There was no hiding the fact that earlier in the season, Oregon ace pitcher Cheridan Hawkins was struggling. Those concerns have been put to rest recently.
Hawkins threw a complete game and surrendered just two runs — none earned — on two hits with a season-high 15 strikeouts in Oregon’s mercy-ruled 15-2 victory. With the win, Hawkins improves to 18-3 on the season and lowers her ERA to 2.37. In her last four appearances, Hawkins has thrown 20 innings and given up zero runs with five hits and 38 strikeouts.
Even as the Ducks scored 15 runs on 11 hits, they were shut out in the first inning and allowed Cal to take a 2-0 lead after the first inning. The Golden Bears scored their two runs after errors by Janelle Lindvall and Jenna Lilley led to the early deficit.
However, Oregon cut the early deficit in half when Geri Ann Glasco led off the second inning with a solo blast.
The third inning saw Oregon explode for six runs. Lilley and Nikki Udria each hit a homerun in the inning while Glasco and Gwen Svekis added run scoring singles in the frame. The Ducks added five more runs in the fourth inning with five different batters recording RBI’s in the frame.
Up 12-2 entering the fifth inning, Oregon put the game away for good when it scored three runs. A Cal error led to the first un scoring before Lindvall blasted a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence to score Mercado for the final tally.
Lindvall led the way with three RBI’s while Udria, Lilley, Glasco and Svekis all added two RBI’s each.
Oregon plays Cal tomorrow in game two of the three-game series. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka