The Oregon softball team took the field bright and early Saturday morning off the heels of Friday’s doubleheader sweep that culminated in a 16-0 blowout.
The Ducks cruised to another stress-free early-season win. They beat UCSD 10-2 with a well-rounded offensive effort, taking control early and never looking back.
Oregon opened the morning with a crooked number in the top of the first inning. Ariel Carlson continued her early bounceback campaign, singling in Hanna Delgado. Another run came in on Vallery Wong’s sacrifice bunt, giving Oregon an early 2-0 lead.
Freshman pitcher Stevie Hansen got the starting nod after she struck out seven over three scoreless innings in Friday’s 16-0 thrashing. She picked up where she left, beginning the day with three more scoreless innings.
The Ducks added another in the second when Delgado reached on an error by the shortstop. They loaded the bases with two outs, but Carlson grounded out to keep it a three-run game.
The offense broke it open in the third inning. Vallery Wong led off the double, eventually coming around to score on Jasmine Williams’ sacrifice fly. UCSD changed pitchers, but that didn’t fool the Oregon hitters. The Ducks greeted the new pitcher with three straight singles.
Paige Sinicki, who was bumped up to the leadoff spot after a 6-for-9 start to her college career, brought him the fifth run of the game with a groundout. With the bases loaded and two outs, Allee Bunker smacked a two-run single through the left side that made it 7-0.
The Ducks continued chipping away in the fourth. Vallery Wong opened with a hit for the second straight inning, Allison Benning singled in her first collegiate at-bat, and Tehya Bird drove in Wong with a sacrifice fly.
Hansen was given the ball for the fourth inning after being limited to three innings on Friday. She finally cracked, giving up a solo home run with one out. After subsequently allowing a double, she was replaced by Jordan Dail.
Dail gave up a double that brought home UCSD’s second run, but she otherwise stopped the damage there. The inning ended on a great play by Sinicki at third.
Just for good measure, the Ducks added another run in the fifth. Delgado and Bunker singled, and Carlson made it a seven-run game with a sacrifice fly. They continued to do what coach Melyssa Lombardi preached on Thursday: cash in.
The Ducks finally put up a zero in the sixth inning. They added another insurance run in the seventh though, as Bunker came through with a two-out RBI double.
Dail went all the way, bouncing back strong after the run-scoring double in the fourth. She pitched the final 3 2/3 innings to cap the 10-2 win.
The Ducks (4-0) will continue shortly with Game 2 against LMU.
