The 11^th-ranked Oregon softball team secured its fourth consecutive Pacific-10 Conference series win by defeating No. 12 UCLA, 5-0, Saturday afternoon at Howe Field.
The Ducks (39-14, 11-10 Pac-10) held on to beat the Bruins in the series opener on Thursday night, 6-5, but came out on the short end of a 7-4 contest on Friday night.
Game three, however, belonged to Oregon’s seniors — Monique Fuiava, Brittany Rumfelt, and Kaitlin Vitek — who celebrated what could potentially be their final home games on Senior Day in front of 561 fans in attendance.
Rumfelt (6-0) pitched six outstanding innings, where she struck out seven, walked five, and allowed just three hits, before Jessica Moore came in to pick up the save in the bottom of the seven.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Moore, who started games one and two for the Ducks, got UCLA second baseman Talee Snow to ground in to a 5-2-4 double play, then got GiOnna DiSalvatore to ground out to end the game. @@http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/snow_talee00.html@@ @@GiOnna is capitalized like that, yes I know it is GHETTO@@
Offensively, Oregon used a four-run fourth inning to build enough separation for Rumfelt to work comfortably. Junior shortstop Kelsey Chambers hit her second home run of the weekend and 13^th on the year with a solo shot to center field to start the inning. Five batters later, sophomore Samantha Pappas launched a three-run home run to put Oregon up 4-0.
Fuiava added to the Ducks’ lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, which scored Courtney Ceo who singled to lead off the frame.
With four straight Pac-10 wins in the rear view, Oregon will await its postseason fate until the regional seeding is announced Sunday evening at 7 p.m. on ESPNU. Last year, the Ducks traveled to Georgia Tech for regional play, and could have an outside chance at hosting a regional at Howe Field depending on where other games finish up tonight.
More information on that can be found in Monday’s edition of the Daily Emerald.