The ball bounced to the right off Braiesey Rosa’s glove, the catcher forced to jog back to pick it up before throwing the ball to her infielders.
It was that kind of night.
Fans booed and jeered the umpires as Oregon State (9-13) celebrated a strikeout in a key spot as No. 12 Oregon’s (21-2) frustrations were close to boiling over.
It was that kind of vibe.
Katie Flannery looked to have a rally-starting hit only for the ball to find an outstretched Beaver glove.
It was that kind of struggle.
“I thought today we were just making things a little too hard,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said.
Throughout their 5-2 loss to Oregon State, the Ducks felt like they were continuously pushing the boulder to the top of the mountain, but never reaching the peak. They fought, digging into second-string reserves, and finding a way to fight out of an early deficit. But ultimately, a three-run sixth inning from the Beavers was the difference in a tight contest.
“She did a good job,” Lombardi said of Oregon State pitcher Logan Hulan, who threw seven innings of eight-strikeout ball.“We needed to do a good job either getting on top of the ball or taking the pitch.”
“I don’t think it was Hulan,” shortstop Paige Sinicki said. “I think we just beat ourselves in that game. She wasn’t doing anything special, or anything more special than what we’ve seen this season.”
Oregon entered significant favorites Saturday, the Ducks winners of 15-straight and most recently a top-10 victory over Florida State. Rivalry games, though, care little for resumes.
Oregon State surprisingly struck first via a two-run homer from Tristan Thompson.
Throughout the contest, a mostly green and yellow crowd at the Jane hung with every out and opportunity; there were plenty of them.
Oregon (2-12 with runners on, no extra-base hits) stranded runners on base in each of its first three innings of offense. It wasn’t until the fourth that Oregon tied the game up and Duck fans could let out a sigh of relief — for now.
Another wild finish for the two teams that almost always play each other close was officially in store when Remmington Hewitt hit what looked to be a sac-fly to center. But OSU outfielders collided in the outfield and allowed two runs to score on the error.
After the Ducks rallied to tie it at two, the Beavers loaded the bases off of reliever Lyndsey Grein in the top of the sixth and added three fatal runs. The first came in via a walk, then, the more critical blow came in a two-run double to left off the bat of Jada Lewis.
“We need to have better strikezone awareness,” Lombardi said.
The Ducks went down in order in the final two innings and their 16-game winning streak was snapped.
Oregon and Oregon State will play once more this season with the rematch scheduled for March 8 in Corvallis.
“This one hurts, especially at home,” Sinicki said.
Oregon returns to action Sunday against No. 8 Florida State and Abilene Christian.
