After suffering its first loss of the season in disappointing fashion Saturday, Oregon softball responded with two victories on Sunday. The Ducks earned a 9-3 win over Northwestern in the first game before finishing the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona with a 4-0 victory over Boston College.
With the victories on Sunday, Oregon improves its record to 5-1 on the season with its lone loss coming in an 8-6 defeat at the hands of No. 17 Kentucky.
Game 1: OREGON 9 — Northwestern 3
Megan Kleist has played exceptionally well for the Ducks early this season and she proved so once again on Sunday. The freshman pitcher improved her season record to 3-0 by throwing 4.0 innings and giving up three runs with four strikeouts.
Kleist was perfect through the first three innings of the game before running into trouble in the fourth. She gave up three runs on four hits in the inning but retired the last batter on a flyout with runners on the corners to end the inning.
As impressive as Kleist was through the game’s first three innings, the Oregon offense was just as unimpressive. The Ducks were held scoreless through those innings, amassing just two hits. Once the Ducks entered the bottom of the fourth inning trailing 3-0, the fire was lit and the offense came to life.
Gwen Svekis started things off with a single and was replaced by Cherish Burks. Burks promptly stole second and then came around to score on a Koral Costa double. Costa wasn’t on the bases for very long as Geri Ann Glasco, the next batter, hit a two-run blast over the center field fence to tie the game. After an out was recorded, Nikki Udria gave Oregon the lead for good when she hit a solo homerun, her third of the season.
Oregon’s ace pitcher Cheridan Hawkins entered the game in the fifth inning and shut down the Wildcats offense the rest of the way. She threw the final three innings, limiting Northwestern to two hits with five strikeouts. 3
The Ducks offense put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fifth inning when they tacked on five more runs.
While Oregon only had two hits in the inning, it took advantage of an error, a wild pitch and three walk to score the five runs.
Costa and Svekis each had two hits for the Ducks while Glasco added two RBI’s.
Game 2: OREGON 4 — Boston College
Oregon had been waiting for Hawkins to have a game like this. After being one of the most dominant pitchers in the nation last year, Hawkins has struggled out of the gate this year but on Sunday, she finally looked like her old self. After pitching three scoreless innings in the first game, Hawkins threw a one-hitter in the the final game if the tournament.
She finished the game by throwing seven innings, striking out eight and walking three to improve her record to 2-1 on the season. Only twice throughout the game did Hawkins allow a runner to reach second base and she retired the side in order in three innings.
The Ducks didn’t wait very long in this game to get the offense going as they struck first in the second inning. Svekis and Costa once again proved to be the spark as Svekis led the inning off with a double before Costa mashed a ball over the left field fence for the 2-0 lead.
Oregon added a solo run in the third when Jenna Lilley led off the inning after being hit by a pitch and came around to score on a Janelle Lindvall double to right field. The Ducks added their final run of the game in the seventh inning when April Utrecht tripled and was then pinch ran for by Lauren Lindvall. Lauren came around to score on a fielder’s choice by Burks.
The Ducks next play in the 30th Louisiana Classics, a three-day, five-game tournament starting on Friday.
The tournament starts with a three game series against No. 11 Louisiana-Lafayette in Lafayette, Louisiana. The Ducks will play a doubleheader on Friday beginning at 12 p.m. before wrapping up the series on Saturday at 11 a.m. Oregon will continue its road trip in Louisiana with a Saturday game against Central Arkansas at 1:30 p.m. before playing Central Arkansas again on Sunday at 8 a.m.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka