Kelly Dyer patiently watched and waited last season.
An injury sidelined the Eugene native during her first Civil War back in her hometown, but as a redshirt freshman, the 5-foot-8 pitcher delivered a gem in Oregon State’s 7-4 win Wednesday afternoon at Howe Field.
Dyer (14-11), who graduated from Churchill High, threw a complete game allowing eight hits and four earned runs while throwing five strikeouts.
“There was a lot of motivation,” she said. “I was pretty excited about it – getting to come here and beat the Ducks.”
The final score reflected a late offensive burst by the Oregon women in what had been a 7-1 Oregon State rout through six innings.
Oregon put across three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and had runners on the corner with veteran third baseman Joanna Gail up to bat.
“That was probably the perfect situation,” said Ashley Kivett, who powered a two-run shot over the right field wall three batters earlier.
Gail fell behind in the count, two-strikes and a ball, and the next pitch caught her looking for strike three.
Game over.
“I feel like we were ready to play, but something clicked the last inning that we should have came out with before,” Kivett said. “It’s not something you can force. It kind of just happens.”
Oregon (25-14, 0-3 Pacific-10 Conference) will only see their schedule get more difficult this weekend with No. 1 Arizona State visiting on Friday and No. 8 Arizona stopping by for games on Saturday and Sunday.
“There’s goliath coming on in this weekend,” said Oregon coach Kathy Arendsen, referring to the Sun Devils. “I don’t think we’ll have any trouble focusing on that. We’ve got to get past the disappointment of this (loss).”
Katelyn Miller jump-started the Oregon State offense with a single in the third inning. Miller came around to score on the next at-bat off a double by Alana Ford to left field in what became a four-run inning for the Beavers.
Cambria Miranda followed Ford and emptied the bases with a blast over the right field wall for a 3-0 Oregon State lead.
“I know I got a good piece of it and I was hoping it would go over (the wall), and it did,” Miranda said. “I was really excited.”
Audrey Roderfeld doubled in Oregon State’s next run with a two-out hit to center field.
Both of Oregon’s regular pitchers struggled Wednesday.
Melissa Rice (11-6) earned the start and breezed through the first two innings before she gave up four runs in the third. Alicia Cook came on with two outs and Erin Guzy fired a laser to third that Gail caught just above the ground.
Cook pitched a perfect fourth inning. In the fifth inning, Oregon State placed two runners on base for Roderfeld, who barely cleared the right field fence for a three-run shot.
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