Oregon’s Cheridan Hawkins and Janelle Lindvall proved to be a dominating duo on Friday afternoon.
The set of juniors combined to out-hit No. 19 Arizona State en route to a 7-0 win at Howe Field. With the win, the No. 2 Ducks improve to 33-5 overall and 11-2 in the Pac-12 while the Sun Devils fall to 27-13 overall and 5-4 in the conference.
“Cheridan coming out in the first inning looking like she had her stuff — that kind of makes me rest a little bit easier,” said Oregon head coach Mike White. “She gave us an opportunity to get on top.”
Lindvall went 2-for-2 with two walks and four RBI’s. She broke the game open during Oregon’s five-run fifth inning when she launched a 1-1 pitch into the left field bleachers for a grand slam, her second in the past two games.
Hawkins was equally as dominant in the pitcher’s circle.
She lost her perfect game in the fourth inning when she hit a batter and lost her no-hitter in the sixth inning when she gave up a leadoff double down the right field line. Hawkins struck out six batters with no walks. By giving up no earned runs in the game, Hawkins lowered her ERA to 0.93 on the season.
“I definitely try not to think about it,” Hawkins said of knowing she had a no-hitter. “Once you start thinking about it you try to perfect pitch — once I start doing thing like that, it’s not good for me.”
The game didn’t start out well for Oregon as it left five runners on base through the first two innings before getting a run in the third inning.
“The best run I liked was the first run,” White said. “Just a classic with a sacrifice bunt and then a nice slap in the infield to score a run — it was great.”
With the game still 1-0 entering the fifth, the Ducks put together a big inning that blew the game open.
Janie Takeda and Geri Ann Glasco singled around a out before Hailey Decker drew a walk to load the bases. Lindvall then hit the grand slam before Koral Costa added a solo homerun in the next at bat to make the score 6-0.
“I just know that when they commit and have the confidence in themselves, they can hit anything,” said Hawkins of her team’s offense. “I have full confidence in them — every single one of them.”
Oregon added to its lead in the sixth inning when freshman Gwen Svekis led off the inning with a solo homerun to left field.
Hawkins gave up another double to start the seventh inning but got out of the jam to get the win and improve her record to 17-3 on the year.
Oregon returns tomorrow to face Arizona State at 5:30 p.m. at Howe Field in the second game of the three-game series.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka