It was another strong outing for the Oregon women’s softball team as the Ducks (18-5) defeated the Boise State Broncos 3-1 at Howe Field on Sunday afternoon. It was their second win of the day and fourth overall for the weekend, in what shaped up to be an outstanding home-opening weekend for Oregon.
“It was good to get the four games out of the way and win all four games,” first-year head coach Mike White said. “The last game was a good game; it was a good pitcher’s game. So it’s good to see us come out on top of that one as well.”
The Broncos (4-14) struck first in the top of the second when sophomore pitcher Allie Crump ripped a single over Oregon left fielder Allie Burger’s head, scoring senior Kathy Cox from second base. The 1-0 lead was short-lived for Boise State, as Oregon catcher Ashley Kivett drove in pinch-runner Hannah Barril from second base with two outs in the bottom half of the inning.
After a scoreless third, Oregon freshman Kaylan Howard led off the bottom of the fourth inning with sharp single to center field. Senior Neena Bryant then smacked a 1-0 pitch over the left-field fence to put the Ducks up 3-1 for good. It was the second round-tripper of the season for Bryant and may have been the key to snapping her out of a current hitting slump.
“We saw better pitching this afternoon,” White said. “We came back from being 1-0 down, which is tough to do, and then Neena Bryant, who has been struggling lately, comes up with a big home run. We got different people contributing today and that’s always good to see as a coach.”
Sophomore Samantha Skillingstad (5-3) struck out seven batters, allowing just one earned run on three hits in her five innings of work. Freshman Jessica Moore earned her second save of the year, striking out four in her two innings of action.
 
“I made the decision before the game started to use both pitchers,” White said. “Sam did a great job. Good to see her back.”
White gave praise to his entire pitching staff for their performance on the weekend, particularly mentioning the play of relievers Brittany Rumfelt and Mikayla Endicott.
Though the Ducks tallied only four hits in the win over Boise State, the three games prior looked more like batting practice for the Oregon squad. In total, the Ducks outscored their opponents 31-2 over the course of the four games. Oregon trounced Boise State 9-0 and North Dakota 7-1 on Saturday, before blanking North Dakota 12-0 Sunday morning.
Senior Carlyn Re finished the weekend with three home runs; two coming in the Ducks’ 7-1 win over North Dakota on Saturday. She followed that 2-for-3, two run, two RBI performance with a 3-for-3, two run, one RBI showing on Sunday morning.
White said there are few things he would rather see than production coming from a plethora of different players.
“Softball is always an up and down sport,” he said. “You go through roller coaster periods and it’s hard to stay high all the time. So some people are going to drop off and that’s when we need other people on the bench to come in like Carlyn Re.”
In their final round of tune-ups before Pacific-10 Conference play begins, the Ducks will next take on Portland State in a doubleheader on Tuesday, followed by doubleheaders at home against Seattle on Thursday and Idaho State on Friday.
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