As Kedre Luschar stood in the box, waiting to receive the pitch, Maryland’s pitcher spun the ball with her fingers in her glove. She raised the ball and her glove up above her head to start her windup.
As her arm was circling around, she dropped her shoulder, which meant the riseball was coming. The tricky thing about riseballs is that they can jump at any moment. It’s one of those pitches that you have to throw perfectly in order for it to work. But, this pitch was one of those times where it didn’t work. It ended up being a wild pitch and went behind the catcher.
Terra McGowan saw the shoulder drop and took a bigger lead off of third base. The moment the ball rose above the catcher, she ran for it and stole home. In the top of the sixth inning, the Ducks took advantage of Maryland’s errors and added some runs onto the board, but they came up short. Maryland scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning, and was able to walk away with a 7-3 win for the first game of the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in Mexico.
Stevie Hansen, who had a strong freshman campaign last season, allowed five runs in the first inning. After a walk and two hit-by-pitches, she loaded the bases. A five-pitch walk allowed Maryland’s first runner to come home.
Maryland’s right fielder, Trinity Schlotterbeck, hit a RBI single that brought two more runners home. A double to right field by infielder Madison Runyan cleared the bases and made the score 5-0.
After Hansen’s outing, UConn transfer Elise Sokolsky relieved her. In five innings, she allowed five hits and two runs with two strikeouts in 70 pitches.
The Ducks scored their first run in the top of the third after Paige Sinicki was caught stealing third base, which forced Luschar home safely.
Oregon’s final run of the night came immediately after McGowan stole home. Luschar singled to the shortstop for a sacrifice RBI.
The Ducks will have three more games in Puerto Vallarta before heading to San Diego later this month. Oregon will face Wisconsin next, who has yet to beat the Ducks in the five match-ups they’ve played throughout history, with the last match being in May of 2017.
