Jessica Moore reminded the Pacific-10 Conference why she’s among the league’s elite Sunday afternoon at Howe Field.
In her second complete-game effort of the series, Moore held No. 3 Arizona State, one of the most potent offensive teams in the country, to just one hit in a 2-1 victory for the No. 15 Oregon Ducks softball team.
Moore (15-4) struck out six and walked five, and the Sun Devils’ only run was unearned. The Sutter, Calif., native saw a similar outing fall in favor of Arizona State in Friday’s opener, a three-hit loss, but recovered remarkably Sunday.
“For her to bounce back and pick this team up — this team needed that win — was huge for her,” second-year head coach Mike White said. “She went out and took care of business and made it extremely tough for them to score runs.
“We need our pitchers to step up when we really need them like that — it was big.”
After watching Oregon (30-8, 2-4 Pac-10) squander an early 3-1 lead on Saturday in a tough game for the rest of the Ducks pitching staff, Moore came back with an extra chip on her shoulder in game three.
“You can’t go out and have a good day every day,” Moore said. “So I was glad to kind of come out and make up for our pitching staff (Sunday).”
The only hit Moore allowed came in the top of the second inning when Krista Donnenwirth squeaked a single past a fully extended Kelsey Chambers deep in the hole between shortstop and third base. Arizona State (37-4, 4-2 Pac-10) tacked on its only run in the top of sixth when Katelyn Boyd reached base on a walk, then crossed home three batters later on an error credited to second baseman Kaylan Howard.
Oregon did its damage offensively in the bottom of the fifth after senior Monique Fuiava led off the inning with a single, and Christie Nieto drove her home with an RBI double two batters later to give the Ducks a 1-0 edge.
White said after the game he considered giving designated player Kailee Cuico the green light before Nieto stepped to the plate, but instead opted to have the freshman put down the sacrifice bunt to move Fuiava over.
“I knew that with Christie on deck, she’s just come through in clutch situations all year for us, and boy, she came through again,” White said.
Two batters later, Howard blasted a two-out RBI triple to right center, scoring Lauren Kotz ­— pinch running for Nieto — to extend Oregon’s lead to 2-0, and taking starting pitcher Mackenzie Popescue out of the game with her second loss of the season.
Though Oregon was only able to muster three hits, White was pleased with the way his team adjusted after a tough weekend at Washington.
“We know how people are pitching us,” White said. “It’s a clear pattern, and we’ve got to adjust and make the changes. If we don’t make a change, we’re not going to get anything different. So that’s the big thing for us.”
Saturday
In game two, Oregon jumped out to an early lead but gave up two runs in the second, four in the fourth and two more in the fifth en route to a 10-5 loss.
Cuico started the day with her fourth home run of the season, a three-run shot over the left field wall, to give the Ducks the edge before Arizona State exploded offensively.
The Sun Devils smacked 16 hits, with six different players recorded multiple-hit games. Ten of those hits came off No. 2 starter Sam Skillingstad (8-2) in fewer than five innings of work. Catcher Kaylyn Castillo paced the Arizona State attack with a 3-for-5 showing, and also tallied an RBI and a run scored.
Friday
Despite Moore’s three-hit effort, Oregon was only able to get one hit of its own off Arizona State true freshman Dallas Escobedo (18-2), who struck out seven in a complete-game effort.
Boyd broke up a scoreless game in the top of the seventh with her Pac-10-leading 12th home run of the season, a two-run shot to right-center field.
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