Oregon freshman utility player Hannah Galey will want to forget the third inning of Sunday’s Civil War series concluding game.
The freshman, playing in right field, was a part of back-to-back errors, first misjudging a ball in shallow right field, allowing it to drop in front of her and then colliding with center fielder Haley Cruse in right-center field. Each allowed a run to score.
It was more than just an inning to forget for Galey, it was a series to forget for the Ducks (21-25), who were swept by Oregon State for the first time since 2006, when the three games were split over two different weeks. In a high-scoring contest on Sunday, the Ducks and Beavers battled through a seven-inning, nearly three-hour 12-8 ballgame that gave Oregon State the series sweep at its instate rival’s home stadium.
“We expected to win that game to the very end,” Oregon head coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “What I think got us was too many miscues and too many errors.”
Galey redeemed herself in the bottom of the fourth inning with a solo home run to left field to cut back into Oregon State’s 6-5 lead. Oregon took a 7-6 lead but the Beavers tied the game at seven momentarily before the Ducks took an 8-7 lead on an RBI single that scored Galey.
But then, the collapse came.
Following Shelby Weeks’ two-run home run in the sixth inning, sophomore pitcher Jordan Dail was replaced by freshman Kailey Krueger, who threw 0.2 innings, allowing two hits while striking out one. Rachel Cid replaced Kruegar as neither relieving pitcher surrendered a run.
Dail (17-13) was handed the loss as she went 5.1 innings, allowing 10 hits, seven earned runs, two strikeouts and three home runs on Sunday. Dail pitched in all three games against Oregon State, as she has been forced to do throughout this season.
“I thought she pitched well enough to win the ballgame,” Lombardi said. “We made a couple little adjustments today — things that were happening in the first two games that weren’t really allowing her to get what she needed to get — and we can tell that that was good.”
With a trip to Salt Lake City up next, followed by a homestand against Arizona State, the Ducks’ season comes down to just six more games before the postseason, which as it stands, may or may not feature Oregon.
“What I want to see is the fight that we had here is to take that into our next two weekends,” Lombardi said. “I know we will. From there, continue on.”
Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow
