Down to its last two outs, the No. 1 Oregon softball team was in danger of falling to No. 10 UCLA for the second day in a row.
Trailing 4-2, freshman Lauren Lindvall was in the batter’s box with an 0-1 count. On the next pitch, Lauren smashed the ball over the left field fence for a three-run blast to give the Ducks a 5-4 lead.
The Ducks added a final run in the inning before Karissa Hovinga shut the door in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the 6-4 victory. With the win, Oregon improves to 31-5 on the year and 9-2 in the Pac-12 while UCLA falls to 31-7 overall and 6-2 in the conference.
Yesterday, the Ducks were held to just two hits and struck out 14 times against UCLA ace pitcher Ally Carda but today was a different story. Oregon pounded out 11 hits and six runs yet still left the bases loaded in three of the seven innings.
Head coach Mike White switched up the lineup for today’s game, switching leadoff hitter Alyssa Gillespie with No. 9 hitter Nikki Udria and the result was positive. Udria went 2-for-5 while Gilespie went 3-for-3 and a run scored.
Oregon struck in the first inning when Danica Mercado was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Hailey Decker.
UCLA responded with four runs in the second inning when they knocked Oregon starter Cheridan Hawkins out of the game. It was the second game in a row that Hawkins failed to get past the third inning.
Although Hawkins gave up one hit in 1.1 innings, she surrendered four runs.
The game remained 4-1 until Oregon broke through in the seventh.
Geri Ann Glasco led the inning off with an error before advancing to second on a Mercado single. Koral Costa singled home Sammie Puentes (pinch-ran for Glasco) before Lindvall’s big blast.
Hovinga finished the game by throwing 5.1 innings, giving up no runs with three hits and four strikeouts.
Oregon and UCLA meet tomorrow at 12 p.m. in the rubber match. The game will be televised live on ESPN 2, the first Oregon will be on national television.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter: @Ryan_Kostecka