The No. 14 Oregon softball team saw its nine-game winning streak come to an end as top-ranked Alabama rolled to a 5-1 victory in front of 600 Tuesday night at Howe Field.
The Ducks (18-4) got another stellar performance in the circle from junior pitcher Jessica Moore, but a four-run top of the sixth inning proved to be too much for Oregon to overcome.
Despite a season-high 14 strikeouts from Moore — tied for the third-highest single game total in school history, a mark she also reached as a freshman in 2010 — Alabama showed why it has won 22-straight games with no losses on the year.
“That’s the way the game goes,” third-year head coach Mike White said. “But the good thing was we hung right in there. It was a lot closer than 5-1, I think everybody saw that. We battled to the end which was good to see.” @@http://www.rolltide.com/sports/w-softbl/stats/2011-2012/ua201222.html@@
With the score tied at 1-1, the Crimson Tide reclaimed the lead with a big sixth inning to give starting pitcher Jackie Traina plenty of breathing room over the final two frames.
Moore allowed a bases-loaded walk with one out to score Kayla Braud, who singled to open the inning. Two batters later, shortstop Kaila Hunt drove a two-out pitch into left field to score Jennifer Fenton, but Oregon’s Samantha Pappas misplayed the ball and allowed two more Alabama runners to cross the plate, which proved to be the winning margin.
“That sixth inning killed us,” Moore said. “We were letting the other pitcher get ahead — she had a heck of a game, too. You can’t let somebody like that get ahead of the hitters because she’s just going to mow you down.”
Traina struck out 10, walked two and gave up three hits in the winning effort.
After three quick innings of stellar pitching from both sides, Alabama’s Cassie Reilly-Boccia broke the scoreless tie with a home run in the top of the fourth. The senior first baseman drove a one-out, 3-1 pitch off the top of the left field fence, only the fourth round-tripper surrendered by Moore in more than 104 innings of work.
Moore (12-4) was on cruise control early, striking out seven of the first nine batters she faced, including five straight during the second and third innings. Aside from the 14 fanned batters, Moore allowed just three earned runs on four hits and gave up three walks. @@http://www.rolltide.com/sports/w-softbl/stats/2011-2012/ua201222.html@@
White said it was “definitely one of her better games,” but there were a few mental lapses he expects to clean up throughout the spring.
“Hopefully she’s going to learn from this, and she’ll be better for it,” White said. “And when it comes to the end of the year she’s going to make those pitches when we need ‘em and complete the game.
“She certainly threw well enough to win this ball game.”
Oregon quickly got that run back in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 1-1. Junior Kaylan Howard reached on an error to open the inning and moved to second on a Pappas groundout on the ensuing at-bat. Two batters later, designated player Christie Nieto was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with two outs.
White brought in freshman Hannah Melick to pinch hit for Allie Burger, and Melick came up clutch. With Traina struggling to hit her spots, Melick worked the count full before lining a base hit up the middle to score Howard from second.
Nieto was thrown out trying to advance to third on Melick’s hit to end the inning.
The Ducks get an 11-day break before traveling to Corvallis for a three-game series with Oregon State March 24-26.