After heavy rain prevented the 15th-ranked Oregon softball team from finishing its first of a two-game series with No. 7 Washington on Tuesday night, the Ducks and Huskies finished out the series opener early Wednesday afternoon.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4377&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205411780@@
Despite some less-than-ideal playing conditions, Oregon managed to expand on the 3-2 lead it held before Tuesday’s contest was called off and claimed a 5-3 victory at Howe Field.
Sophomore first baseman Kailee Cuico paced the Ducks offensively, going 2 for 3 with a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. Right fielder Christie Nieto was 2 for 2 from the plate with an RBI and a run scored.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=245&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205411780@@
Victoria Hayward (2 for 4, two runs), Kimi Pohlman (3 for 4, RBI), and Kimberlee Souza (2 for 4) each had multiple-hit games for the visiting Huskies. Oregon starter Jessica Moore (19-5) struck out seven and walked one in seven innings of work.@@CQ@@
In the second and final game of the series played later Wednesday afternoon, Washington again jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the first inning of play. The Huskies added another run in the fourth, before Oregon put up three runs of its own to take a 3-2 lead.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=245&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205412326@@
Senior Kelsey Chambers, junior Samantha Pappas and sophomore Alexa Peterson each accounted for an RBI in that fourth inning. Pohlman then evened the score with a two-out RBI double to right field in the fifth.@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=245&SPSID=4375@@
Moore kept Washington off the board in the sixth and seventh, but Oregon couldn’t get a runner past first base as the game went into extra innings. Another rain delay hit with two outs and two runners on in the top of the eighth inning, but the Ducks escaped unscathed when play resumed. Such was not the case in the top of the ninth inning, as Kaitlin Inglesby hit a three-run home run to give Washington a 6-3 lead it would not relinquish.@@http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/inglesby_kaitlin00.html@@
Oregon went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth, and the Huskies escaped with a series split.
The Ducks have little time to rest before they head to Salt Lake City for a three-game series with Utah beginning Friday at 3 p.m.@@CQ@@