Cheridan Hawkins

Sophomore Oregon ace Cheridan Hawkins has delivered 33 of Oregon's 54 wins this season, which is tied for second-most wins in a UO single season.

(Collin Andrew/The Register-Guard)

EUGENE – They've each been to Oklahoma City before, whether sitting in the dugouts of ASA Hall of Fame Stadium or taking its field wearing other colors.

But even for the twin pillars supporting Oregon softball's rise to No. 1 and return to the Women's College World Series this season – two players who have nearly seen it all at the college level and have captured nearly every accolade – this trip to Oklahoma City is special because it's a rare first.

When top-seeded Oregon faces eighth-seeded Florida State in Thursday's opener at 11:30 a.m. it will mark the WCWS debuts for third baseman Courtney Ceo and starting pitcher Cheridan Hawkins. After being so close to the team's 2012 WCWS berth Ceo, the senior with the golden bat who was sidelined with a torn ACL, and Hawkins, the sophomore with a sharp competitive edge who then was a high school commit, are motivated to create better memories this year.

"We've taken thousands of ground balls and swings and things like that, pitched thousands of pitches and we just need to believe," Hawkins (33-4) said. "That's going to be the key. Having fun and not building this up to be too much -- even though it is, you know, the best place you can possibly be."

Ceo and Hawkins are in a pretty good place, all right.

Each was named a first-team All-American selection by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association on Wednesday, joining second-team honoree and UO left fielder Janie Takeda. Ceo, who is UO's all-time hits leader, won the Pac-12 batting title two weeks ago but has pushed her average 11 points higher since. It's now .492, a school record and the best in the country. She has been responsible for more changes to the UO record book than a sharp-eyed editor.

"It's going to be a great feeling to step on the field and actually be able to play," Ceo said before UO's super regional victory against Minnesota as she imagined Oklahoma City. "It's definitely going to be one of those dreams come true."

Hawkins might be one of the few pitchers able to keep Ceo off the bases. She ranks among the nation's leaders with 11 shutouts (11th best in NCAA), 4.05 hits allowed per seven innings (seventh) and a 1.55 ERA (25th). Her 33 victories tie former standout Jessica Moore, whom Hawkins succeeded this season as Oregon's ace, for second-most in a UO single season.

A case could be made that each is in Oklahoma City this week enjoying their success precisely because of their shortcomings in reaching this stage before. Six Ducks on this roster also played in the 2012 WCWS, but that figure doesn't include this season's two best Ducks.

In 2012, Hawkins was a high school senior and Oregon commit who had to sit on her couch to watch her future team, which was led by Moore, a junior at the time who went on to hold nearly every major UO pitching record. For Ceo, the pain of missing out was both literal and figurative, a combination of the sting from her second torn ACL – ripped in the season's 36th game – and her inability to satisfy her competitive streak.

Instead, she sat in the dugout as Oregon lost its opening WCWS game to Arizona State, staved off elimination against Tennessee and exited against Cal.

Oregon's Courtney Ceo (left) catches Wisconsin's Kendall Grimm off the bag at third during the NCAA Eugene regional. She is hitting .492 this season, the highest average in the nation.

"She has such an internal competitive drive, so to be a part of something on the sideline that's not her mentality," said Moore, who is now a member of Team USA and recently finished her first season as an Idaho State assistant. "Obviously that year she did everything she could for the team in terms of in spirit and emotionally with us but it's really difficult for somebody of her mentality and caliber to be on the sidelines.

"You can never be happy doing that. I remember it was very difficult for her. There are really no words that any teammate can say to help. That's why she made such a huge comeback."

The competitiveness of Hawkins and Ceo has played a key role in their stellar seasons after being stunned by Nebraska at home in the 2013 super regional round. This season Hawkins assumed the arduous role of filling the graduated Moore's cleats as ace.

"She's done so well with that. I think she's a little young, she gets nerves, she rattles herself at times," said Moore, alluding to Hawkins' signs of weakness against Minnesota last week. In each game, fifth-year head coach Mike White visited the circle for a calming chat soon after Hawkins had allowed a run. After those visits, Hawkins was lights out, giving up a combined two hits in eight innings.

Along with a scouting report on Florida State, White said he's given Hawkins "some material to look at for slowing game down" this week as she enters the biggest stage of her career. Hawkins had previously pitched in Oklahoma City as part of the USA junior national team wearing red, white and blue. She has a tendency to get ahead of herself and think too much, White said, instead of trusting her mechanics.

Said Moore: "She had to take the team and kind of put them on her back. ... She's a tough kid. She hasn't always been the best pitcher and it's very similar to my story, as well. When you're not always the best you learn to fight."

That instinct to fight and compete is stoked by White into nearly everything: batting and running workouts, pitching practices, intrasquad scrimmages, even card and board games. It comes out on the basepaths, where Ceo likes to turn innocuous bunts and infield bloops into 60-foot races that match her speed against an infielder's glovework. She beat a bunt for a single in her last at-bat at Howe Field, which brought boisterous cheers from the 1,997 in attendance.

"I feel like if I called them and told them they would be national champions if they all shaved their head, they'd be in," said Moore, who will be in Oklahoma City this week to watch. "Every single person would be in."

Yet Oregon (54-7-1) counters its competitive side with a fun-loving dynamic. From the outside it's as if the team doesn't realize it's been the No. 1 ranked team for six weeks and carries national-title expectations unlike any UO softball squad before it.

Their choreographed dances in pregame warmups aren't so much how they deal with stress, however, but how they help create it in their opponents. As Oregon danced and played hacky-sack in right field 30 minutes before its clinching super regional game, several Minnesota players snuck glances between their regimented drills toward Oregon's direction in an attempt decipher just what the jumping and dancing was all about.

"When it comes time to step on the field we get serious but we also have fun there as well so I think if we just stick to that approach we'll like how things go," Hawkins said. "I think it's just staying relaxed and kind of feeding off other teammates. If you're feeling stressed and you see five other people laughing it's not as stressful an environment. If people are able to have fun right now (at the WCWS), you shouldn't be stressed."

And few in NCAA softball embody the fun/focus split more successfully than Ceo and Hawkins. Those attributes might help explain why the duo is soaking in the rewards of their hard work this week as they add a missing piece – stepping on the Oklahoma City field as a Duck – to careers that already seemingly had everything.

-- Andrew Greif | @andrewgreif