Chalk up another rough weekend for the Oregon softball team at Howe Field.
The Ducks (18-18 overall, 0-9 Pacific-10 Conference) dropped three games to extend their losing streak to nine — falling to No. 6 Arizona State on Friday and No. 1 Arizona on Saturday and Sunday.
The weekend began for Oregon with a 9-1 drubbing at the hands of the Sun Devils (35-10, 5-3) in a game that lasted only six innings because of the eight-run rule. Arizona State scored three runs in each of the first two innings and then tallied one in the fourth and two more in the sixth. The Ducks’ lone run came in the fifth.
Arizona State’s winning pitcher Erica Beach contributed offensively by smacking a two-run homer in the sixth, while Anissa Meashintubby picked up the loss for Oregon.
The Oregon pitching staff fared much better against Arizona (38-5, 7-1) in the following two games. Freshman southpaw Lindsey Kontra threw for the Ducks on Saturday, allowing two runs on five hits and four walks while striking out six. Through the fourth inning, she had only allowed one hit.
“Lindsey did a great job pitching and really kept them off balance all day,” Oregon head coach Brent Rincon said.
Kontra’s pitching performance was bettered by Arizona’s Jennie Finch, a 6-foot senior who improved her record to 22-1 with her 14th shutout of the season.
The Wildcats’ runs came from two RBIs from Loveianne Jung, who knocked a solo home run in the fifth and a single in the seventh that scored Carrie Hagen.
Through both weekend games against Arizona, Kontra and Connie McMurren — who threw six-and-a-third innings Sunday — held Arizona’s top hitting star Leneah Manuma hitless. But the Wildcats found other ways to score.
“Arizona is a phenomenal ball club, and they are going to get their hits,” Rincon said. “They are the No. 1 team in the country and they just have too many weapons.”
McMurren held Arizona hitless through most of three and scoreless through four before the Wildcats offense began to click. They tallied one run in the fifth, two in the sixth and five in the seventh to break the game open.
“I really don’t think the score today was indicative of how close the game was,” Rincon said. “We battled them hard.”
In the Oregon half of the sixth with the score 3-0, the Ducks gave Arizona a scare. Amber Hutchison led off the inning by reaching on an error by second baseman Lisha Ribellia. Alyssa Laux followed by drawing a walk, and Lynsey Haij advanced the two runners with a well-placed sacrifice bunt. Andrea Vidlund, who leads the Ducks with a .363 average and seven home runs, sent a long drive to right that was tracked down by Arizona’s Meaghan Finnerty just short of the wall. Both runners advanced, but Hutchison’s run was all the Ducks could muster.
Despite remaining winless in the Pac-10, the Ducks are still holding their heads high.
“We’re not panicking yet,” Rincon said. “We just need to continue to get better, and this weekend we did some things to get better, especially in the Arizona series. The pitchers did a good job over the last two days — I think they are up to the challenge. Overall I’m not displeased with how we battled.
“Obviously I’m not happy with the outcome, but if they keep their intensity up and keep battling the way we have, we’ve still got a chance to be a pretty good team.”