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Softball Notes: The on-deck circle

By Brandon Johnson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wednesday Apr. 17, 2002

Not to worry: Sophomore first baseman/designated player Leneah Manuma's home-run bat has been held in check the past three weekends, but that hasn't stopped her from taking her place atop two NCAA statistical categories.

The San Diego native still leads the nation in RBIs with 59 and home runs with 17, despite not yet hitting a bomb in Pacific 10 Conference play.

Three's a crowd: Manuma, along with sophomore catcher Mackenzie Vandergeest and freshman third baseman Jackie Coburn, are tied for the most grand slams on the UA roster this season.

Coburn's four-run blast on Sunday at Oregon moved her into a tie with her teammates at three grand slams apiece.

Hands of steel: Vandergeest has recorded 370 put outs this season in 43 games behind the plate. That's an average of 8.6 per game.

Assuming that Arizona works its way deep into the postseason and plays 70 games, Vandergeest would easily pass the all-time UA mark for most put outs in a season.

The record is currently held by Lindsey Collins, who recorded 550 put outs during the 2001 season.

Near the top: Despite a slow start defensively this season, Arizona has picked up its play in the field and currently finds itself No. 2 in the nation with a .981 fielding percentage.

The Wildcats have committed just 21 errors this season, which is less than .5 errors per game.

Arizona also finds itself near the top of the NCAA charts in team batting (No. 3) and runs per game (No. 3).

Surprisingly, senior Jennie Finch and sophomore Jenny Gladding's combined ERA is just No. 15 in the country.

Got your number: The two Oregon schools traditionally find themselves near the bottom of the conference standings, and Arizona certainly has capitalized on that fact to pick up easy wins.

Dating back to last season, Arizona has outscored Oregon 35-3 in five victories over the Ducks. Oregon State, a Top 25 team, hasn't fared much better, having been outscored by the Wildcats 17-1 in four losses.

A good omen?: Arizona faced Oklahoma and Oklahoma State once each last season and picked up a pair of wins en route to the national championship.

Against the Cowboys, Arizona posted a 7-0 victory, and later in the season, the Wildcats defeated the No. 5 Sooners 6-2.

Arizona can only hope that history repeats itself this season.

Same old stuff: When today's USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top 25 poll is released, Arizona will continue its streak of consecutive national rankings.

The Wildcat softball program has been ranked in every poll continuously since the 1988 season - the longest running streak of any UA athletic team.

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