Now in the 11th week of a record-breaking season for the Oregon softball team, the Ducks will now turn their attention to the “better than their record shows” California Golden Bears (22-17, 4-6 Pac-12).
Unanimously ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time in school history, Oregon (37-5, 11-1 Pac-12) will look to keep its offensive groove going against a Cal team that has a team earned-run average of 4.49. That bodes well for the Ducks as they are coming off their most productive offensive three-game series in years, putting up 38 runs, including an 18-0 shellacking in the series finale against Oregon State.
“They’re showing a lot of patience at the plate, they’re not panicking at all,” Oregon head coach Mike White told reporters on Wednesday. “This is definitely a fun team. They’re close, they look out for each other and they’re playing that way.”
One of the main things Oregon will be looking to accomplish this weekend is get ace pitcher Cheridan Hawkins back on track. She has been dominant all season but has struggled in her last few outings against UCLA and Oregon State.
Hawkins entered the UCLA series two weeks ago with a 0.98 ERA but has seen that number jump to 1.39 over her last five outings, three against the Bruins and two against the Beavers.
In her last five outings, she has thrown 21.2 innings and has given up 12 earned runs while striking out 24 batters and walking 12. To put that in perspective, Hawkins had given up a total of 18 earned runs over her first 25 appearances on the season (10 of those runs came in the first two games of the year).
Even with her latest struggles, Hawkins is still considered one of the top pitchers in the nation. She is ranked fourth in wins with 22, her 1.39 ERA is good enough for 22nd in the nation, her 210 strikeouts are sixth and she’s 10th in the country in hits per seven innings at 3.89.
Even while the pitching stumbled a bit against a very porous Oregon State offense, the offense flexed its muscles in more ways than one. Janelle Lindvall continued her recent hot streak by hitting .700 over the series and was joined by Koral Costa, who also hit .700 in the series.
Kailee Cuico helped finish off the series with a bang, going 2-for-2 with two home runs and four RBIs in the 18-0 win.
The Golden Bears went 2-2 last week, losing two of three games to No. 9 Arizona before earning a win against Santa Clara on Tuesday.
When it comes to individual players and talent, there’s no question who Cal’s leader is. Cheyenne Cordes is one of the better all-around talents in the Pac-12 as she leads the Golden Bears in hitting with a team-high .431 batting average, 11 home runs, 39 runs scored and 34 RBIs.
The Ducks and Bears will play their first two games at 4 p.m. on Thursday and Friday before wrapping up the series on Saturday at 12 p.m.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka