Softball To Compete At Bank Of Hawaii Invitational
March 22, 2000
THIS WEEK: The No. 12 Oregon State softball team (22-6-1) will compete in Honolulu at the Bank of Hawaii Invitational, which runs from March 23-26. The invitational marks the sixth straight tournament for the Beavers. Joining OSU and host Hawaii are Loyola Marymount, Nicholls State, Nittaidai and the Tokyo Women's College of PE. The Beavers open the tourney against Tokyo WCPE at 4 p.m. PST on Thursday. The Beavers play Nicholls State at 11 a.m. PST on Friday before playing Nittaidai at 3 p.m. PST later that day. On Saturday, OSU plays Loyola Marymount at 5 p.m. PST and Hawaii at 7 p.m. PST. After the three-day round robin portion is over, teams will be seeded for bracket play on Sunday. While OSU's games against Tokyo WCPE and Nittaidai will count toward the tournament standings and results, those games will be considered exhibition games and will not be counted in OSU's record or statistics.
RUTSCHMAN PICKS UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF: Junior Brooke Rutschman, who missed 16 games with a broken arm, returned to action at the Kia Klassic last week, starting all six games in centerfield for the Beavers. Rutschman, who had a seven-game hitting streak prior to the injury, had a hit in all six games last week to extend her hitting streak to a career-best 13 games. She's batting .439 on the year with 18 hits and 12 runs. Rutschman also leads the Beavers with eight stolen bases and set a new OSU single-game record with four stolen bases against Utah State earlier this season. She also tied the school record for runs scored in a game with three against both Utah State and Utah this year.
WALKER EARNS 150TH CAREER WIN: Kirk Walker, in his sixth year as head coach at OSU, recently picked up his 150th career win after OSU defeated UNLV, 3-0, at the Kia Klassic last week. Walker's career record now stands at 153-171-2, and he is also OSU's all-time winningest softball coach. Walker was named Pacific-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 125-93-2. He came to OSU from his alma mater UCLA, where he spent 11 years as a manager and assistant coach.
BEAVERS STAY AT NO. 12 FOR SECOND WEEK IN A ROW: OSU has been ranked No. 12 in the last two USA Today/NFCA top 25 polls. All eight Paciifc-10 teams are ranked, and six of them are in the top 10. A total of 10 of OSU's opponents are ranked in the latest top 25 poll, and an additional three opponents received votes in the poll. Polls are released each Wednesday. The Beavers have played nine games against teams that were ranked at game time or are currently ranked. OSU is 6-3 in those games.
SERIES RECORDS: The Beavers are 3-4 all-time against Hawaii after picking up a 3-0 win over the Wahine last week. OSU is 8-3 all-time against Loyola Marymount, including two 4-0 wins at two different tournaments in 1999. The Beavers have never played Nicholls State.
A LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS: Loyola Marymount is 17-11 on the season and has won five of its last six games. Hawaii, at 9-9 on the year, dropped out of the top 25 this week after losing five of its last six games. However, all five of those losses were to top 20 opponents. In fact, all nine of Hawaii's losses this season have come against top 25 teams. Nicholls State is just 7-30 on the year and is looking to end an 18-game losing streak. The Colonels do have a young team, however -- there are 10 freshmen, four sophomores and just two seniors and one junior on the roster.
BEAVERS GO 4-2 AT TOUGH KIA KLASSIC: Oregon State had a fairly successful outing at last week's Kia Klassic, a tournament that featured 12 nationally ranked teams. OSU posted wins over then-No. 3 Arizona State (3-2, 8 inn.), then-No. 22 Hawaii (3-0), UNLV (3-0, 9 inn.) and DePaul (8-7). Both of OSU's losses came to top five teams - No. 1 Washington (5-2, 10 inn.) and then-No. 5 Oklahoma (9-0, 6 inn.). Cyrstal Draper had her best weekend of the year, posting a 1.11 ERA in 25.1 innings of work. She held batters to a .178 average and picked up 22 strikeouts. She went 2-1 on the weekend, with her only defeat coming against top-ranked Washington for her first loss of the year. Offensively, the Beavers were led by Tarrah Beyster, who batted .500 (6-for-12) and Brooke Rutschman, who hit .350 (7-for-20). Shelly Prochaska also came up big and led OSU with five RBI, while Michelle Notaro scored a team-best four runs on the week.
