By: Ian Sutliff
Eugene, OR-- After a 3-2 weekend in Puerto Vallarta, the Ducks will head down to Southern California to face a trio of teams in Utah Valley, UC Riverside, Loyola Marymount, and San Diego State. While Utah Valley, UC Riverside, and Loyola Marymount have all started a little slower, SDSU will be Oregon’s toughest test this weekend. With five games in three days, pitching depth will be tested for every squad and it will be a good way to gauge where each team is at with another handful of games under their belt.
Oregon Ducks:
Projected Lineup-
CF Kedre Luschar
1B KK Humphreys
2B Allee Bunker
DH Alyssa Daniell
SS Paige Sinicki
LF Ariel Carlson
C Terra McGowan
3B Tehya Bird
RF Vallery Wong
What to watch for:
With Hanna Delgado out for now, Luschar has stepped into the leadoff spot as a sophomore and produced at a higher level than Oregon could have imagined possible. Through 15 at-bats, the centerfielder has six hits and two walks, which gives her a .471 OBP to start the season. Fifth-year senior Bunker will also be a big part of the offense if McGowan and the bottom of the lineup continue to struggle. Bunker has five hits in as many games this season and has never batted under .340 in her five-year college career (all of them as a starter). Carlson and Sinicki are probably the two biggest X factors though in the middle of a solid lineup. The two are returning starters from last year's team but despite their combined 10-27 (.370) start at the plate, only two of those hits went for extra bases. Eating up big innings on the mound for the Ducks will be Stevie Hansen who returns as the ace this season. After finishing last season with a 3.27 ERA over 124 innings last season, Hansen’s ERA sits at 5.25 in large part because of her disastrous outing against Maryland in the season opener. Excluding that performance, Hansen has allowed just five hits over 8 ⅔ innings and struck out 12. Other than Hansen, Elise Sokolsky and Morgan Scott will see a bulk of the innings, while Raegan Breedlove has also been fantastic in her three appearances this season.
Utah Valley:
Projected Lineup-
LF Libbie Hawker
2B Britney Moreno
SS Rylee Thorpe
C Kalena Shepherd
3B Megan Gibbs
CF Taylor Wooten
DH Jaeden Barajas
1B Emma Haygood
RF Kassidy Stiles
What to watch for:
The Wolverines are led by their senior catcher Shepherd who is coming off a great 2022 campaign in which she hit .324 with seven home runs and 45 RBI. Shepherd is tied for the team lead in hits (6) and XBH (2), as well as being a consistent defender behind the plate. Gibbs is the big bat in this lineup as she already has two homers to start the season but has gone quiet other than that. The corner infielder has gone 2-14 to start the season and has the lowest batting average of any regular starters on this team. Senior Brooke Saili is the ace for this squad while Katie Zuniga will also be asked to eat a lot of innings for this team. The two combined to pitch 28 ⅔ innings over the Wolverines’ first five games while the three other pitchers on the staff combined for just six. With a double header on Friday and Saturday, Utah Valley needs to trust Joslyn Thieme and others to step forward on the mound this weekend.
UC Riverside:
Projected Lineup-
LF Nadia Witt
2B Lauryn Garewell
SS Marissa Burk
CF Haylee Kela
1B Max Ortega
C Jackie Alday
3B Kat Montuya
DH Gigi Araki
RF Taylor Burdette
What to watch for:
It wouldn’t beat that bold if one were to say the Highlanders have the most scary 3-4 hitters of any team in this tournament. Burk and Kela are in their fourth years as starters at the collegiate level and are off to amazing starts so far. Burk leads the team in batting average at .429 and has a .500 OBP after drawing three walks in the opening six games this season. Kela on the other hand has a .611 slugging percentage to go along with seven RBI and a homerun on Wednesday against Cal Baptist. Witt and Ortega are also batting over .300 but none of the rest of this lineup is even hitting over .235. Overall, Riverside has a very strong pitching staff that is led by Maddie Heinlin who is allowing opposing hitters just a .220 average over her first 14 innings. Grace Pieson sports an ERA under 1 after allowing just one earned run in four appearances.
Loyola Marymount:
Projected Lineup-
RF Sydney Poole
SS Jasmine Sofowora
CF Morgan DeBord
C Val Pero
3B Taylor Fitch
C Izzy Jamgotchian
DH Adele Braun
2B Lilliana Thomas
LF Avery Francis
What to watch for:
Out of the five teams in this tournament, LMU may be fourth out of five, but they also might have the best hitter this weekend. That would be DeBord who has already crushed three home runs and five of her six hits are for extra bases. Poole should take some of the pressure off of DeBord in the lineup as she also has six hits and has stolen two bases already. That combo of speed and power at the top of the lineup will be a nightmare for opposing pitchers in the first inning as they try to get settled in. Pero is someone who needs to step up big after hitting .294 a season ago, but has just two hits to kick off the 2023 campaign. LMU used seven pitchers in its first six games but only three will see significant time this weekend. Jenna Perez is the ace, but after giving up 12 earned runs in 17 ⅔ innings, Jessica Hubbard should continue to see more time on the mound. Hubbard has the Lions’ only two wins this season and struck out 13 over eight innings while allowing just one run on four hits in her three appearances.
San Diego State:
Projected Lineup-
LF Bella Espinoza
SS Jillian Cellis
3B AJ Murphy
1B Mac Barbara
C Cali Decker
DH Jade Ignacio
RF Makena Brocki
CF Macey Keester
2B Taylor Okada
What to watch for:
The Aztecs have probably the deepest lineup of any team in this tournament with Espinoza being the best raw hitter we may see in San Diego this weekend. Her .500 batting average is the best in the Campbell/Cartier classic and that’s not to mention Murphy and Celis who are both hitting over .400 so far with two combined home runs. That isn’t even mentioning Barbara who is coming off an 18 home run season and has already added one this year. She’s the reigning Mountain West player of the year after hitting .395 and even though it’s early, six of her teammates have hit better. That should make a lot of opposing pitchers scared. Speaking of pitching, the Aztecs have four solid ones which should increase their chances of going undefeated in a tournament where there isn’t a lot of rest time. Dani Martinez and Dee Dee Hernandez might be the best two pitchers this weekend and they combined to allow just one earned run in 22 ⅓ innings in eight appearances. Sarah Leeman picked up a win and has a 3.89 ERA but Allie Light will need to be a lot better this time around after getting roughed up in the Aztecs’ lone loss to Arizona State this season.