Freshman left fielder Allie Burger helped propel the No. 21 Oregon women’s softball team to a 6-5 win over the Oregon State Beavers on Saturday afternoon, giving the Ducks the 2-1 advantage in the three-game weekend series.
With Oregon trailing 5-3 going into the seventh inning, Burger sent a 2-1 pitch sailing over the right-field fence. The three-run shot — and first home run of her career — gave the Ducks the 6-5 lead for good.
“That’s my first career home run in a game, ever.” Burger said. “I was in shock as I was round the bases, smiling from ear to ear.
“Everybody was speechless, and thinking how could it come from me? I’ve hit one over the fence during fall practice off coach Dodd, but that was off a ‘feel-good’ pitch — it’s certainly not the same compared to a game.”
Batting .460 on the season, Burger finished 2 for 4 with a run scored and five RBI. Freshman Samantha Pappas and senior Neena Bryant also recorded two hits each.
After picking up the win on Thursday night, freshman standout Jessica Moore (12-2) bounced back on Saturday to pick up her seventh straight victory as she recorded eight strikeouts, while giving up six hits in her seven innings of work.
“We had several things to prove this weekend.” First-year head coach Mike White said. “It was our first Pac-10 series, we were on the road, and we’re relying a lot on four freshmen in that situation for the first time. I thought they stood out and handled the situation well.”
Oregon (26-6, 2-1 Pacific-10 Conference) began the weekend with a strong 8-3 win, using a school-record 19 hits to do so, breaking the previous record of 16.
Pappas, the Pac-10 batting leader, was one of five Oregon players to tally multiple hits in the game, going 3 for 5 with two RBI. Freshman second baseman Kaylan Howard matched Pappas’ 3 for 5 effort, while Burger (2 for 4), sophomore Kelsey Chambers (2 for 5, three RBI), junior Monique Fuiava (2 for 5, one RBI), junior catcher Ashley Kivett (2 for 4) and senior designated player Carlyn Re (2 for 2, two RBI) each had multi-hit performances.
The Ducks did stumble, however, in the middle game of the series, falling 7-6 after a six-run second inning sealed the game for Oregon State. The Beavers knocked Oregon starter Samantha Skillingstad out of the game after 1 2/3 innings of work. She struck out two, walked two and allowed six earned runs during that time.
“At the plate we did a good job except we were trying to rush ourselves the second game.” White said. “We ran ourselves out of it, and maybe over-swung a little — you can’t score four runs before you score one.”
In conference play, not a single team made it through the weekend completely unscathed, as Washington, Arizona and Stanford are each sitting at 2-1 in league play. Arizona State, UCLA, Cal and OSU are all sitting at 1-2.
“Looking around the Pac-10 — nobody went through unbeaten, and I’m not surprised.” White said. “It’s going to be hard to do that.”
Earlier in the week, White commented that the goal this year is to try to win one game each series. With his squad picking up two victories in the opening weekend while starting four freshmen, White couldn’t have asked for much more.
“Coming into the weekend, we were all really excited to start the Pac-10 season.” Burger concluded. “We’ve been practicing for so long, and we wanted to show that we’re a new team, and everybody’s working hard. We’re really excited to be out there.”
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