HOMER HAPPY BEAVERS: Oregon State players have combined for 24 home runs already this season - just three shy of the school record set last year. Ten players have already hit at least one home run this year, in 1999, just five players hit a home run. Crystal Draper and Shelly Prochaska each hit their first career home runs last week, with Draper's coming against Hawaii and Prochaska's against Arizona State. Tarrah Beyster leads OSU with eight home runs this season, while Jenni Jodoin and Steph Adams are tied for second on the squad with three home runs apiece. Parisa Plant, Shannon Sorg and Shawna Feldt each have two. Cara Maxey, Jessica King, Draper and Prochaska have one apiece. Maxey, Sorg and Jodoin have all hit one grand slam this season as well. Beyster is OSU's all-time leader for home runs with 44, and Jodoin is second all-time with 12.
BEAVERS MOVING UP THE RECORD BOOKS: Two Beavers are making their way up the OSU career record books for various categories. Tarrah Beyster has 33 hits this season, giving her 197 for her career - good for second all-time at OSU and 28 away from the record. She also has scored 17 runs this year, giving her 82 career runs to rank third all-time (16 away from the record). Beyster also picked up career save No. 8 this season, one away from tying the school's all-time record. Jenni Jodoin has 21 RBI this season, lifting her career numbers to 73, which ranks third all-time.
TWO BEAVERS REACH CENTURY MARK, ANOTHER SEARCHING FOR 200: Shawna Feldt and Jenni Jodoin both reached the 100 career hits milestone earlier this year, and Tarrah Beyster is closing in on becoming just the second Beaver to collect 200 career hits. Feldt has a team-best 34 hits this season, giving her 109 hits in her two-year career at OSU. As a sophomore in 1999, she had 75 hits, just one shy of the OSU's single-season record. Jodoin has 26 hits this year, for 105 career hits. Beyster's 33 hits this year lifts her career total to 197. Only Jodi Chmielewski has finished her OSU with 200 hits (225 from 1996-1999).
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 has struck out 177 batters in 29 games, an average of 6.2 K's per seven innings. Draper leads the Beavers with 93 K's, while Beyster has 84. 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, twice. In addition, Beyster has walked just 15 batters this year, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.6:1. Beyster is OSU's career leader for strikeouts with 598, while Draper ranks fourth all-time at 310 and needs 17 more to move into third place.
ROOKIES MAKING AN IMPACT EARLY ON: OSU's six freshmen have already made an impact at Oregon State early on in their careers. The rookies have accounted for 34 percent of the team's hits (73 of 213), 38 percent of the team's runs (56 of 146) and 37 percent of the team's RBI (45 of 123). The rookies also have 19 of OSU's 34 doubles and eight of the team's 24 home runs. Steph Adams leads the Beavers with eight doubles, ranks second with three home runs, is fourth for RBI (13) and fourth for hits (18). Shelly Prochaska is fifth on the team with a .250 batting average, fifth for RBI (11). Shannon Sorg is fourth on the team with 13 runs.
COMING UP BIG WITH RUNNERS ON: Oregon State has two batters hitting .500 or better with runners on base. Brooke Rutschman is batting .529 when she comes to plate with runners on, and Tarrah Beyster is batting .500 in that situation. The Beavers also have five players hitting .348 or better with runners in scoring position. Rutschman is hitting .538, while Shawna Feldt is batting .400 with runners waiting to score. Jenni Jodoin is hitting .395, Beyster .375 and Shelly Prochaska .348 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 82 of their 146 runs in the first three innings of their games. In fact, the Beavers have outscored their opponents, 58-10, in the first two innings. OSU has also shown it can score late and come from behind. The Beavers have played six extra inning games and are 4-2 in those contests. The Beavers are averaging nearly two runs for every one by their opponent, outscoring the opposition, 146-75.
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 32 games before playing at home.
TWO OSU GAMES TO BE TELEVISED: 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. In addition, the second game of the doubleheader between OSU and Oregon on April 22 will be tape-delayed and aired on FOX Sports Net on April 23. A replay time for that game is not yet available.
