Despite another stellar effort from junior pitcher Jessica Moore, the 11th-seeded Oregon softball team fell 3-1 to defending national champion No. 3 Arizona State in the opening round of the Women’s College World Series Thursday night in Oklahoma City.
Arizona State (52-9) will move on to face No. 2 Alabama Friday night at 6:30 p.m., while Oregon (44-17) will matchup with No. 7 Tennessee in an elimination game Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The Crimson Tide beat the Volunteers Thursday evening, 5-3, thanks to a four-run first inning and eight strikeouts from All-American pitcher Jackie Traina.@@http://www.rolltide.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/traina_jackie00.html@@
In six innings of work, Moore (32-14) scattered three hits to an Arizona State squad, who have batted .333 on the year, while striking out three and walking four. The third-team All-American from Sutter, Calif.,@@checked@@ was tagged with just her second loss in her last nine outings.
The Ducks caught a tough break early when junior right fielder Samantha Pappas@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=245&SPSID=4377@@ — who roped her team-high 17th double of the season on the game’s first pitch — scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kelsey Chambers but was called out for leaving third base early to end the top of the first inning.
Arizona State then promptly took a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the frame when catcher Amber Freeman@@http://www.thesundevils.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/freeman_amber00.html@@ hit an RBI double to right field to plate Haley Steele@@http://www.thesundevils.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/steele_haley00.html@@ from first base.
The Sun Devils took advantage of another early Oregon miscue, scoring a pair of two-out runs on a fielding error by Kelsey Chambers@@checked@@ in the bottom of the third. Talor Haro and Katelyn Boyd@@http://www.statepress.com/2011/03/01/haro-solidifying-her-position-in-left-field/@@ singled and walked, respectively, to open the frame. They then came around to score three batters later on the sharply hit ball off the bat of Freeman to put the team ahead, 3-0.
Oregon scored its only run of the night in the top of the seventh. Senior Christie Nieto@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204963507@@ led off the inning with a stand-up double to left center. Two batters later, she came around to score on a fielding error by Arizona State second baseman Sam Parlich@@http://www.thesundevils.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/parlich_sam00.html@@.
With no outs and runners on second and third, freshman Sara Goodrum@@http://www.azcentral.com/sports/preps/articles/2010/05/29/20100529arizona-republic-all-class-5a-softball-team.html@@ lined into an unassisted double play at third base to all but end the late push. Fellow freshman Hannah Melick@@checked@@ came in to pinch hit for Allie Burger@@checked@@ on the ensuing at-bat and was struck out by Arizona State sophomore Dallas Escobedo@@checked@@ to end the game.
In other Women’s College World Series action on Friday, No. 4 Oklahoma defeated South Florida, 5-1, to start the day. Junior pitcher Keilani Ricketts,@@http://oudaily.com/news/2012/may/03/softball-sooners-hope-maintain-no-1-conference-ran/@@ who was named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year earlier this week, scattered three hits over seven masterful innings to go along with 11 strikeouts and one walk.
Later in the afternoon, top-ranked California pulled off a come-from-behind win against LSU, 5-3, despite being outhit and leaving nine runners on base. Cal will face Oklahoma Friday night at 7 p.m. while South Florida and LSU will meet at noon on Saturday.