Softball Team 1989 (2019) - Hall of Fame - University of Oregon Athletics

Softball Team 1989

Induction:
2019

Led by All-Americans Katie Wiese and Kim Manning, the 1989 Oregon softball team was not only the first in school history to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament, but fought its way all the way to the Women’s College World Series. The 1989 team still ranks first or second in eight different statistical categories at Oregon. The team opened the season on a roll, winning 15 of its first 16 games and capturing the Arizona Softball Classic title. The Ducks also closed out the regular season on a strong note, winning 15-of-17. That helped lift the Ducks to a runner-up finish in the Pac-10 at 13-7. Oregon was one of two teams to defeat eventual national champion UCLA in league play. The Ducks’ strong showing earned the squad an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Oregon was sent across the country to the Northeast Regional in Amherst, Mass. There, the Ducks defeated Massachusetts, 2-0, in the opening round, before falling to Connecticut, 2-1, later the same day. Facing elimination less than 24 hours later, the Ducks rallied past UConn, 3-2, in 10 innings and then ran past the Huskies, 6-0, in the decisive game to earn a ticket to the program’s first NCAA Women’s College World Series. Traveling back across the country to Sunnyvale, Calif., just four days later to meet Cal Poly-Pomona in the opening round of the WCWS, the Ducks fell, 1-0. But Oregon rallied for a 1-0 win against South Carolina two days later, before falling to Arizona, 4-0, in the national semifinals. The squad ended the year with a 54-18 record and was ranked No. 4 in the final regular season poll. That season, the Ducks set school records in wins (54), shutouts (28), earned run average (0.84), innings pitched (481), saves (10), defensive putouts (1,443), triples (20) and stolen bases (82). The numbers for shutouts, innings pitched and defensive putouts are still the school standards some 30 years later. Wiese had a 42-13 record in the circle with a 0.52 ERA and 168 strikeouts and was named the Pac-10 player of the year. Infielder Danny Senner led the Ducks with a .404 average with 40 runs batted in, while infielder Kathy Gray hit .330 with 39 RBI. Manning and Julie Cavanaugh both batted .324 for the Ducks. Head coach Teresa Wilson won both the NSCA national and Pac-10 coach of the year honors. Wiese, Manning and Cavanaugh have all been enshrined in the UO Athletics Hall of Fame. After the 1989 team’s run, it would be 23 seasons before another Oregon team made an appearance at the WCWS in 2012.