 52-win season.
The Ducks consistently start three freshmen and four sophomores on any given day, and for the most part that group has surpassed individual expectations this season. The goal of being one of the last eight teams standing to reach the Women’s College World Series remains on the Ducks’ minds, and this weekend will provide a measuring stick as to how far they still have to go.
“All the girls that have come in, and anyone that knows anything about softball, has already seen them do their thing,” freshman designated player Kailee Cuico said of Arizona.
Cuico, one of those three starters I mentioned, went on to say the Ducks have heard a lot about Wildcats starter Kenzie Fowler. Simply put, Fowler is among the nation’s elite pitchers in college softball this season, and ranks just above Jessica Moore on the conference strikeouts list with 176.
Fowler’s resume is inspiring to say the least. She was an All-American selection as a frosh in 2010, and she was one of 10 finalists for USA Player of the Year honors. She’s on her way to making that list again this season by making the top-25 cut earlier this month — one of six Pac-10 players to do so.
Yet fortunately for the Ducks, and not so fortunately for Fowler, the Tucson native was sidelined from action last weekend against the top-ranked team in the country — Arizona State — with a concussion suffered against Washington on April 17.
Arizona lost all three games to the Sun Devils, and it’s unclear whether the sophomore ace will be approved to play against the Ducks this weekend. The injury, a bit of a freak occurrence, happened midway through Arizona’s third game with Washington, when a sharply hit foul ball struck Fowler who was studying scouting reports in the Wildcats dugout.
Fowler was taken to University Medical Center, and the Wildcats, who then sat atop the Pac-10 standings, closed out the sour day with a win.
Fowler’s concussion — she’s also battled a hamstring injury for the majority of the season — doesn’t change Oregon’s game plan much. The Wildcats do most of their damage from the batter’s box, and they hit .334 as a team to Oregon’s .309, while leading the conference with 68 homers this season. Yet they also lead the Pac-10 in strikeouts, which bodes well for Moore, though her strikeout numbers have been noticeably lower during her sophomore campaign.
Should Fowler miss the series, or even a game, the Ducks will have to take advantage of No. 2 starter Shelby Babcock (15-4) when they get the opportunity, because after her, Arizona’s makeshift staff of Baillie Kirker, Victoria Kemp and Brittany Lastrapes (a first-team All-American outfielder whose been used in a pinch without Fowler) has only appeared in four games total.
Oregon is also coming off a hot weekend at the plate, while Moore, who admitted to not having her best stuff against Oregon State, picked up a pair of well-deserved wins and an added boost of confidence.
All things considered —and make no mistake it’s not going to be easy — but should Fowler still be held out of competition, Oregon has a legitimate chance of taking its second consecutive conference series.
They won’t be faceless, or even nameless, but I still give the Ducks the benefit of the doubt in an otherwise very imposing trip to Tucson.
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Clark: With Fowler out, Oregon has chance to take Arizona series this weekend
Daily Emerald
April 26, 2011
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