2013 Softball World Series Eugene Regional Overview
#3 Oregon, North Carolina, Wisconsin, BYU
The Ducks enter the NCAA tournament as the third seed behind Oklahoma and Florida, and Oregon sports a 46-9 record as tournament play begins. Two of the nine losses just took place over the concluding weekend to Arizona State, so the record is a bit misleading. Oregon has also lost to teams like Florida, Oklahoma and California, so the Ducks have played a heavyweight schedule. Oregon’s lineup is chock-full of double-digit home run hitters like Kailee Cuico, Kaylan Howard, Alexa Peterson and Janelle Lindvall. Peterson and Janie Tekeda are among the top hitters on the team with averages above .450. Jessica Moore and Cheridan Hawkins have strong walk-strikeout ratios, especially Hawkins with 34 walks and 196 strikeouts. This could pose huge problems for other teams because Oregon’s lineup doesn’t have all of the eggs in one basket.
BYU, which faces Oregon in the first game, carries a 33-23 record and doesn’t have much homerun power, but it makes up for that with speed. Lacey Millett, J.C. Clayton and Carly Duckworth have double-digit steals, and Gordy Bravo is the team’s leading hitter at .393. BYU does have an 11-3 record in away games but is 9-14 at neutral sites. That likely will not factor in against Oregon but it could against other the schools. North Carolina is 39-19, which includes a 4-2 loss to Wisconsin in the opening game of the Louisville Tournament on March 15. Constance Orr (.358-15-50) is the team’s leading hitter, and Haleigh Dickey and Kristen Brown are also double-digit homer hitters. North Carolina’s game with Oregon could be a slugfest, if it happens. As for Wisconsin (42-11), it comes off its first-ever Big Ten Tournament championship. Whitney Massey and Mary Massei are the team’s leading hitters. Cassandra Darrah carries a 25-5 record and 1.82 earned run average into the NCAA tournament, and Meghan McIntosh is a reliable backup.
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