Despite taking out the No. 2 team in the nation — Pacific-10 Conference foe UCLA — on Saturday, the Ducks couldn’t find a rhythm on Friday or Sunday, surrounding the win with two losses.
No. 20 Oregon (21-13 overall, 3-7 Pac-10) pulled out a tight 5-4 win after letting UCLA catch up in the seventh inning Saturday. The game also featured a one-outing debut of new Oregon uniforms.
The Bruins managed an early 1-0 lead in the top of the third, but it didn’t last long, and the Ducks scored three in the bottom of the inning.
Sophomore Erin Goodell led off with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.
UCLA gave senior Andrea Vidlund an intentional walk, setting up a double play opportunity. Senior Alyssa Laux took that away with her second home run of the season — a three-run shot to right center field.
Oregon padded its lead in the fourth when freshman Beth Boskovich scored on a home run to left center field by Vidlund.
In the fifth, the Bruins added one run on a solo home run.
Vidlund came in to pitch in the top of the sixth, and with one out, UCLA loaded the bases. The Bruins couldn’t make anything of the situation, though, as Vidlund struck out the next two batters on six consecutive strikes.
The Ducks took a 5-2 lead into the top of the seventh, but the cushion wasn’t safe for long. UCLA’s leadoff hitter Natasha Watley made it to second on a single with a missed throw. Watley then scored on the next pitch as teammate Caitlin Benyi singled to center.
Benyi moved up to second on Tairia Mims’ single to right, but the Bruins’ life was cut by one as their next batter struck out.
Stephanie Ramos — who had been hit on the wrist by a pitch in the second inning — singled to left, and Benyi scored. With Mims on second and Ramos on first with only one out, Vidlund got Toria Auelua to hit into a double play — Oregon’s only double play of the game — to end the inning and earn Vidlund the save and freshman pitcher Amy Harris her second conference win.
The rain helped Oregon get back into a groove on Sunday, but couldn’t change the Ducks’ luck as they lost their second game in three days, 9-3.
The Bruins scored twice in the first, second and fourth innings — but the game was suspended for one hour and 15 minutes by a rain and hail delay at the end of the fourth.
Once play resumed, Boskovich broke up Bruin pitcher Keira Goerl’s no-hitter with a double to center field. Vidlund followed with a home run to left center field, closing the gap to 6-2 for Oregon.
Despite a four-inning no-hitter, Goerl was hardly perfect. The Bruins’ ace on a staff of two — Goerl has pitched nearly three-fourths of all possible innings for UCLA — gave up seven walks in Oregon’s four hitless innings and three more between the fifth and seventh.
UCLA added three runs in the seventh inning. The Ducks answered with a solo home run by Vidlund in the bottom of the seventh, but couldn’t add any more in the loss.
In Friday’s game, the Ducks had an opportunity to score in the first inning with two runners on base, but were unable to score a run.
No. 3 Washington, on the other hand, had an endless supply of runs. The Huskies scored twice in the first, once in the third and fourth and closed the game with five runs in the fifth.
The game was called after five innings, giving the Huskies a 9-0 win.
“I’m proud of these kids,” head coach Kathy Arendsen said after the Washington game. “We had opportunities to score in the first inning and we didn’t, but they kept battling. I know that if we come out and worry about our own performance we can compete with anybody in this conference.”
The Ducks take a mid-week break from the Pac-10 and travel to Portland State Wednesday. The teams play a doubleheader that was originally scheduled for April 1 but rained out. Oregon returns home Friday and Saturday for two games against Oregon State.