Softball To Make Second Straight NCAA Appearance
May 15, 2000
THIS WEEK: The No. 13 Oregon State softball team (37-19-1, 7-13 Pacific-10) earned a berth in the NCAA Championships for the second year in a row. The Beavers earned a No. 2 seed and will compete in the Region 3 field at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. OSU opens the tourney with a game against No. 5 seed Northwestern (28-24) at 3:00 p.m. PDT, Thursday, May 18. Rounding out the six-team field are No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 Cal State Northridge and No. 6 Harvard. The double elimination tournament runs through May 21, with the winner joining the other seven regional champions at the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City the following week.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: If OSU defeats Northwestern on Thursday, the Beavers will play the winner of the Arkansas/CS-Northridge game at 5:30 p.m. PDT on Friday, May 19. If Nortwestern defeats OSU, the Beavers will play the loser of the Oklahoma/Harvard game at 12:30 p.m. PDT on Friday. Saturday's schedule will be determined after Friday's games and will depend on the number of teams still remaining in the tournament. Sunday's schedule will depend on the number of teams left after Saturday's games.
BEAVERS AGAINST THE FIELD: Against the region: OSU has played three of the five teams in its region at least once this season, and the Beavers are 1-2-1 in those games. OSU opened up the season at CS-Northridge on Feb. 5, when the Matadors came away with a 7-2 win in the first game of a doubleheader. Game two ended with a 4-4 tie on account of darkness. OSU defeated Northwestern, 5-1, in Tucson, Ariz., on March 5. Oklahoma handed the Beavers a 9-0 loss in six innings at the Kia Klassic on March 17. Against the whole field: Oregon State has played 19 of the 47 other teams in the NCAA Tournament a total of 38 times this season. The Beavers are 19-18-1 in those games, including a 6-13 mark in the Pacific-10 Conference and a 13-5-1 record in non-conference games.
ALL-TIME SERIES RECORDS: OSU is 2-4 all-time against Oklahoma, 4-4 against Northwestern, 1-0 against Arkansas, and 2-17-1 against CS-Northridge. The Beavers have never played Harvard in softball.
THREE BEAVERS EARN ALL-PAC-10 HONORS: Tarrah Beyster was named first team All-Pacific-10 for the fourth year in a row, while two other OSU players earned honorable mention All-Pac-10 recognition. Shawna Feldt earned honorable mention status for the second year in a row, while Brynnen Guthrie took home honorable mention recognition as well. Beyster leads the Beavers with a .438 batting average, 15 HR, and 43 RBI to go along with a 25-12 record in the pitching circle. Guthrie's .376 batting average is second on the team, and Feldt is batting .308 and leads OSU with 60 hits.
OREGON STATE AT THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: The Beavers are making their consecutive appearance at the NCAA Tournament, after making the school's first ever NCAA appearance last year. The Beavers competed in Baton Rouge, La., and finished one game shy of advancing to the WCWS last season. OSU opened the tournament with a 1-0 loss to Southern Mississippi but posted back-to-back 3-0 wins over LSU and Long Beach State to stay alive. OSU defeated Southern Miss, 9-1, in six innings to force a third game between the two teams, but the Golden Eagles came back with a 4-0 win to earn the WCWS berth. Jenni Jodoin, Crystal Draper and Tarrah Beyster all earned recognition on the all-tournament team. Note: While OSU competed in the NCAA Division I Championships for the first time last season, the Beavers did make five straight appearances in the AIAW Division II Tournament from 1977-81.
BEAVERS FINISH REGULAR SEASON WITH BIG UPSET: Oregon State upset No. 1 Washington with a 1-0, nine-inning win in Seattle on May 14 in the final regular season game for both teams. It was the first time the Beavers had ever beaten the Huskies in Seattle. Tarrah Beyster provided the heroics for OSU. She hit her 15th home run of the year to lead off the top of ninth to give the Beavers the only run of the game. She also picked up her 25th win of the season after holding the Huskies to just four hits for the game. The complete game shutout was her sixth of the year and 30th of her career.
PAC-10 CONTINUES ITS DOMINANCE: For the second year in a row, all eight Pacific-10 teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Five of the eight schools received No. 1 seeds. Washington, Arizona, UCLA and Arizona State all earned top seeds and will host a regional, while Stanford earned the No. 1 seed at a regional in Ann Arbor, Mich. California earned a No. 3 seed at Fresno, Calif., and Oregon is a No. 5 seed at Baton Rouge, La. Last year, five Pac-10 teams advanced to the WCWS.
OSU IN THE PAC-10 RANKINGS: Three Beavers are ranked among the league leaders in various statistical categories. Tarrah Beyster is second in the league for batting average (.438), , fourth for home runs (15), tied for fifth in wins (25), seventh in strikeouts (172) and second for innings pitched (219.0). Crystal Draper is ninth in strikeouts (151), and Steph Adams is 10th for doubles (14).
