Any amateur opinions on Oregon??
A good matchup for OU?
My take after watching all of the super-regional and WCWS games is Oregon is the worst match-up for the Sooners among the 3 potential opponents Oregon, Baylor and LSU is my order.
First the Ducks playing in the Pac 12 which had teams ranked #2, #3, #4 and #5 in the final rpi (not seedings)
might indicate a must stronger level of competition than even the SEC which may have had more depth but not near the number of top quality teams.
Second statistically Oregon is very similar to Baylor offensively with an emphasis on small ball and against Baylor this year their small ball offense forced the Sooners to make 7 errors and allow 4 unearned runs in 4 games. We can ill afford to be giving up any unearned runs and expect a win. I think small teams are more difficult for OU to play than power teams.
Third comparing Oregon to Baylor offensively Oregon had a better BA, scored 110 more runs on the season, better OB% and a better SLG%. Also Oregon had about a half a run better ERA (1.40 vs 1.88)
Fourth Oregon like OU has three pitchers with over 100 innings pitched, two (1.22 & 1.27) with ERA's similar to Parker (1.24) and one with a 1.81. So they should be able to withstand the stress of playing 4 games in two day much better than Baylor or LSU with their two quality pitchers.
Fifth for the season Oregon's (.968) fielding percentage is slightly behind Baylor (.972) and OU (.977) which I see as similar defenses and expect we will try to pressure the Oregon defense by being aggressive on the bases.
I think the big difference between OU and Oregon is first Paige Parker being a money pitcher she is and second OU's WCWS experience and third OU having more power in the lineup.
It should be noted that the Ducks seemed to come out of their power issue funk somewhat yesterday with as many extra base hits (7) as they had in their previous 6 NCAA playoff games.
I would like to see us get out to a 2 run lead early and mitigate somewhat their ability to run which might stymie their offense somewhat. Also a big key is keeping their two lead-off hitters off base as they were the top two base stealers in the Pac-12.