In its first battle against a Pacific-10 Conference opponent this season, the Oregon softball team lost to defending national champion California, 6-0, on Sunday.
No. 23 Oregon (16-6) faced the No. 8 Golden Bears (19-6) in the title game of the National Invitational Softball Tournament. Cal won the College World Series last year and is currently the fourth-highest-ranked Pacific-10 Conference team in the country.
The Bears scored once in the second inning, twice in the fifth and added three runs in the seventh. Oregon was held to three hits — singles by freshmen Beth Boskovich and Jackie Eliades and a hit by senior Lynsey Haij.
Sophomore Lindsey Kontra was named to the all-tournament team. Kontra went 2-0, allowing two runs in nine innings and striking out nine batters. In a win against Santa Clara, Kontra struck out a career-best seven batters.
“I’m proud of the way we played in this tournament,” head coach Kathy Arendsen said. “Lindsey pitched well, and I’m happy that she received the honor. Obviously we would have liked to finish undefeated, but sometimes things don’t go your way.”
Oregon opened the tournament Friday with a 2-1 win over Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets scored their lone run in the third, but the Ducks answered with one run in the fifth and one in the sixth.
Freshman Amy Harris pitched a complete game, giving up one hit and striking out 11 batters.
“This is the best pitching performance we’ve had all season,” Arendsen said. “Amy did a nice job with her change up and was really just on all day. I’m also pleased with what a team effort the win was.”
The Ducks faced tournament-host San Jose State in their second game on Friday. Three Oregon pitchers combined to hold the Spartans scoreless, giving up only four hits in a 3-0 win.
Senior Alyssa Laux and freshman Breanne Sabol each stole a base during the Ducks’ win. The two stolen bases give Oregon 21 on the season, one more than the team had during the entire 2002 season.
In the third inning, Laux hit her first home run of the season, scoring Sabol and giving Oregon the lead.
“I thought our pitching was very solid in the second game and we had some nice offensive efforts from Alyssa and Breanne,” Arendsen said Friday.
The Ducks opened against No. 24 Minnesota on Saturday. The game began as a pitchers’ duel and ended in extra innings, with Oregon pulling out a 3-2 victory.
Harris struck out 10 in six innings, but Kontra finished the game, earning her fifth win of the season.
The game was tied at one going into extra innings, when Minnesota scored a run in the top of the eighth. Oregon scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning for the win.
In Oregon’s second game of the day, Kontra held Santa Clara scoreless with the help of senior Andrea Vidlund while the Ducks won, 3-0.
The Ducks scored two runs in the bottom of the first, and added an insurance run in the fourth. Kontra improved to 6-0 on the season.
The NIST was Oregon’s last preseason tournament. The Ducks host a doubleheader against Portland State on Thursday afternoon, before opening the Pac-10 season against Oregon State in Corvallis on Saturday.
Mindi Rice is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.