Preview: Oregon Softball vs Stanford Cardinal

Via Christopher Young

The Games will air on Pac12 Network and are broadcast on KWVA

Game 1: 1700
Game 2: 1400
Game 3: 1200

The #22 Oregon Ducks (29-16) will end the regular season on the road at Palo Alto, taking on the
Stanford Cardinal (32-16). The Ducks come into the weekend after sweeping Oregon State last weekend
in 3 games at The Jane. The Ducks’ bats were able to overcome the Beavers’ pitchers, and helped give
the team a bit of a jump-start, which is what they are wanting heading into the postseason.

The Ducks are going to play in the postseason, that is baked into the cake right now. They have played
the nation’s most difficult schedule according to strength of schedule measures, and have an RPI of 15.
So, with the postseason assured, where they play is the real question.

At this point the Ducks are right on the cusp of being able to host a regional series. Getting 3 more wins
against the Cardinal would boost that resume. The team is intent on doing everything they can to play a
few more games at home, they know the home teams fair better in regional rounds.

That said, they know they aren’t in control of that decision, so they are focused on controlling the things
they can, which for now is winning the games they have left. The Cardinal aren’t world beaters, but they
did win 2 of 3 against both UCLA and Arizona St and split a 2 game series with Oklahoma St. (ranked 8)

The game they lost to UCLA was an extra innings affair that they lost in the 8th.

Stanford has done a very good job this season of exploiting weakness when their opponents aren’t fully
focused or prepared. Coach ML said the team knows they have to finish strong to accomplish the goals
the team has for itself. Even with the Senior Day weekend and celebrations for Hannah Galey, Jordan
Dail, and Jasmine Williams happening last weekend, and the team celebrating the first 3 game sweep in
weeks, she is sure the team will be ready and there won’t be any let downs. “I think these guys are in a
really good place, they’re ready to go. They understand this is the last weekend of conference…..we are
peaking at the right time. The biggest thing we got from April was just experience. We played against
the best every single weekend.”

She also knows you have to use momentum when you have it and can’t just take it for granted. “Having
momentum is huge…anytime you have it you want to take it and run with it!….Take the momentum from
one weekend to the next, we’ll gladly take it.”

Terra McGowan said during the OSU series “that the team found purpose as a group and you could see a
different feel,” and they plan to close the year strong. “Once you find something like that it doesn’t go
away and I think we found it at just the right time…so I look forward to bringing that with us to Stanford..
(and) post season.”

Coming out of a really rough stretch in April to end the month with the sweep of OSU, I thought the best
way to sum it up came from something Gabby Herrera heard from Vallery Wong. “April showers bring
May flowers. We kind of just thought of that, last month is over….so now it’s just reaping the harvest and
being ready to go!”

The challenge coach Lombardi has given the team coming into the weekend is to jump on the starting
pitchers earlier in the games. The more pressure the team can put on the opposing pitcher the more
effective the rest of the Ducks strengths become, primarily their speed. Terra said that Coach Marder has
really created an aggressive offense, and I look for us to see more of it this weekend.

DUCKS’ OFFENSE:

The Ducks continue to lead the conference in stolen bases, with 78 on 94 attempts. They average 1.7
bases per game. The key to making that work is getting the base runners on. Currently the Ducks, as a team are hitting .304. The offense is led by Terra McGowan who is the only one hitting over .400, though she is just over at (.404). Hanna Delgado (.387) and Allee Bunker (.357) are also hitting really well.

The other bats at right around team average are, Vallery Wong (.303), KK Humphreys (.298), Hannah Galey
(.298) and pinch hitters Allison Benning (.310) and Gabby Herrera (.355).

Though they primarily put the bat on ball, they do have 185 strikeouts, compared to 111 walks. The key
for the Ducks is going to be to extend at bats and see more pitches. They have done a much better job this
season when they are able to extend the pitch counts of opposing pitchers.

DUCKS’ PITCHING AND DEFENSE:

The Ducks were hammered in April and the team ERA reflects their struggles, at 4.00. As high as that is,
it actually came down following the OSU series, and you can expect it will come down even more
following this weekend’s games. Makenna Kliethermes and Stevie Hansen will be the likely starters.

Kliethermes battled through a tough pitching stretch, but pitched very well vs. OSU and is on a nice track
for post-season. I would expect to see Reagan Breedlove and Jordan Dail in relief if the offense is able to
put up some early runs. Coach ML would like to get some game reps for as many on the staff as possible
going into the post season.

The Ducks’ defense continues to be a bedrock of this team. The occasional errors occur, but for the most
part when there is a play to be made this defense makes it. The outfield has been the weaker link, though
that’s in part due to the fact that there isn’t a starter in the bunch that started out in those positions. They
are settling into those spots, but every so often there will be a play that highlights that fact.

Stanford Cardinal:

The Cardinal don’t do any one thing that jumps off the page, they sort of just plug along and stay close in
games waiting for a chance to strike. They have a team batting average of .269. They are led by Taylor
Gindlesperger (.389). Kaitlyn Lim (.315), Emily Young (.312), and Sydnee Huff (.310) are the only
others over .300. The rest of the teams is in the mid .200’s. They also don’t have a bunch of power, with
only 21 home-run’s on the season and only 56 doubles. There isn’t a real threat on the bases either, with
only 46 stolen bases.

The one thing the Ducks pitchers should be able to really capitalize on is that the Cardinal strike out about
one out of every 5 at bats, 219 Ks on the season. The one oddity is they actually hit the ball pretty well,
with 341 hits on the year, compared to the Ducks at 369. But they just don’t score as much, with only 205
runs compared to the Ducks at 278.

Stanford doesn’t have a dominating ace, they are much more of a committee. They are led by junior
Alana Vawter (ERA 1.68 20-9), who can dominate at times, and sophomore Regan Krause (ERA 1.94
10-4) senior Tammy Millar (ERA 1.66 2-1) is the go to arm in relief. Junior Tatum Boyd (ERA 3.50 0-
2) and freshman Kylie Chung (ERA 1.68 1-0) have been used but don’t make regular appearances.

Tammy Millar has appeared 17 times with 2 starts.
Alana Vawter has appeared 29 times with 28 starts.
Kylie Chung has appeared 6 times with zero starts
Regan Krause has appeared 22 times with 15 starts
Tatum Boyd has appeared 8 times with 4 starts.

We should expect to the Ducks try to open the offense and really create momentum going into the
postseason. They know that the only chance to host will be to win these games decisively. The pitchers
made some real improvements in the OSU series getting ahead in counts. Look for that this weekend
too. The more they are ahead the better they do. Most of the struggles come when they are falling
behind.

The offense will get its chances, it’s just going to be important to keep from getting too off plan
and starting to press. As long as they stay on plan this isn’t a staff that will present anything they haven’t
already seen in spades. I expect the offense to score and give the coaches a chance to extend the chances
for bench appearances. Look for the Ducks to have their brooms ready.