This time, the tenth-ranked Oregon softball team (37-5, 3-2 Pacific-10 Conference) finished the job.
The Ducks beat the No. 17 Beavers 4-3 Saturday with a dramatic finish in the bottom of the eighth inning before 761 at Howe Field. In the process, Oregon halted an eight-game losing streak to rival Oregon State (29-12, 3-2 Pac-10).
Starting pitcher Melissa Rice took a perfect game into the seventh inning with the Ducks leading 3-0, but the Beavers eventually tied the game before Oregon catcher Amie Morris scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning off an infield single by centerfielder Sari-Jane Jenkins.
“Great game,” Oregon coach Kathy Arendsen said. “That’s what rivalry games are all about.”
Rice and the Ducks were rolling with a 3-0 lead going into the seventh, but Rice walked the leadoff batter and gave up her first hit of the game one batter later. She was relieved by Alicia Cook, who recorded a strikeout before the Beavers’ Brianne McGowan hit a sacrifice fly that made it 2-1 and catcher Stefanie Ewing tied the game with a two-run home run off an 0-2 change-up from Cook.
It was the third time in five Pac-10 games, and the second time in two days, that the Ducks had blown a lead in the seventh inning.
Oregon threatened with runners on the corners and two outs in the seventh, but McGowan, who came on in relief of starter Ta’Tyana McElroy that inning, got out of the jam and the game went into extra innings.
Cook retired Oregon State in order in the eighth and the Ducks started a two-out rally in their half of the inning when Morris drew a walk, second baseman Suzie Barnes was hit by a pitch and Jenkins followed with a sharply hit a ground ball to first baseman DeAnn Young. The ball deflected off Young’s glove and Morris received the go-ahead signal from Arendsen at third base to try for home.
“I read it and saw the second baseman wasn’t going to be able to get the ball and the shortstop. She was going to have to turn all the way around to fire it home,” Arendsen said. “I thought it was a great call.”
Morris beat the throw and slid in safely under Ewing’s tag at the plate for the game-winner, only to be mobbed by her teammates in celebration.
“It was just awesome, a great feeling,” Morris said. “(Arendsen) was yelling and I was going. It was a bang-bang play.”
The win is Oregon’s first in the series against the Beavers since April 9, 2004 and marks McGowan’s first loss against the Ducks in her career. Six of the last eight meetings between the Ducks and Beavers have been decided by one run.
Rice (19-4), a sophomore who was coming off consecutive emotional losses to Stanford and Oregon State, pitched a gem for the Ducks.
She allowed just one hit and two earned runs, though she did not factor in the decision. A day earlier against the Beavers, Rice’s two costly errors in the seventh allowed Oregon State to rally, and the Beavers eventually won 9-7. Her prior outing, she gave up two ground slams and 15 total runs to Stanford.
“I had a little talk with Coach (Arendsen) this morning, and I think I was kind of holding back a little bit – my nerves getting the best of me,” said Rice, who added that the idea of a perfect game crept in her head around the fourth or fifth inning. “I was just calm and brought the confidence my team has given me out today.”
Cook, despite giving up the game-tying home run, was effective in her two innings, giving up just one hit and one earned run while striking out two. She picked up the win and is now 18-1 on the season.
The Ducks started the scoring in the first inning when Barnes, the team-leader in stolen bases, led off with a walk, stole second and scored on an RBI double down the right-field line by Jenn Salling, who kept her streak of 11 straight games with at least one RBI alive. Salling now has a Pac-10-best 57 RBI and already holds Oregon’s single season record in that category.
The 1-0 lead stood until the fifth inning when Barnes again started things off for the Ducks by reaching with a one-out single to left field. A catcher interference call and a walk loaded the bases for true freshman Neena Bryant, who lined the ball off the left-field wall for a two-RBI double, which gave Oregon a 3-0 lead.
But like they did a day earlier, when Oregon held the lead entering the final inning, the Beavers responded with timely hitting and capitalized on the Ducks’ mistakes to tie the game. The Beavers rallied to win Friday’s game 9-7 despite a 5-0 early deficit and a 7-6 deficit heading into the seventh inning.
But this time, Oregon finished the job.
“It feels great,” Morris said. “It’s too bad we didn’t get them (Friday), but better late than never.”
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Oregon breaks its Civil War losing streak in dramatic fashion
Daily Emerald
April 8, 2007
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