Softball Travels To Tucson For Hillenbrand Invitational
March 1, 2000
THIS WEEK: The No. 10 Oregon State softball team (13-4-1) travels to Tucson, Ariz., for the Hillenbrand Invitational from March 3-5. OSU, which is riding a seven-game winning streak, will play five games at the tournament. The Beavers open up the tourney against Northwestern State at 11 a.m. PST on Friday, before playing Indiana at 3 p.m. PST later that day. On Saturday, OSU plays Tulsa at 9 a.m. PST and St. Peter's at 7 p.m. PST. OSU wraps up the week with a game against Northwestern at 7 a.m. PST on Sunday.
WALKER COULD BECOME WINNINGEST COACH THIS WEEK: Kirk Walker, in his sixth year as head coach at OSU, could become OSU's all-time winningest softball coach this weekend. Walker's career record at OSU stands at 144-169-2, two wins shy of surpassing Ellen Margolis, who was 145-76-1 in five years at OSU (1981-85). Walker was named Pac-10 Co-Coach of the Year in 1999, and the entire Beaver coaching staff was voted the Speedline Pacific Region Co-Coaching Staff of the Year that same season. He is the only coach in Oregon State history to lead the Beavers to three consecutive 27-win seasons, OSU had 29 wins in 1997, 27 in 1998 and 47 in 1999. Walker's record from 1997-present stands at 116-91-2. He came to OSU from his alma mater UCLA, where he spent 11 years as a manager and assistant coach.
BEYSTER NAMED PAC-10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Tarrah Beyster was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 23-29. Beyster was named the MVP of the Troy Cox Classic last week after leading the Beavers to a 6-0 record to claim the tournament title. She hit .429 (6-for-14) for the week, leading OSU with 10 RBI, six runs and four home runs. She hit .545 with runners in scoring position and an impressive .714 with two outs. She homered in the championship game against No. 8 Cal, a game that was Cal's first loss of the year. In addition, she went 3-0 with a save on the week. In 23 innings of work, she posted 21 strikeouts with just four walks and finished with a 2.13 ERA. It is the sixth time in her career that she has been honored as either Pac-10 Player or Pitcher of the Week, she has been selected Pac-10 Player of the Week four times and Pitcher of the Week twice.
SERIES RECORDS: Oregon State has a limited history against this week's opponents. OSU has never played Northwestern State or St. Peter's. The Beavers are 1-0 against Tulsa and 0-1 against Indiana. OSU and Northwestern have played each other seven times, with the Beavers posting a 3-4 record in those games.
A LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS: Northwestern State is 11-5 on the year and opened Southland Conference play last week by winning two out of three games against Texas-San Antonio. Indiana opened its season last week at the South Florida tournament, where the Hoosiers went 1-4, including two losses to ranked teams. Tulsa has a 6-13 record and has lost six out of its last seven games. St. Peter's will be playing its first games of the season this week after going 31-20 a year ago. Northwestern is 5-7 on the season, but did not play last week.
OSU WINS TROY COX CLASSIC FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW: The Beavers went 6-0 in Las Cruces, NM, last week to win the Troy Cox Classic for the season year in a row. The Beavers defeated No. 8 California, 6-5, in the championship game, and OSU posted two wins over Penn State, as well as wins over No. 18 Illinois-Chicago, New Mexico and Texas Tech. Tarrah Beyster was named the tournament MVP after hitting .429 (6-for-14) with 10 RBI, six runs, four home runs and six walks. Beyster also went 3-0 with a save, striking out 21 batters with a 2.13 ERA in 21 innings of work. She was also the MVP of the tournament in 1999. Steph Adams earned recognition on the all-tournament team after hitting two home runs with four RBI and four runs scored on the week. Shawna Feldt and Jenni Jodoin also had strong performances at last week's tournament. Feldt hit .500 (11-for-22) with six runs, three doubles and three RBI. Jodoin batted .333 (6-for-18) with two home runs, six RBI and six runs scored.
FELDT ON AN OFFENSIVE TEAR: Shawna Feldt is riding a seven-game hitting streak, the longest current streak on the team. During those last seven games, Feldt has hit an impressive .520 (13-for-25) with seven runs, three RBI and three doubles. She had three hits in OSU's win over Cal, and she had two hits in four other games since she started her streak. Her longest career hitting streak is eight games, which came during the 1999 season. Feldt is batting .394 for the season, and she leads the Beavers with 26 hits and 10 games with multiple hits. Feldt is also tied for the team lead with 12 runs scored. Last season she finished with 75 hits, just one shy of tying the OSU single-season record for hits.
HOMER HAPPY BEAVERS: Oregon State players have combined for 17 home runs already this season - just 10 shy of the school record set last year. Eight players have already hit at least one home run this year, in 1999, five players combined for 27 home runs for the season. Tarrah Beyster leads OSU with five home runs this season, including four last week. Jenni Jodoin and Steph Adams are tied for second on the squad with three home runs apiece, and Parisa Plant has two. Shawna Feldt, Cara Maxey, Jessica King, and Shannon Sorg each have one apiece. Maxey and Sorg's HRs were both grand slams, and Jodoin also has one grand slam this season. Beyster is OSU's all-time leader for home runs with 41, and Jodoin is second all-time with 12.
