After beginning the season 8-4, Oregon softball team was in a rough patch. The team struggled to find its rhythm on both sides of the ball and suffered some rare defeats. However, the Ducks righted the ship and reeled off 12 straight wins to enter Pac-12 play on a high note.
Oregon then traveled to Seattle, Washington to face the No. 8 Huskies in a three-game series.
Oregon (23-4, 3-0 Pac-12) earned a three game sweep of Washington (19-6, 0-3 Pac-12) and in doing so, moved up to No. 4 in the rankings while the Huskies dropped to No. 10. Here’s a quick recap of each game.
Game 1: OREGON 7 — Washington 2
The Huskies struck first with a run in the second inning before Oregon responded with a three-run third inning and never looked behind from there. Jenna Lilley had the big hit in the inning when she hit a two-out double that scored the final two runs of the inning.
Geri Ann Glasco added to Oregon’s lead with a three-run blast in the fifth inning before Gwen Svekis added a solo homerun in the sixth inning to complete the scoring.
Cheridan Hawkins started in the pitcher’s circe and gave up two runs over three innings with three strikeouts. Hawkins was pulled in the fourth inning after giving up a leadoff double and replaced with Megan Kleist. Kleist (9-2) threw the final four innings, giving up no runs with six strikeouts.
Game 2: OREGON 11 — Washington
Svekis was the star of this game for the Ducks as she went 2-for-2 with two homeruns and six RBI’s. Her first blast came in the first inning when she unloaded on a 3-2 pitch over the right center fence for a grand slam and a 6-0 lead. Lilley and Janelle Lindvall each recorded RBI’s in the inning when they were hit by pitches with the bases loaded.
Hawkins struggled again when she gave up three runs on two homeruns in the bottom half of the first inning before being pulled for Glasco with two outs.
Glasco (6-0) threw the final 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits with six strikeouts.
Svekis added to Oregon’s lead when she hit a two-run bomb in the third inning for her fifth and sixth RBI’s of the game and an 8-3 lead. Oregon added it’s final three runs of the game in the fourth inning when Koral Costa had a two-RBI double and Lilley added an RBI double of her own.
Game 3: OREGON 16 — Washington 4 (6 innings)
Although the Ducks scored 16 runs in the game, they did it in three innings by getting timely hits and taking advantage of four errors and eight walks by the Huskies.
Once again, the Ducks scored first when Alyssa Gillespie was able to navigate her way to third base on a single, Washington error and sac bunt before crossing home plate on a Costa sac fly.
Oregon scored six runs in the second inning to take command of the game as Nikki Udria had a two-run single and Costa had a three-run homerun for the game.
The Huskies didn’t go away quietly as they scored four runs over the second and third innings to cut the deficit to three (7-4).
Still leading by three entering the sixth inning, Oregon’s offense exploded for nine runs to put the game away. The final eight runs all came with two outs.
Oregon returns to action when it faces Stanford for a three-game series at home starting Thursday at 6 p.m. The game on Thursday will also be the grand-opening of Jane Sanders stadium.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka
Oregon opens Pac-12 play with sweep of Washington
Ryan Kostecka
March 21, 2016
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