Megan Kleist never appeared rattled in her NCAA Tournament debut.
The freshman pitcher delivered a gem for the Ducks, tossing five scoreless innings and allowing just six hits. Oregon’s offense added plenty of run support, and the Ducks run-ruled Fordham, 8-0, in their opening NCAA Tournament game.
“There’s always a couple nerves going through you,” Kleist said. “Especially in front of this crowd, but you can’t really let that get into your head.”
The Ducks (45-8) now advance to face No. 21 Baylor, which defeated Long Beach State 3-2 in walk-off fashion on Friday.
“Just to see the way we hit the gaps, ran the bases and played the short game and really turned the line up over, it was really good to see,” head coach Mike White said.
Oregon scored the first runs of the game when Nikki Udria doubled and later scored in the first inning. Koral Costa delivered the RBI and later scored when Geri Ann Glasco singled, giving the Ducks a 2-0 lead.
White said Friday was “probably the most prepared we’ve been for a regional opening game.”
Fordham (39-20) earned an NCAA Tournament berth after winning the Atlantic 10 conference for the fourth year in a row. The Rams will now play Long Beach State on Saturday.
“I thought our focus was really good,” White said. “We know we’ve got a tough bracket here. Actually in postseason every game is tough. We can’t just come out and say hey, ‘We’re No. 5. We’re going to roll through this thing.’ It doesn’t happen that way.”
Oregon scored again in the second inning. Alyssa Gillespie, who finished the game 2-for-2 with two RBIs, singled up the middle, scoring Sammie Puentes.
“She was struggling three weeks ago and I think I moved her down to the No. 9 position to take some pressure off of her,” White said of Gillespie. “That got her to relax a little bit. It’s worked pretty well.”
The Ducks tallied three more runs on five hits in the fourth inning, giving themselves a 6-0 lead. Puentes, Hailey Decker and Gillespie scored for the Ducks.
Oregon tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning when Marisa Given scored on a Decker double. Lauren Lindvall later scored when Madi Bishop singled, ending the game in run-rule fashion.
The Ducks will have a quick turnaround from the 9:05 p.m. start on Friday.
“We’ve got plenty of time to rest,” White said. “We’ll have time to watch film in the morning about 11:30 a.m.”
Baylor advanced in the regional via a walk-off home run from Jessie Scroggins.
Oregon and Baylor (44-12) played twice early last season, each winning a game apiece. Baylor ace Heather Stearns pitched against the Ducks in both games. She enters Saturday’s game with a 20-6 record and 1.88 ERA.
“I’ve seen a lot of their hitters,” Stearns said after Baylor’s Friday win. “I can go back and watch film and see what I did last year, what was successful for me. It really does help playing them last year.”
Said White: “I imagine they’ll start Stearns tomorrow. She’s a very, very good pitcher. She brings it. She’s got good velocity on the ball. She has a good change up. We’ve been preparing for her all week.”
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne