It was not a good weekend in the desert for the No. 10 Oregon softball team.
The Ducks hoped to feed off an April 25 upset of No. 1 Arizona when they faced the Wildcats in Tucson on Friday. Instead, Oregon dropped a 5-0 decision to the Wildcats before heading to Phoenix, where the Ducks gave unranked Arizona State its second and third conference victories of the season.
Oregon (35-17 overall, 9-9 Pacific-10 Conference) went 0-3 in its trip to the Arizona schools.
“Now we have to focus on playing at home and closing out the Pac-10 season on a high note,” Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen said after Sunday’s loss.
The Ducks close their conference season this weekend, hosting Stanford in a single game Friday and California for a doubleheader Saturday.
In Friday’s 5-0 loss to the Wildcats, Oregon had four hits but allowed five runs on three home runs and an RBI double.
“I thought we could have made better adjustments offensively,” Arendsen said Friday. “We gave ourselves opportunities to score and again didn’t come up with timely hits.”
The Ducks left eight runners on base in front of 1,411 fans at Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium. They came closest to scoring in the seventh when catcher Jenn Poore singled to left field, nearly scoring second baseman Erin Goodell. Goodell was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Autumn Champion for the second out of the inning.
Sophomore Amy Harris got the start, her third during the Pac-10
season, and the Wildcats scored off her in the third inning with a home run to left field by third baseman Jackie Coburn. In the fifth inning, Arizona padded its lead to 4-0 with a two-run shot by second baseman Samantha Quintero and a solo home run by center fielder Caitlin Lowe. Later that inning, catcher Mackenzie Vandergeest drove a double to left field, scoring Champion for the Wildcats’ final run of the game.
The Ducks wanted to bounce back in two games against Arizona State, but they lost both — coming closest to a win in Saturday’s nine-inning 1-0 decision.
In the bottom of the ninth, catcher Katie Cobos singled to left field to score shortstop Kristin Crenshaw for the win. Cobos’ hit fell just in front of Crenshaw as she was running the bases, giving Arendsen an argument for a runner interference call. The call from the umpires stood, leaving Oregon on the losing side of the debate.
“We battled for nine innings and I didn’t think it should have ended this way,” Arendsen said Saturday. “But we’ve got to start putting runs on the board to avoid this situation.”
The Ducks had nine hits and left five runners on base as Arizona State’s Desiree Serrano bumped her record to 1-9.
Junior transfer Ani Nyhus threw five innings of shutout ball before senior Anissa Meashintubby relieved her in the sixth. Meashintubby struck out seven batters before allowing the run.
Oregon still had a chance to win the series against Arizona State with a win Sunday.
Instead, the Ducks were held scoreless in three consecutive games for the first time this season, losing Sunday’s game to the Sun Devils, 3-0.
“Again, we left runners on base and didn’t get hits with runners in scoring position,” Arendsen said Sunday.
In the third inning, Arizona State took the lead when center fielder Kristin Farber scored on a double off the left field wall by third baseman Phelan Wright. Nyhus then loaded the bases when she intentionally walked left fielder Val Sevilla. Designated player Kari Pulcifer pulled out a successful squeeze play to put the sun Devils ahead, 2-0.
Sevilla hit a home run off Harris in the fifth inning for Arizona State’s final run of the game.