The Oregon Ducks (12-9, 0-1 Pac-12) could not keep up with the offense of the No. 15 Cal Golden Bears (21-2, 1-0 Pac-12) in an 11-5 loss. Oregon’s offense struggled to find any momentum in the game as the Golden Bears’ offense never slowed down. 

Stevie Hansen started the game in the circle for the Ducks with a pair of 1-2-3 innings in the top of the 1st and 2nd. Her pitching helped Oregon get off to a strong start in the game as a solo home run from Ariel Carlson in the bottom of the 1st gave the Ducks the first lead of the game. 

However, that stretch of pitching from Hansen would not hold in the top of the 3rd. Cal opened its scoring with a home run from Kyndal Todd. The next batter, Alyssa Herrera, also left the yard to give the Golden Bears the 2-1 lead.

After the early run, Oregon’s offense began to stall. After a 1-2-3 inning from the Golden Bears’ Randi Roelling in the bottom of the 2nd, the Ducks were held to another such inning in the bottom of the 3rd.

On the complete opposite side of the offensive spectrum, the floodgates for Cal were wide open. Hansen allowed her third and fourth home runs of the game in the top of the 4th. Elon Butler hit a two-run shot, and Tianna Bell followed with another as the next batter to make the score 5-1 in favor of the Golden Bears. Hansen was pulled from the game and Taylour Spencer took over after the run from Bell.

Alyssa Daniell hit a double in the bottom of the 4th, but she was unable to advance and was left on base. Cal picked up right where it left off to start the 5th inning. After getting two runners on base with a single and being hit by a pitch, Butler hit her second home run of the day — Cal’s fifth of the contest — to score three more. The Ducks were able to stop the bleeding before it got any worse in the inning, but the score was still 8-1.

Butler finished game one 2-3 with six RBIs and a pair of runs as the Golden Bears snagged the conference-opening win.

Oregon’s third hit of the game came from Emma Kauf, who homered in the bottom of the 5th to score the second run of the game for the Ducks. However, it was another inning with just one hit, meaning not much damage was done to the Golden Bears’ lead. 

Oregon kept trying to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the 6th. After being hit by a pitch, Kai Luschar advanced to third after a fielding error on a ball off the bat of Hanna Delgado. Luschar was then brought home on a sac-fly from Carlson.

The small work the Ducks had done on decreasing the deficit was immediately erased by Cal in the top of the 7th, erasing any doubt from the outcome of the game. A string of singles from the Golden Bears scored two runs while keeping runners on base. Cal earned a third run later in the inning on a wild pitch. Oregon had one last chance to rally in the bottom of the 7th, hoping to comeback from a 11-3 deficit.

The Ducks’ offense demonstrated glimpses of fight in the final frame. Kauf got on base after a fielding error. She got to second on a ground out, then third on a wild pitch that put her in position to score on a single from Paige Sinicki. Oregon loaded the bases after another single, and hit batsmen before Delgado was able to score on a passed ball. 

However, the effort proved to be much too little, much too late. The Ducks’ pair of runs made the final score look a bit better, but the result was still an 11-5 loss.

Oregon went through four different pitchers in the game. Hansen started the game, and got the loss. She allowed four home runs for five runs across 3.1 innings while striking-out one. For Oregon, the offense was much quieter. Only Kauf had more than one hit in the game, and the Ducks managed just six hits in the game.

Oregon will play the second half of its double-header against the Golden Bears starting at 6:00 on Friday.