Gwen Svekis

Players and staff from the Oregon softball team lingered on the field at Jane Sanders Stadium following the Ducks' final regular-season home game, a win over Utah on May 6.The team's strength and conditioning coach,, was taking in the scene when he felt a tap on his shoulder from behind. When Dillon turned around, sophomore pitcherleapt into his arms, tears streaming down her face.The highlight of the Ducks' 8-1 victory that day was a two-inning relief appearance by Balint, her first outing at The Jane in more than a month due to a back injury. As she celebrated the victory and her return to action, Balint made a point of finding Dillon."I wouldn't even be back on the field right now if it wasn't for him," Balint said Tuesday.On Thursday, the No. 1 Ducks (52-8) open the Women's College World Series against Pac-12 rival and No. 8 seed Arizona State (9 a.m. PT, ESPN). That Balint will be available in the bullpen, after overcoming the effects of her back injury, is just one of many testaments to the impact Dillon had on getting the team to this grandest of softball stages."He's an unsung hero," UO coachsaid.Dillon may be a hero for the Ducks, but in softball circles, he's no longer unsung. Following Oregon's three-game Super Regional series win over Kentucky, Wildcats coach Rachel Lawson went out of her way to note the impact of the UO strength and conditioning program, and by extension Dillon.Kentucky played at Oregon in Super Regionals for the second year in a row. But from Lawson's vantage point, the Ducks — in particular opening game starter— didn't look like the same team this spring."I will say one thing about them that I thought was cool coming back: their strength and condition program has got to be awesome," Lawson said. "When we saw Kleist take the mound on Thursday, she looks dramatically different. The amount of work that she had to put in in the weight room, and all of the reps and all of the things that she did, I think has to be tremendous. So I do believe there is a story there for their athletic department."Dillon, in his 12th season at Oregon, is lauded by UO players for his ability to improve their strength and explosiveness. He's also something of a counselor, neither a coach nor a parent, with a different perspective on issues they might be dealing with, on or off the field. Coaches, meanwhile, depend on him for consistency in their messaging, so that the same coaching points White delivers in practice are stressed by Dillon in the weight room.Kleist said she appreciates his willingness and ability to tailor workouts to each individual player. In high school, she'd experience an injury, try to maintain a weights program but end up suffering a compensation injury. At Oregon, Dillon provides programming that accounts for her history.They also learn from Dillon that they can push through what they thought was their breaking point. That carries over to the softball field."He's the only person — the only person — that I can hear in the dugout cheering," Kleist said. " 'Come on Kleist, come on Kleisty!' I don't hear people, ever. But his voice just projects."For Balint, Dillon's voice was literally the only one she heard during the depths of her comeback. The back injury sapped her of strength, to the extent that she couldn't hit her normal velocity of 67 to 68 mph. She struggled even to hit 62 at times."It was so frustrating; I was using my body, trying to get my arm into it, and I just couldn't," Balint said. "I physically could not throw the ball hard — until I started working out."Dillon programs Oregon's team lifts based on the game schedule. Some weeks, there's time for three. Some weeks, there's only time for one. That wasn't going to be enough to get Balint back to where she needed to be.If Balint were willing to lift at least three times per week — which would require coming in voluntarily on Monday, the Ducks' designated off day each week — there was a chance to get close to 100 percent by the end of the regular season, Dillon told her."And she bought in," he said. "She completely bought in."Balint made it routine to come in each Monday for 90 minutes. Dillon would make time for one-on-one coaching, tailored to helping her recover from the back injury. Fast forward a couple months, and Balint is back in the mix for the Ducks entering the World Series."She thanked me for the work, but it's not really me," Dillon said. "All I did was put exercises on a sheet; she's the one who had to do it. …"To me, that's the most rewarding part of the job. Obviously you want to see them win, and have success. But to me it goes beyond winning and losing. There's a lot of lessons you learn as a college athlete, one of them being how to overcome adverse situations. How to overcome things you didn't necessarily predict happening, but it's there, and you've got to work through it. To see all the hard work she put into it, and the commitment she made, it's so awesome to see her getting closer to the form she was at before."of the Women's College World Series on Wednesday, participating in interviews and video shoots with the ESPN crew that will telecast the series.There were also two practice sessions Wednesday, one on a back field at the stadium complex, and one open to the public on OGE Energy Field in ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. That followed a practice Tuesday on the campus of Oklahoma State, which was a deeper dive on Thursday's opponent, the Sun Devils."We're still continuing to prepare for them, but it's a little bit shorter," UO assistant coachsaid Wednesday. "You've got an hour on each field, and once we get on the main field we just want to get comfortable with the set-up — where the outfield wall is, how the infield plays. Because every year we come here, it feels like the infield plays different. So that's something we try to get a feel for today."The Ducks were the first team to visit with ESPN and to practice Wednesday, requiring an early morning arrival that was just one more step in helping them adjust to the new time zone and Thursday's early first pitch.Tuesday night, at a welcome reception for the WCWS participants.Svekis, a Florida native, has friends on the rosters of Florida and Florida State, both of which reached Oklahoma City. Her best friend is Florida State pitcher Meghan King, a fellow graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High in Fort Lauderdale."I grew up playing with some of those girls, and against some of those girls," Svekis said. "A lot of them were on my travel ball team, and because I've gone so far away you don't really expect to play against each other again. But here we at, at the very top."Svekis had a lot of catching up to do with members of the Gators and Seminoles. But none asked if she regretted going across the country for college, she said."I think they love where they are, and they know I love where I am," Svekis said. "We all made the right decision."