DOUBLE THE PLEASURE: OSU has hit a school record 65 doubles this year, breaking the mark 62 set last season. And the Beavers are doing it without the help of Jodi Chmielewski, who finished her career last season by becoming OSU's career and single-season leader for doubles. OSU's six freshmen have made up for the loss. Of OSU's 65 doubles, 39 of them have been hit by freshmen. Steph Adams leads OSU with 14 doubles, which ranks second on the single-season list and just three away from tying the record. Fellow rookie Shelly Prochaska has nine doubles, while freshman Brynnen Guthrie has seven. In addition, two juniors are a big reason why the Beavers are closing in on the record. Junior Shawna Feldt has 10 to rank second on the team and sixth all-time in a season, while Jenni Jodoin has seven. The Beavers have tied the school record for doubles in a game twice this season, with four doubles in contests against Central Michigan and Saint Peter's. Three freshmen have also tied the individual single-game record with two doubles in one game. Prochaska had two doubles in a game against Cal, while Cara Maxey had two in a game against Saint Mary's and Guthrie had two in a game against Arizona State. In the history of the program, 10 players have had two doubles in 11 games. Current Beavers Parisa Plant, Tarrah Beyster and S. Feldt are among those 10 players.
HOMER HAPPY BEAVERS: Oregon State has also set a school record for home runs in a season, with 10 players combining for 37 home runs in 2000. That surpasses the mark of 27 set last season, when just five players hit home runs. Tarrah Beyster leads the squad with 15 home runs this year, which breaks her own single-season school record. Steph Adams ranks second on the team with seven, while Jenni Jodoin is third with four. Shelly Prochaska, Shawna Feldt, Parisa Plant and Shannon Sorg each have two. Crystal Draper, Cara Maxey and Jessica King have one apiece. Beyster, Maxey, Sorg and Jodoin have all hit one grand slam this season. Beyster is OSU's all-time leader for home runs with 51, and Jodoin is second with 13. Beyster has hit two home runs in the same game eight times in her career, including three times in 2000.
WALKER OSU'S WINNINGEST COACH: Kirk Walker, in his sixth year as head coach at OSU, is Oregon State's all-time winningest softball coach. Walker's career record now stands at 167-184-2, and he picked up his 150th career win this year after OSU defeated UNLV, 3-0, at the Kia Klassic on March 16. 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. With OSU's 33 wins this season, Walker becomes the first OSU softball coach to guide the Beavers to back-to-back 30-win seasons. OSU had a school record 47 wins last season. Walker came to OSU from his alma mater UCLA, where he spent 11 years as a manager and assistant coach.
ROOKIES MAKING AN IMPACT EARLY IN THEIR CAREER: OSU's six freshmen have already made a big impact at Oregon State in just their first season as Beavers. The rookies have accounted for 40 percent of the team's hits (156 of 392), 42 percent of the team's runs (96 of 228) and 38 percent of the team's RBI (73 of 194). The rookies also have 38 of OSU's 64 doubles (59 percent) and 11 of the team's 36 home runs. Steph Adams leads the Beavers with 13 doubles, is second with seven home runs, third for RBI (27) and fifth for runs (21) and hits (34). Brynnen Guthrie is second on the team with a .370 batting average and fourth for runs (23), while Shelly Prochaska is fifth on the team with a .299 average. Prochaska is also fourth on the team with 41 hits, and she's third on the team with nine doubles.
BEAVERS MOVING UP THE CAREER RECORD BOOKS: Two Beavers are making their way up the OSU career record books for various categories. Tarrah Beyster has 56 hits this season, giving her 220 career hits - good for second all-time at OSU and five away from the record (225, set by Jodi Chmielewski - 1996-99). Beyster has scored 27 runs this year, giving her 92 career runs - which is also second all-time, just six away from the record. Beyster also picked up career save No. 8 this season, one away from tying the school's all-time record. She also needs just two more complete games shutouts to tie that record as well, she has 30 career shutouts entering the NCAA Tournament. Jenni Jodoin has 32 RBI this season, lifting her career numbers to 84, which ranks second all-time, behind Beyster. Shawna Feldt is sixth on the all-time list for hits, with 135.
SINGLE-SEASON RECORDS STARTING TO FALL: Tarrah Beyster has set two single-season school records this season. She has 15 home runs for the year, which breaks her own school record of 12 (set in 1997, 1998 and 1999). Beyster also has 43 RBI, which is a single-season record as well. Steph Adams is edging in on the record for doubles in a season. Adams has 14 doubles this year, which is three away from tying the record of 17. Jenni Jodoin leads the Beavers with 30 runs scored, which ranks sixth on the season charts and nine off the record. Shawna Feldt is 16 hits off that record, she has 60 so far this year, which ranks sixth in the record books. Brooke Rutschman is four stolen bases away from tying the season record for steals, Rutschman is 9-for-12 in stolen bases this year.
BEYSTER GETS 20 FOR THIRD STRAIGHT SEASON: Tarrah Beyster, the only Beaver pitcher to win 20 games in a season, has accomplished the feat for the third time in three years. She is 25-12 this season after going 1-1 last week. She had a school record 28 wins as a junior last season, and she had 21 wins as a sophomore in 1998. No other OSU pitchers have ever won more than 19 games in one season.
BEAVER PITCHERS `STRIKE' AGAIN: After setting an OSU record for strikeouts in a season last year, the Beaver pitchers are at it again with impressive numbers. Tarrah Beyster and Crystal Draper have struck out 323 batters in 57 games, an average of 5.7 K's per seven innings. Beyster has a team-high 172 K's, while Draper has 151. Draper's season-high for a game is 11 versus Utah State on Feb. 11, good for her sixth career game with 10+ K's. Beyster's season-high is 10, twice - against Oregon on April 11 and Portland State on April 19. Beyster is OSU's career leader for strikeouts with 686, while Draper is second all-time with 368.
