The moment Joanna Gail snatched the sharply hit ground ball and tagged third base, the game was over.
Oregon could release a giant sigh of relief.
“I can’t even tell you how important it is for us,” Gail said. “Especially Arizona, who is one of those teams that you always aspire to beat and it’s such a big win and especially at this point of the season we needed that emotional lift.”
The week that had started with a mid-week loss to Oregon State and stretched into the weekend with defeats to No. 1 Arizona State and No. 8 Arizona very well could have extended into the Ducks’ sixth straight loss to start Pacific-10 Conference play.
Except Oregon found a way, and the impact is huge.
A loss would have sent a free-falling Oregon club into a difficult Bay Area road trip featuring a meeting with California and two games with Stanford. Now Oregon has a top-10 win it can hold onto and use to build momentum.
Oregon first had to survive a bases-loaded situation in the top of the seventh inning.
What made it all the more surreal was the rain delay after Arizona placed a runner on first base and Jenae Leles had a count of three balls and no strikes.
After the rain delay, the Ducks re-emerged and soon the bases were loaded with two outs and All-American catcher Callista Balko up to bat.
Balko, who had left two runners on base in the third inning, grounded into Gail’s game-ending play.
Maybe a difficult play for some, the unflappable Gail picked up the ball and prevented extra innings.
“All the hours and everything we put into it, it’s just your body reacting,” Gail said. “Even with all the adrenaline we had going on, it was just a normal play and I knew that I had an easy force at three.”
The defensive play was coupled with a calm performance by pitcher Alicia Cook.
“She’s a warrior on the mound,” coach Kathy Arendsen said. “Sometimes you get out of sorts a little bit, your rhythm gets off and she’s been getting better and better each time out.”
Or you could point to the play of Neena Bryant, who crushed a pitch by Arizona starter Lindsey Sisk over the left field fence for a three-run shot in the third inning.
All the positives highlighted above are important if they can translate into wins in the Pac-10, considered the top conference in collegiate softball, and where six teams entering last week ranked in the top 25 in the nation.
When you have that kind of competition, any win you can get is big and illustrates the importance of non-league wins. Last year’s record-setting Oregon team blazed through the non-conference portion with a 34-3 mark, and even with a 7-14 Pac-10 record, claimed a winning record at 42-17 and a postseason berth.
The current Ducks faced a tougher non-conference schedule with four opponents ranked in the top-10 or better and entered Pac-10 play with a 25-11 mark, leaving that much less breathing room to complete the season with a winning record and be eligible for postseason play.
Currently 26-16 and 1-5 in conference play, Oregon can benefit from any wins in conference play.
So when you think about it, Sunday’s win is big for so many reasons, for giving Oregon momentum, for giving the Ducks another win towards postseason play, for reviving Oregon’s offense.
But most importantly, it put Oregon back on a winning path.
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