Battling through wind and rain, the Oregon softball team used the strength of its pitching to take two games from Brigham Young
on Saturday.
Oregon pitchers Lindsey Kontra and Amy
Harris both pitched complete game shutouts as the Ducks (20-9) won their 11th game in the last 12 contests.
In game one, Oregon’s offense exploded past the Cougars with an 8-0 victory on 11 hits.
“It’s good to see us getting hits with runners on and scoring runs,” Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen said. “We haven’t broke out like we did in the first game in a long time.”
The offense was led by freshman Lovena Chaput and junior Breanne Sabol, who both collected two hits, an RBI and a run in the win.
The Ducks jumped on Brigham Young early with a two-run first inning that featured four consecutive hits capped off with an Ann Marie Topps RBI single.
Chaput hit an RBI single in the second inning to make it 3-0. After that, Oregon was held scoreless until the fifth, when the Ducks exploded for five runs. Pinch hitter Kristi Jorgensen ended the game with a bases-loaded single that brought the score to 8-0, invoking the eight-run rule.
On the mound, Kontra kept Cougar batters quiet with a mixture of off-speed pitches and a solid defense behind her, limiting Brigham Young to three hits while striking out only one hitter.
“I definitely felt confident in my defense, and the offense really picked it up today,” Kontra said. “I was really impressed all around.”
The senior left-hander has only given up one run in her last 20-plus innings of work.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Harris overpowered the Cougars with seven strikeouts and three hits.
Oregon once again jumped out early, scoring in the first inning when Brigham Young pitcher Daniela Urincho gave up a hit and three consecutive walks to bring in Oregon’s first run of the game.
Chaput stepped up the next inning and drove a Urincho pitch over the left-center-field fence to give the Ducks a 2-0 advantage.
Oregon tacked on another run in the fourth inning, and T.J. Eadus’ solo home run in the fifth brought the score to 4-0.
Harris, arguably the team’s ace this season, did the rest and picked up her 10th win – half of the Ducks’ total wins this season.
Oregon now prepares for the beginning of the Pacific-10 Conference season, which begins Friday at home against Washington.
“I’m excited for Pac-10 play,” Kontra said. “We are starting to pick up a lot of momentum.”
Arendsen said that with her team’s recent success, the Ducks are ready to take on Pac-10 competition.
“Our real season is about to begin. Everything we’ve done before is preliminary,” Arendsen said.