BEAVERS MOVING UP THE RECORD BOOKS: Two Beavers are making their way up the OSU career books for various categories. Tarrah Beyster has 19 hits this season, giving her 183 for her career - good for second all-time at OSU and 42 away from the record. She also has scored 12 runs this year, giving her 77 career runs to rank third all-time (21 away from the record). Beyster also picked up career save no. 8 last week, one away from tying the school's all-time record. Jenni Jodoin has a team-best 16 RBI this season, lifting her career numbers to 68, which ranks third all-time.
ONE BEAVER REACHES 100, ANOTHER NEARING THE CENTURY MARK: Shawna Feldt had 11 hits at last week's Troy Cox Classic, giving her a team-best 26 hits for the season. She had 75 hits in her first season at OSU for a total of 101 hits in her OSU career. Jenni Jodoin is looking to become the next Beaver to reach the 100 hits mark, needing just six more to reach the milestone. She has 15 hits this season and had 79 in her first two seasons at OSU for 94 career hits.
ROOKIES MAKING AN IMPACT EARLY ON: OSU's six freshmen have made an impact on the team early on in their careers. The rookies have accounted for 35 percent of the team's hits (48 of 139), 40 percent of the team's runs (38 of 94) and 37 percent of the team's RBI (29 of 78). The rookies also have 13 of OSU's 22 doubles and six of the team's 17 home runs. Steph Adams leads the Beavers with five doubles, ranks second with three home runs, is third for RBI (9) and fourth for hits (14). Adams and Shannon Sorg are tied for fifth on the team with nine runs scored. Cara Maxey is tied for sixth with 11 hits and seven runs, while Shelly Prochaska is tied for sixth for runs (7) and is third for doubles (3).
BEAVER PITCHERS `STRIKE' AGAIN: A year after setting an OSU record for strikeouts in a season, the Beaver pitchers are at it again with impressive strikeout numbers. The pitching duo of Tarrah Beyster and Crystal Draper have struck out 116 batters in 18 games, an average of 6.7 K's per seven innings. Both pitchers have 58 K's apiece. Draper's season-high for strikeouts in a gamecame against Utah State on Feb. 11 when she struck out 11 batters for her sixth career game with 10+ K's. Beyster's season-high is nine, against Penn State on Feb. 25. In addition, Beyster has walked just nine batters this year, an average of just one walk every 7.5 innings.
COMING UP BIG WITH RUNNERS ON: Oregon State has three players who are batting above .345 when they come to the plate with runners in scoring position. Shawna Feldt, the team's lead-off batter, is hitting an impressive .500 (7-for-14) when she gets a chance to hit with runners waiting to score. (Feldt is also hitting .538 when she leads off an inning). Shelly Prochaska is hitting .357 and Jenni Jodoin is hitting .346 with runners in scoring position.
BEAVERS JUMP AHEAD EARLY: OSU has a tendency to score its runs early in the game, as the Beavers have scored 69 of its 94 runs in the first four innings of their games. In fact, the Beavers have outscored their opponents, 39-3, in the first two innings. OSU showed it also has a knack for coming back late in games as well, as the Beavers found themselves down, 7-0, in the sixth inning against Penn State on Feb. 25 before rallying to score eight runs in the final two frames to win by a run.
RUTSCHMAN OUT FOR FOUR-TO-SIX WEEKS: Junior Brooke Rutschman suffered a broken arm when she was hit by a pitch in OSU's game against Wisconsin on February 13 and is expected to be out for a total of four to six weeks. She had tseven-game hitting streak going prior to the injury, with at least one hit in each of OSU's first seven games. Her career-best is an eight-game streak, coming in the 1999 season. She is hitting .524 with 11 hits and a team-high 10 runs. She set a new OSU single-game record with four stolen bases against Utah State, and she also tied the school record for runs scored in a game with three against both Utah State and Utah at the Fiesta Bowl Classic. She has had multiple hits in four games.
ROAD WARRIORS: The Beavers will be on the road for the first seven weeks of the season before playing a single game against Southern Utah at Ropes-Fetrow Field in Corvallis on March 28. OSU will have played at least 31 games before playing at home.
OSU/ASU GAME TO BE TELEVISED LIVE: Oregon State's game against Arizona State on Saturday, April 29 is slated to be aired live on FOX Sports Net. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at OSU's Ropes-Fetrow Field.
BEAVERS BREAK INTO TOP 10: OSU moved up two spots to No. 10 in this week's USA Today/NFCA top 25 poll. All eight Paciifc-10 teams are ranked, and seven of them are in the top 10. A total of 12 of OSU's opponents are ranked in the week's top 25 poll, and an additional four opponents received votes in the poll. Polls are released each Wednesday. The Beavers have played four teams that were ranked at the time of game, and OSU is 3-1 in those games.
