It just keeps getting tougher for the Oregon softball team.
The Ducks (25-30 overall, 1-11 Pacific-10 Conference) have lost six straight games and are in Arizona to face No. 9 Arizona State tonight before taking on top-ranked Arizona on Saturday and Sunday.
This is the second consecutive weekend that Oregon has faced the nation’s top team. The Ducks fell to then-No. 1 UCLA twice last weekend, but gained some momentum from the close 4-3 and 6-3 losses.
Suffering through a tough spell earlier this month, Oregon seemed to have lost hope for the remainder of the season. In addition, senior catcher Kelly Planche — “the backbone of the program for the last four years,” according to head coach Rick Gamez — suddenly quit the team before last Friday’s loss to No. 12 Washington.
Since then, though, and despite the losses, the Ducks have gained confidence.
Against Oregon State Tuesday, Gamez’s squad out-hit and ultimately out-played the Beavers, going into the seventh inning with a 3-3 tie. But a two-out, walk-off home run by OSU’s Steph Adams won the game for the Beavers. Pitcher Connie McMurren, who allowed just four hits in the game, tallied the loss for the Ducks.
“You can really feel [the sense of pride],” Gamez said after the Oregon State loss. “They really feel like they should have won this one.”
Oregon’s only Pac-10 win came against Arizona State, a 4-0 victory the first game of a doubleheader on April 1. Sophomore Lisa Wangler threw a complete game for the Ducks in the win and Janell Bergstrom hit the first home run of her career, a solo shot in the second inning off Arizona State’s Erica Beach.
In the second game, however, the Sun Devils (30-15, 5-7) got their revenge in a 10-1 victory.
Arizona State is third in the conference with a .296 team batting average.
Arizona (47-4, 9-2), the Pac-10 leader, has won 37 straight home games. The Wildcats have also hit an NCAA record 101 home runs this season. The Wildcats have outscored their opponents 379-42 this season, and their average margin of victory is about seven runs. They also lead the nation with a team batting average of .349.
Arizona defeated the Devils, 5-0, Wednesday in Tempe.