There will be no easy games for Beavers in conference play

By Kevin Hampton
Gazette-Times reporter

The Oregon State softball team went to the Women’s College World Series last year.

The Beavers spent the past few months playing a nonconference schedule dotted with ranked teams and are currently ranked 17th in the nation.

Looking at those facts, some would assume the Beavers could breeze through Pacific-10 Conference play.

One glance at the top 25 poll shows otherwise. Seven of the eight teams are ranked and the Beavers are the lowest.

Arizona is fifth, followed by No. 7 Arizona State, No. 11 UCLA, No. 12 Washington, No. 13 Oregon and No. 14 Stanford.

The rankings are subject to change when conference play begins.

“We have a pretty good idea of what other teams have,” OSU pitcher Brianne McGowan said. “We just have to come out and be consistent and just keep making the routine plays and getting people on bases.”

The Beavers (26-10) have had some ups and downs in the preseason. The schedule included games against current top-10 teams Oklahoma, Northwestern and Texas.

McGowan said the schedule strength should help the Beavers when Pac-10 play starts this weekend.

“It helps a ton,” she said. “When you play good competition, it’s always going to help you out. It gets you ready for postseason and league.”

OSU outfielder Cambria Miranda said the Beavers have been playing with more focus in recent games and should be ready.

The Beavers have hit the ball well lately after struggling at the plate.

“We just need to come out and play,” Miranda said. “We’ve been preparing all season long for Pac-10 and it’s going to be very competitive, so we just need to go out and play hard. Hopefully, we’re ready to come out and compete.”

The Beavers have a single game against Stanford on Friday and then take on California on Saturday and Sunday.

Miranda said it’s important for the Beavers to have a fast start.

“I just know we want to come out and win those first three,” she said. “That would be good for us to win those first three games. Especially coming from last year, Cal’s been a big rival for us, because we faced them in the Super Regionals, so I know we want to come out and dominate against them.”

While McGowan and Miranda have been through the Pac-10 schedule before, the Beavers are a young team with seven freshmen on the roster.

Miranda said the first-year players are aware of the intensity of Pac-10 play.

“I know they’re ready and we’ve communicated with them what the Pac-10 is all about,” she said. “It’s going to be competitive, our teams are going to be equal and so we need to go after it, every run counts.”

One of those freshmen is outfielder Dani Chisholm. She said the freshmen have been getting ready throughout the season.

“Every time we’ve been playing we’ve been working up to preparing ourselves for Pac-10,” Chisholm said. “The Pac-10 is the best and all the teams in there are really good, so we just need to go out and do what we do, concentrate on ourselves and not our competition. As long as we concentrate on ourselves, we should be fine.”