The Oregon softball team will close out its season this weekend with a three-game set in California. The Ducks (23-28 overall, 1-17 Pacific-10 Conference) will face No. 5 California (45-19, 9-9) on Friday at 2 p.m. and then No. 8 Stanford (40-16, 5-13) in a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.
Since its win over then-No. 5 Arizona State, Oregon has lost its last four Pac-10 games
— falling 6-0 to Arizona State,
2-1 to UCLA and 6-2 and 8-0
to Washington.
After the blanking at the hands of the Huskies on Sunday, Oregon head coach Brent Rincon was upset with his team’s passion and said it lacked production.
“We will get it back before next weekend,” Rincon said. “We are going to continue to compete and go to Cal and Stanford and get some victories.”
Only two of Oregon’s hitters with more than 10 at-bats are hitting over .300 — Alyssa Laux at .329 and Andrea Vidlund at .319. Stanford’s Jessica Mendoza (.386), Sarah Beeson (.384) and Kira Ching (.333) are leading the way offensively for the Cardinal, while four California hitters are hitting better than .300. First baseman Veronica Nelson’s .349 and nine home runs is tops for the Bears. She is followed by Kaleo Eldredge (.317) and Courtney Scott and Candace Harper, who both are hitting .316.
The three-game weekend will likely be the last collegiate games for Oregon seniors Connie McMurren and Kristi Hall. McMurren, who will finish her
career high in the Oregon record books in many pitching categories, has an 8-11 record this year with a 3.42 earned run average. Hall has hit for a .231 average this season with 13 RBI,
seven doubles and two home runs.
The day after the doubleheader against Stanford, the 48-team field for the 2002 NCAA Division I Softball Championship will be announced on a selection show at 6 p.m. The Ducks have little chance of moving on, but all seven other teams in the conference will most likely receive bids.
The latest USA Today/NFCA top-25 poll to come out has No. 15 Oregon State as the lowest ranking Pac-10 team. The other six teams are ranked as follows: No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Arizona, No. 4 Arizona State, No. 5 California, No. 6 Washington and No. 8 Stanford.