It was a bittersweet afternoon for the No. 18 Oregon softball team as it split two games with Hawaii Wednesday afternoon at Howe Field. The Wahine (17-20 overall) picked up the first contest, 9-6, while the Ducks (29-18, 4-6 Pacific-10 Conference) salvaged the day with a 6-1 victory in the nightcap.
“Our intensity was really low in the first game,” freshman Andrea Vidlund said. “I told them if we don’t pick up our intensity, then we aren’t going to win another game. So I had to make sure the mental focus was there.”
Vidlund (15-4) helped the Ducks’ cause by throwing a gem, going seven innings and allowing one run on five hits.
“My mental focus was there today,” Vidlund said. “I really concentrated out there; that was my main goal today.”
Oregon batted around in the fourth inning, scoring five runs on five hits and an error. The Ducks loaded the bases with no one out. Holly Ray then laid down a squeeze bunt to score Welch. Then Amber Hutchinson delivered a double to drive in two runs. Hutchinson scored one batter later on a wild pitch.
“We did some things right out there,” head coach Rick Gamez said. “We squeezed, hit the ball with runners in scoring position, and that was helpful.”
Vidlund gave up the Wahine’s only run in the top of the first when Melissa McGie led off with a double and scored on a single by Tyree Woodruff.
“Andrea did a great job in the second game,” Gamez said. “She gave up five hits on the game and I think three or four of them were in the first inning.”
In the first game, Hawaii started the day with a blast — or two in the case of Dana Degen, who had a career day. The designated hitter parked two home runs over the fence in the first game, accounting for seven of the Wahine’s nine runs.
“We knew that she was a good hitter,” Gamez said. “It wasn’t a surprise to us, we just couldn’t contain her in the first game.”
Degen provided the big blast for Hawaii in the top of the fourth inning when she hit a grand slam that bounced off the top of the fence in dead-center for her fifth of the year.
Oregon starter Connie McMurren (12-13) loaded the bases with no outs before Degen went yard. There was a questionable call right before the grand slam as McMurren got Joyce Lum to ground to Lindsey Welch at third who tried to force the runner out at third. But the Ducks didn’t get the call, and the runner was safe.
The Wahine added two more runs in the top of the fifth, scoring on one hit and an error.
Degen got to Danielle Haag, the second Oregon pitcher of the game, in the top of the seventh with a three-run blast.
Sophomore Missy Coe put the Ducks on the board in the first inning with a two-run dinger, the 18th of her career.
Trailing 4-2 in the fifth, Oregon closed the gap to within one by scoring three runs in the fifth. A hit and two walks loaded the bases for a two-out rally. Triawn Custer drew the third free pass of the inning to force home a run. Lindsey Welch followed with a base hit to score two runs, but Custer was caught off second to end the inning.
“We were relaxed in the first game,” Gamez said. “We had only two hits up to the fifth inning, we didn’t swing the bats very well.”