Fast Break: Spring break deceives, not really a break at all for spring athletes

A duck in a Willamette jersey about to score a goal on the soccer field while the crowd cheers behind them. Art by Wes Mowry-Silverman.

Welcome back, Bearcat Fan! I sincerely hope spring break has left all NARPs and non-in-season athletes feeling refreshed and well-rested, as the same likely cannot be said for all of our spring sport warriors. Let’s see how they fared over the break, shall we?

Tennis traveled east to sunny, beautiful Iowa to face Loras and Central. In the matches versus Loras on March 22, both the men and women won 4-3, with the decisive point coming from doubles wins. Against Central on March 23, the men lost the doubles point but came back to win the match 4-3 anyway thanks to some stellar singles performances. The women also won 4-3, again, winning their doubles matchups and performing well on the singles side to secure the Iowan sweep.

Tennis ended their winning streak against George Fox and Lewis & Clark over the weekend, with the women losing both matches 1-6 and the men losing both 2-5 and 1-6, respectively. On the women’s side, Katie Briggs (’26) secured the singular point against the Bruins, and Sofia Spencer (’28) got on the board for the Bearcats against the River Otters. On the men’s side, Sohnosuke Sakaguchi (’29) secured two of three singles points for the Bearcats, and Jack Hally (’29) scored the last in No. 6 singles.

Baseball did not fare so well over the break, traveling south to California to face Chapman on March 22 and 23, and then heading up to Tacoma to face the Lutes the following weekend. Of the seven total games played, the Basecats only secured one win in the last matchup against Pacific Lutheran, winning 7-2. 

Softball did significantly less traveling than everyone else, facing Pacific at home on March 28 and then heading to Forest Grove to finish out the series on Sunday. The ’Cats split the series 2-2, capping off the break with a 2-1 win to give them momentum as we head into conference play.

Lacrosse joined the trend of losing streaks, extending theirs to six in a row. Ouch. They also headed to California, facing Redlands and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, losing 3-15 to the Bulldogs and 6-22 to the Athenas. They returned to Salem to face Oberlin (you know, the Ohio music school) and lost 11-16 to the … uh … Yeomen. Which I am told is a type of squirrel. 

Women’s track and field competed twice, with four athletes heading to Corvallis for the PNW Invitational on March 21 and then hosting their last home meet of the regular season at the aptly named Willamette Invitational on March 28. In the latter, track won in team points with 165.5.

Men’s track and field also won the Willamette Invitational, routing all other teams and securing 267 team points to second place’s 136, and nabbing several No. 1 finishes. 

Golf is in Tennessee and competes March 31 at the GreyStone Classic.

In the wider world of sport: March Madness has lived up to its name so far in both the men’s and women’s tournament, with the UConn men’s team stunning No. 1 seed Duke in an absurd buzzer beater to win 73-72 and secure a spot in the Elite Eight. On the women’s side, UConn remains the tournament favorite but still faced a bit of a scare in a win over No. 6 seed Notre Dame, despite the final score. Team USA (the men’s side) got routed 2-5 in a friendly against Belgium, so thank god we automatically qualified for the World Cup. The MLB began its regular season, and my Chicago White Sox got swept by the Brewers, so nothing new to report in the world of baseball so far. 

In the coming weeks: Lacrosse looks to snap its losing streak against the River Otters on Wednesday in Portland, marking the start of conference play for the ’Cats, and tennis aims to do the same against the Loggers on April 4. Baseball and softball also begin conference play, with both teams facing Whitworth at home on Friday and Saturday. Track and field head to Linfield to compete at the Jenn Boyman Memorial on Saturday and look to prove once and for all who the better ’Cats are.