Runs have been hard to come by lately for the Oregon softball team.
But, if only for a day, the Ducks had no worries.
After dropping nine straight Pacific-10 Conference games, the Ducks took out their aggression on UC-Riverside in a doubleheader sweep Thursday in Riverside, Calif.
Freshman Anissa Meashintubby (4-1) allowed just two hits in five innings to secure a 10-0 victory for the Ducks (27-33 overall, 1-14 Pac-10) in Game 1. Junior Andrea Vidlund had a career game in the night cap, picking up the victory on the pitching mound and hitting a grand slam to lead the Ducks to a 9-1 victory.
“It was definitely good to get some early wins on this road trip,” Oregon head coach Rick Gamez said. “We swung the bat well and got great performances from our pitchers.”
Sophomore leadoff hitter Lisa Wangler opened the day with a bunt single and eventually scored on a Triawn Custer walk. The Ducks would be held scoreless until the fourth, when nothing could go right for the Highlanders.
Custer led off the fourth with another walk and scored on a home run by sophomore Janell Bergstrom, which was followed by an Alicia Mickes homer down the left-field line. Still with no outs, freshman Kate Peterson walked, Wangler singled and third baseman Lynsey Haij reached on a fielder’s choice. Alyssa Laux, who seemingly has recorded the most bruises in school history, was hit by a pitch and Vidlund walked, as did catcher Missy Coe, to load the bases for Custer, the school’s all-time home run leader.
Custer hit the 35th homer of her career — a grand slam — to give the Ducks a comfortable 10-0 lead. Custer finished the game 1-for-1 with two walks, two runs and five RBI.
In the second game, the Highlanders kept it close, going into the fifth with a 1-1 tie. But again, Oregon used a huge rally to torture Riverside. This time, Vidlund provided the offense with a grand slam. Three batters later, junior Kristi Hall hit her second bomb of the game, this time a three-run shot.
Vidlund improved to 10-8 on the year.
The Ducks hope to keep their winning ways tonight in Los Angeles when they take on No. 2 UCLA. They will then travel to Seattle for two games against No. 12 Washington.
Two weeks ago, the Bruins came to Eugene and swept a two-game series, but in the losses, Oregon gained some much-needed momentum. The then-top-ranked Bruins had a 4-0 lead going into the bottom of the seventh in the series opener April 21. But Vidlund hit a solo homer and Peterson hit a two-run bomb before UCLA secured the 4-3 victory. The Ducks lost the second game that day, 6-3.
On that same weekend, the Huskies handily defeated the Ducks 10-1 in five innings. Vidlund tallied the loss for the Ducks, while Husky freshman Tia Bollinger picked up the win. Bollinger has a Pac-10-leading 29 wins going into the weekend while allowing one run per outing. Her 224 innings pitched this season are also tops in the conference.
Saturday’s Oregon-Washington game will be televised live by Fox Sports Net at 2 p.m.