Oregon softball got off to a good start in its Super Regional matchup against NC State, winning 6-1 in the evening of May 22 in the opening game of the series. The Ducks are now just one victory away from their second straight trip to the Women’s College World Series.
“Great defensive effort out there, I thought there were some spectacular plays we made that really kept us in the game,” Oregon head coach Mike White said. “All in all, we are just happy to be in the driver seat.”
It wasn’t a pretty start for No. 2 seeded Oregon as just the second pitch of the evening by Duck junior Cheridan Hawkins resulted in a solo home run by Wolfpack senior Renada Davis.
“It’s a little hard at times because you get frustrated with yourself,” Hawkins said giving up the early score. “But I think it’s realizing you can choose to give up one single home run or you can let it work from there and give up five runs.”
Hawkins chose the latter, refusing to allow her team to fall into a deeper hole.
She threw a variety of pitches to keep NC State on its heels. The player of the year finalist ended the game with 14 strikeouts and was able to hold the Wolfpack to just the one run. Hawkins now has posted double-digit strikeout totals nine times this season.
While the Oregon pitching and defense excelled, it took awhile for their bats to come alive. The Ducks were held scoreless through the first three, with the first hit coming via sophomore Danica Mercado in the bottom of the third.
With the bases loaded and working with two outs, Mercado again came up big, bringing home the tying run in the fourth. Oregon went on to unleash a flurry of runs, taking a 4-1 lead.
“I believe in our offense and I know they’ll produce runs and find ways to get on and score,” Hawkins said.
White would prefer to see the runs come more consistently throughout the game, but it seems that with this team they come in batches.
“Once we get that first run across we tend to get more,” White said. “That’s what we try to do, really capitalize on mistakes.”
Hailey Decker and Janelle Lindvall had two runs apiece, Nikki Udria had an RBI and a stolen base and Mercado had one run and two RBIs.
No one on NC State was able to explode offensively, and the Ducks were able to limit their ace Emily Weiman. Weiman ended pitching 4.1 innings, giving up seven hits and six runs.
“I think its always nice to win the first game, but you have to know NC State is a good team and they are going to come out and compete tomorrow,” Hawkins said. “We just have to stick to our game plan and believe in what we can do.”
The series will continue tomorrow at noon, with a potential tiebreaker to follow if needed.
Follow Christopher Keizur on Twitter @chriskeizur