The Barometer Online

Issue date: 5/7/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Casey Grogan Redshirt freshman Karmen Holladay delivers a pitch against UW on April 19.

It looks like it will be a bittersweet ending for the Oregon State softball team as it closes out the 2009 regular season against Arizona State and Arizona on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The team has no hopes of making it to the postseason.

"I think we definitely have a different mindset this weekend because we absolutely have nothing to lose, so I think we are all going to come out with the mindset to come out and play the best we can," sophomore catcher Audrey Roderfeld said.

Two weeks ago, according to Stefanie Ewing, the goal for the Beavers was to win four of their last nine Pac-10 games and end the season at .500 or better to hopefully secure postseason play. Unfortunately, Oregon State has lost its last six Pac-10 games and its goal has diminished. The Beavers went 0-3 last weekend after falling to then-No. 4 Washington, 2-5, and then-No 2. UCLA, 3-4 and 1-9 on the road.

"This season was a learning experience for us and we just had to take it in stride and play the best we can," senior infielder Paige Lowe said. "We need to go out and focus on playing the best we can."

Roderfeld hit her 13th home run of the season against UCLA Saturday, but it was not enough to secure a win as the Beavers ended up losing 3-4. Roderfeld leads the team with a .315 batting average, 22 runs on 45 hits and 36 RBI.

Lowe posts second just behind Roderfeld with a .296 batting average, 27 runs on 48 hits, eight home runs and 15 RBI. Lowe batted .600 last weekend over three games.

Redshirt freshman Karmen Holladay received her first career start against UCLA Saturday and tallied her second strikeout. Junior pitcher Kelly Dyer was charged with Friday's loss against Washington and Sunday's second loss against UCLA, while freshman Paige Hall took credit for Saturday's loss.

Dyer's losses put her at 10-17 overall this season with a 3.28 ERA. Hall's record drops to 14-11 and she holds a 3.18 ERA over 160.2 innings pitched.

Roderfeld described how the mentality of the team changed in Sunday's game against UCLA when they joked around more than usual on the field during warm-ups in an attempt to lift each others' spirits.

Continued...

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