With a win and two losses in Arkansas during the weekend, the Oregon softball team now stands at 8-5 overall.
Playing the Razorbacks for the first time in team history, the Ducks dropped the first game on Saturday, 5-1, then came back in the afternoon to win 3-0. In the Sunday contest, Arkansas picked up an 8-5 win to improve its record to 13-6.
Oregon claimed the lead twice early in the rubber game of the weekend, but the Razorbacks’ resilient bats helped them battle back. Two Oregon runs in the first inning were bettered by five Arkansas runs in the second, and then three Oregon runs in the third were matched by three from the Razorbacks in the bottom of the inning.
Rachel Talley (7-1), who also pitched the first game of the weekend, earned the win for Arkansas, while Oregon’s Connie McMurren dropped her record to 1-3 in the loss.
Sophomore Anissa Meashintubby (4-0) relieved McMurren in the second inning and allowed only one earned run in four and one-third innings. In her previous outing during the second game of the three game set, Meashintubby pitched five and one-third of scoreless ball, combining with McMurren for the 3-0 shutout.
Offensively, the Ducks struggled in the first game of the weekend, picking up only two hits off Talley and striking out seven times. The lone run in the game came on an Andrea Vidlund home run — her fourth of the season and 16th of her career, which places her ninth all-time in Oregon history.
Vidlund also picked up two RBI on Sunday and knocked in the third run in the Ducks’ win. The other two runs in the 3-0 victory came on a first-inning homer by Lakeesha Eversley.
Oregon head coach Brent Rincon was pleased with patience Oregon showed against two Arkansas pitchers in the second game of the weekend.
“We were a lot more focused and played with more emotion in the second game,” he said. “We were more selective offensively and once we did that, we made them pay for it.”