No. 15 Softball Hosts San Diego Before Civil War Showdown
April 7, 2004
CORVALLIS, Ore. -
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Thursday, April 8
San Diego at No. 15 OSU - 3 p.m. PDT (Corvallis, OR)
Friday, April 9
No. 14 Oregon at No. 15 OSU - 2 p.m. PDT (Corvallis, OR)
Saturday, April 10
No. 14 Oregon at No. 15 OSU - 2 p.m. PDT (Corvallis, OR)
A QUICK GLANCE AT THE TOREROS:
University of San Diego enters Thursday's game against Oregon State with a 13-20 overall record. USD has a trio of players batting above .300 on the season, led by Gina McFarland's .340 clip and 17 runs scored. Anna Russell leads the squad from the circle with a 7-4 record and 1.89 ERA.OSU AND USD SERIES NUMBERS: Oregon State leads the all-time series with University of San Diego, 6-2. Both squads split last season's double-header that was played on Mar. 23 in San Diego. Monica Hoffman had eight strikeouts and Kelly Petersen went 2-for-3 as the Beavers took game-one by a 5-0 margin. The Toreros scored seven runs in the opening inning and held on for a 7-3 victory in the nightcap despite 10 hits by Oregon State.
QUICK GLANCE AT THE DUCKS: No. 14 University of Oregon enters the week with a 29-9 overall record and 3-1 mark in the Pac-10. The Ducks have five players batting above .300 with Jen Poore's .359 average and 42 hits leading the way. Ashley Richards leads the squad in RBI (25), home runs (7) and doubles (8), while hitting .345. Ani Nyhus boasts a team-best 1.43 ERA to go along with a 14-5 record. UO had won five straight games before dropping a 5-1 contest to No. 11 Stanford University on Sunday.
CIVIL WAR SERIES NUMBERS: Against Oregon - OSU's longest running opponent at 143 games - the Beavers are 68-74-1, and boast a 20-15-1 record under the direction of head coach Kirk Walker. Oregon State had an 11-game winning streak against the Ducks broken when UO picked up a 10-2 victory on Mar. 15, 2003 in the Pac-10 opener for both squads. The win was the first for Oregon in the Civil War as presented by the Northwest Dodge Dealers since 1999 and marked the Ducks' first victory against the Beavers in Corvallis since 1997. For the second straight year the Ducks won the Pac-10 opener between the two teams when UO rallied for a 9-8 victory on Mar. 26 in Eugene.
LAST TIME OUT AGAINST THE DUCKS: University of Oregon rallied to score six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to knock off Oregon State, 9-8, in the Mar. 26 Pac-10 opener. The Ducks opened the game with two runs in the first inning, but the Beavers responded with six runs in the top of the second to take the lead. Back-to-back doubles by Ingrid Lochelt and Mia Longfellow helped spark the six-run spurt. OSU appeared to have the game under control until Oregon started the seventh inning with three consecutive singles and pushed two runs across the plate with back-to-back walks. Breanne Sabol's two-RBI single to left field proved to be the game-winner. Nine different OSU players recorded at least one hit on the day.
BEAVERS IN THE TOP 25: Oregon State moved up one more notch to the No. 15 spot in the April 7 USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Poll. The Beavers hold a 4-2 record against opponents ranked in the Top 10 so far this season. Seven of the eight Pacific-10 Conference teams rank in the Top 25; 1. Arizona, 2. UCLA, 4. California, 7. Washington, 11. Stanford, 14. Oregon, 15. Oregon State.
BEST EVER: No. 15 Oregon State's current 32-11 overall record marks the best start in program history over the first 43 games. OSU currently has 23 regular season games remaining on its schedule - more games than any other Pacific-10 Conference school. The Beavers have tallied 30 or more wins during six consecutive seasons. OSU finished the 2003 campaign with a 36-31 record.
FROM THE BATTERS BOX: Four Oregon State players are currently batting above .300 on the season. Sophomore Vanessa Iapala leads the Beavers with a .383 batting average, nine doubles, and 35 RBI. Sophomore Adrienne Alo ranks second on the team with a .338 clip from the plate, to go along with 47 hits and 30 runs scored, while junior Kelly Petersen holds a .328 batting average and a team-leading 31 runs scored. Freshman Mia Longfellow continues to bat above .300, posting a .314 mark from the plate, while leading the team with a 10-for-14 clip on stolen bases.
CURLY OR STRAIGHT: Sophomore Vanessa Iapala's 35 RBI on the season rank in a tie for 4th place in the OSU single season record book. The first baseman's 66 career runs batted in rank as the 9th highest total in school history, while her 11 career home runs rank 7th in the OSU record book.
KEEP IT UP: Oregon State has not lost more than two games in a row so far this season. The Beavers held a season-best six-game winning streak during the end of February. OSU has won 19 of its last 24 games, outscoring the opposition by a 114-38 margin.
DID YOU KNOW: Oregon State's 14 hits at Saint Mary's College on April 1 are the most for the Beavers in a single game this season.
DID YOU KNOW2: Oregon State's three home runs at No. 3 California were the most for the Beavers in a single game this season and the 4-2 victory against the Bears marked OSU's first victory in Berkeley since 2000.
ALL OR NOTHING: Sophomore catcher Lisa Allen tallied three hits during Oregon State's trip to the Bay Area last week - all three hits were home runs.
WE'VE GOT A JUMPER: Prior to Oregon State's game at No. 11 Stanford on April 2, the Beavers were forced to take an alternative route from their Berkeley hotel after a "distraught individual" had shut down traffic on the Bay Bridge. After the two-hour trek to Palo Alto over the Golden Gate Bridge and through San Francisco, OSU dropped a 2-0 decision to the Cardinal despite allowing just three hits - its fewest in a Pac-10 game since defeating Oregon, 7-3, on April 19, 2003.
WAY TO PLAY: Oregon State's .973 fielding percentage currently ranks second in the Pacific-10 Conference. The Beavers' best fielding percentage in school history is a .973 mark, set during the 2000 campaign. OSU currently has just 34 errors on the year - the school record for fewest miscues is 47, set in 2000.
JUST COUNT ON IT: Sophomore Vanessa Iapala has a team-leading seven RBI in nine attempts when there is a runner on third base and less than two outs. Iapala also leads the Beavers with 12 two-out RBI.
ALMOST PERFECT: Oregon State is 21-1 on the season in games that at least one Beaver player hits a home run.
OSU SOFTBALL COMPLEX: Oregon State currently holds a 27-16 all-time record in games played at the OSU Softball Complex, including a perfect 6-0 mark this season. The Beavers boast a 10-15 mark against opponents ranked in the Top 25.
HOFFMAN HIGHLIGHTS: Senior pitcher Monica Hoffman holds a team-leading 0.82 ERA with a 16-7 record and five saves. The Vancouver, WA native combined to pitch a perfect game with freshman hurler Ta'Tyana McElroy when the Beavers knocked off Saint Mary's by an 8-0 margin in five innings on Feb. 8. Hoffman holds the Oregon State record with four career no-hitters. She was named one of 40 players listed as a possible candidate for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award - considered the Heisman Trophy in women's collegiate softball. Hoffman has five shutouts on the season and her 23 career shutouts rank 6th in the Oregon State record book.
600 K CLUB: After her 26 strikeouts earlier this season at the CSUF Worth Tournament, senior pitcher Monica Hoffman broke the 600 career strikeout barrier. Hoffman enters the week with 664 career K's - only three pitchers in Oregon State history have struck out more than 500 batters (Crystal Draper 809; Tarrah Beyster 694). On the season, Hoffman has tallied 177 strikeouts, while allowing just 44 walks.
BEATING THE COMPETITION: Oregon State has a significant advantage over its opponents in several statistical categories:
- Team batting average: .280-.185
- Runs scored: 185-71
- Hits: 310-191
- RBI: 156-62
- Home Runs: 30-10
- Total bases: 461-247
- Stolen bases: 36-19
- On base percentage: .363-.247
- Earned run average: 1.32-3.76
IN THE RECORD BOOK: Sophomore Vanessa Iapala's two home runs against University of Alabama-Birmingham on Feb. 7 and freshman Sherina Galvan's two home runs against Cal Poly on Feb. 14 moved both players into the Oregon State record book. With the addition of Iapala and Galvan, just six players in Oregon State history have blasted two home runs in a single game. On the season, OSU has hit two or more home runs during seven different games.
MORE RECORDS: With her five saves this season, senior pitcher Monica Hoffman became Oregon State's all-time saves leader. Hoffman has tallied a school record 11 saves in her career.
IMPRESSIVE FEAT: Prior to Oregon State's 4-2 exhibition loss to the USA Olympic Team on Feb. 22, the Olympic Team had won 119 consecutive games and had outscored the opposition 863-9. Team USA went 25-0 in its collegiate portion of the 'Aiming for Athens' tour - outscoring the opposition 229-9.
THE NUMBERS BREAKDOWN: Oregon State returns nine players from last season's squad that finished with a 36-31 overall record and made its fifth consecutive NCAA Regional Tournament appearance. Senior hurler Monica Hoffman is the lone player to see action in three postseason appearances, while 13 underclassmen dot the youthful roster.
PAC-10 COACHES POLL: In a preseason poll voted on by the Pac-10 coaches, Oregon State was tabbed to finish eighth in the conference. Last year's regular season champion, UCLA, was picked to finish first.
PAC-10 POSTSEASON: All eight Pacific-10 Conference teams reached the NCAA Regional Tournament for the third time in the last five years. The Pac-10 has sent seven teams to postseason in five consecutive seasons. Four squads reached the Women's College World Series and last year marked the 20th time in 22 years that the Pac-10 sent at least one team to the WCWS championship game and the 10th time that two Pac-10 teams faced each other for the title. The Pac-10 has won 16 NCAA softball championships since 1982 - more than any other conference.
FACING THE BEST: So far this season Oregon State holds a 4-5 record against teams ranked in the Top 25. Oregon State finished the 2003 season with a 12-23 record against opponents ranked in the USA Today/NFCA Poll Top-25. Of Oregon State's 67 games on the season, the Beavers faced ranked opponents on 35 occasions. Forty-three percent of OSU's opponents (17-of-40) were nationally ranked a year ago.
PAC-10 POWER: Seven of the eight Pacific-10 Conference squads finished the 2003 season ranked in the final May 27 USA Today/NFCA Poll, a listing follows: 1. UCLA, 2. California , 3. Arizona, 6. Washington, 16. Oregon, 20. Arizona State, 23. Stanford. For the third consecutive year, the Pac-10 had a pair of teams compete in the Women's College World Series (UCLA and California). UCLA turned away the defending champion Golden Bears by a 1-0 score in 9 innings to earn its ninth NCAA softball title.
IN THE DUGOUT: Sixth-year assistant Jenny Condon was promoted to associate head coach during the summer of 2002. Condon helped lead the Beavers to their first NCAA Regional Tournament appearance in 1999. After a one-year stint at UNLV during the 2000 season, Condon rejoined the Beaver staff. Crissy Buck ,a former player for the 1999 NCAA Champion UCLA Bruins, returns to the Beavers for her second season as assistant coach. A four-year letterwinner, Buck graduated from UCLA in 2002. Former Beaver standouts Shelly Prochaska and Steph Adams join the team as student assistant coaches.
THE WORD ON WALKER: Head coach Kirk Walker is in his 10th season at the helm for the Beavers. Walker, a graduate of UCLA, has turned around Oregon State's softball program to make it a contender on a national scale. Walker has led the Beavers to five consecutive NCAA Regional Tournament appearances. The winningest coach in program history, Walker, has an overall coaching record of 323-275-3 and a 65-157 mark in the Pacific-10 Conference. He earned his 300th career victory when Oregon State completed a perfect game in an 8-0 victory against Saint Mary's on Feb. 8, 2004. Walker was selected as one of just 12 coaches named to the USA Softball National Team Coaches Pool, and will serve as an assistant coach for the USA Elite Team. Prior to his arrival at Oregon State, Walker spent 11 seasons at national powerhouse UCLA as a manager and assistant coach. During his time in Westwood, the Bruins won six NCAA titles and made 10 appearances in the College World Series.
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