The No. 14 Oregon women’s softball team kicks off its second tournament of the season at the Louisville Slugger Classic in Las Vegas Friday morning.
Similar to last weekend’s trip to the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz., Oregon (5-1) will face five teams during the three-day tournament, beginning with Utah at 9 a.m.
At this time last season, the Ducks went 4-2 in Las Vegas, with tough losses to BYU in the opening game and a narrow 5-4 loss to Indiana the following day. This year, Oregon will match up with a similar field comprising the Utes, Nevada, Hawaii, Arkansas and Boise State.
With one tournament already under their belts, the Ducks will look to improve defensively while still ironing out the starting lineup. In total, 14 Oregon players recorded two or more starts last weekend, while only five started all six games.
To no surprise, shortstop Kelsey Chambers, pitcher/designated player Jessica Moore, center fielder Allie Burger, catcher Kaitlin Vitek and right fielder Samantha Pappas made their presences felt in each of the six games.
Chambers, a junior from Concord, Calif., exploded onto the scene offensively, leading Oregon with three home runs and chipping in five RBI. And after hitting eight round-trippers all of last season, Chambers seems to have improved her offensive approach to match her steady defense up the middle.
Elsewhere in the Oregon lineup, things have played out as expected. Pappas, Oregon’s best returning player and last season’s Pacific-10 Conference Freshman of the Year, hit only .200 for the weekend, but led the team with seven RBI and six walks. She also stole three bases, while Burger was successful on four of her six steal attempts.
As a team, the Ducks continued to apply pressure on the base paths, going 16 for 21 in stolen bases last weekend, while allowing just seven steals defensively.
On the mound, second-year head coach Mike White used three of the four pitchers in Oregon’s consistent rotation. Moore, a second team All-Pac-10 selection a year ago, earned her first three victories last weekend. The sophomore from Sutter, Calif., struck out 33 batters and walked eight in her 22 innings of work.
The Ducks’ game two starter, junior Samantha Skillingstad, also picked up a pair of wins last weekend. She struck out 26 batters and walked eight during her 14 1/3 innings pitched. Left-handed senior Brittany Rumfelt also made her season debut from the bullpen, throwing more than three innings, striking out seven and walking none.
After defeating then-No. 16 BYU and then-No. 19 Texas A&M last weekend, Oregon will match up with another team in the top 25 when it takes on No. 12 Hawaii Saturday morning.
For the season, Hawaii (5-0) has dominated offensively, outscoring its opponents 32-3. Ace pitcher Stephanie Ricketts, the 2009 Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, has gone 3-0 in the circle this season with 25 strikeouts, one walk and one earned run to her credit in 19 innings of work.
Utah and Arkansas have both started off the season with 3-2 records, and will look to add a win over the highly ranked Ducks to their early season resume. When Oregon and Arkansas met three years ago, the Ducks came away with a 3-0 victory at the NCAA Regional in Norman, Okla.
Nevada, which the Ducks steamrolled 10-0 last weekend, sit at 1-4 on the year, with its lone win coming against Appalachian State. Rounding out the field is Boise State, which currently sports a 1-3 record with a win over Loyola Marymount.
Seventeen teams will travel to the desert for the Louisville Slugger Classic this weekend, and Oregon is one of five currently ranked in the top 25 while BYU and Utah both received votes this week. In addition to Hawaii, No. 1 UCLA, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 18 Stanford will each be in action this weekend.
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Ducks head to desert for Louisville Slugger Classic
Daily Emerald
February 16, 2011
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