The Oregon softball team ventured from one of its highest points to one of its lowest over the weekend.
On Friday, Alicia Cook pitched a perfect game as Oregon shut out Stanford, 9-0. Two days later the Ducks were no-hit during a 6-0 loss to No. 7 California.
Cook didn’t allow a ball out of the infield, and after throwing three straight balls to Erin Howe with two outs in the fifth inning, Cook was able to get Howe to ground out to secure the perfect game against the Cardinal (34-12 overall, 7-8 Pacific-10 Conference).
“I didn’t even really think about it until the fifth inning,” Cook said. “It was just awesome, indescribable really.”
The Ducks (21-20, 3-10) were up 4-0 at the time and added five more runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game on the eight-run rule. Joanna Gail hit a 1-1 pitch over the left-center field fence for a grand slam to end the game.
“I was just trying to think ‘Good pitch, good swing, single up the middle,’” Gail said. “When you put a good swing on a good pitch that’s all you can hope for. They’ve been jamming me all series and so I went up with the plan to hit that inside pitch. She came in with it and I was ready for it.”
Oregon scored its first four runs in the third inning. After Amie Morris grounded out to open the bottom of the inning, Kristi Leiter was hit by a pitch with a full count. Suzie Barnes then slapped an RBI triple into the right-field corner. Sari-Jane Jenkins followed with an RBI single before Breanne Sabol and Beth Boskovich hit back-to-back RBI doubles. Lovena Chaput hit a single to put runners on the corners, but a strikeout by Kayleen Hudson and a groundout by Gail ended the inning.
“I think this whole season we’ve just been one hit away, one defensive play away,” said Jenkins, who was one of five Ducks with at least two hits. “Today, we finally got to put it all together. We just had fun and played a good game.”
The Ducks won 5-1 over the Bears (40-10, 8-7) to open play Saturday. The game resumed in the third inning after being postponed by rain in Berkeley, Calif., on April 7. Oregon had the bases loaded with one out and a 2-0 lead.
The Bears got out of the jam without giving up another run in the inning and they cut the lead in half by scoring one run in the bottom of the inning. However, Oregon scored three runs in the fifth and Oregon pitcher Amy Harris retired the final nine batters of the game.
Then Oregon ran into Kristina Thorson. The Bears pitcher threw two complete games, allowing only two hits and no runs.
“She moved it around. We didn’t adjust well,” Oregon coach Kathy Arendsen said. “We chased balls in the dirt, we took balls on the outside corner for strikes. In 14 innings we should have made better adjustments, we didn’t.”
In the second game Saturday, Thorson retired 11 straight batters at one point and the final seven batters of the game to secure a 4-0 win. Sabol’s first inning single and Hudson’s two-out fifth inning double were the two Oregon hits. The Bears scored all four runs in the first inning.
On Sunday, Thorson struck out 11 and allowed only three runners to reach base – two were hit by a pitch and one was walked – to pick up a 6-0 win.
Cal struck in the first inning as catcher Haley Woods bombed a two-out three run homer over the left-center field fence. Woods took advantage of a second chance after the ball she popped up on the first pitch was dropped behind the plate by Morris. Woods smacked the next pitch out of the park.
“If we would have caught that pop out that home run doesn’t happen in the first inning,” Arendsen said. “I actually thought Harris made a really good pitch. It was up in the kid’s nose and she went up and got it. That’s a good hitter. We should have walked her. That’s my problem. We should have walked her and loaded the bases.”
The Ducks allowed two more runs in the third inning and another in the fourth. Meanwhile, at the plate, Oregon was inconsistent. Thorson struck out six in a row during the fourth through sixth innings and only two Ducks were able to hit the ball out of the infield – Sabol flied out to center field to begin the bottom of the seventh and Jenkins flied out to end the third inning.
“She’s a great pitcher,” Jenkins said. “She has ideal location for a pitcher. She hits her spots. She’s smart, she knows what to pitch to certain batters. She mixes up the rhythm.
“She’s hittable, we just struggled today.”
The Ducks host Santa Clara (19-31) in a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Tuesday.
Cook fires Oregon’s first perfect game
Daily Emerald
April 30, 2006
Oregon sophomore Alicia Cook pitched a perfect game Friday against Stanford. Cook didn’t allow a ball to leave the infield during the Ducks’ 9-0 win.
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