The 11th-seeded Oregon softball team took one step closer to reaching its first-ever Women’s College World Series by winning all three of its regional games in the opening round of the NCAA Softball Tournament this weekend at Howe Field. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205429086@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=245&SPSID=4374@@
In hosting their first-ever regional, the Ducks defeated Portland State (7-3) on Thursday, Brigham Young (6-4) on Friday and then topped BYU (4-1) again in Saturday’s finale. Since Mike White took over as head coach in 2010@@http://www.hycatofhuntington.org/Contact.jsp?team=hycat@@, Oregon has gone a perfect 9-0 in regional games, with Saturday’s victory securing a third-straight trip to the Super Regional round later this week.
The Ducks (42-15) will face No. 6 Texas (46-11) in a best-of-three games series to be played in Austin, with a trip to Oklahoma City on the line.
“I’m excited to see what this year has to bring us,” junior pitcher Jessica Moore said@@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Jessica*Moore@@. “I’ve been saying that for a while. I feel like the team is getting better and better as we go.
“This weekend was a little bit of a lull, but I don’t think this defines anything with how we’re going to do within the next week, or hopefully the next couple weeks.”
Moore, a two-time first-team all-Pac-12 performer, only seemed to improve as the weekend progressed. In Thursday’s win over PCSC champion Portland State, Moore limited the Vikings to just three runs on six hits while striking out seven and walking one. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4375&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204763349&Q_SEASON=2011@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=245&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205428710@@
The following morning, against a potent offensive team in BYU, Moore surrendered just five hits and allowed two earned runs en route to reaching double-digit strikeouts (10) for the third time this season.
Yet, the Sutter, Calif., native saved her best effort for last in a brilliant finale on Saturday. Of the 21 outs Moore recorded against the Cougars, 12 were ground balls, seven were strikeouts and just two were fly-outs. She finished the weekend with 24 strikeouts against eight walks, and allowed just six earned runs over 21 innings.
“Really, what set it all up was Jess’ pitching to start with,” White said following Saturday’s victory. “She kept them at bay, kept them at bay, and fortunately gave us enough time to find a way to score some runs.”
It wasn’t until the fifth inning that Oregon finally provided Moore with the run support she needed. Junior right fielder Samantha Pappas@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204763252@@ roped a two-out, two-run double off the right center field fence to give the Ducks their first lead of the game, 2-0. On the next pitch, junior second baseman Kaylan Howard@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204763249@@ hit a two-run home run to center — her team-high 12th of the season — and put Oregon on top 4-0.
“The at-bat before that I was sitting change and she was kind of blowing it right by me,” Howard said. “Then I kind of switched it up, and I was like, ‘If she throws fast-in again, I’m gonna take it.’ And she did.”
BYU’s lone run came on a two-out RBI single off the bat of J.C. Clayton in the bottom of the fifth inning.@@http://universe2.byu.edu/node/8308@@
For the weekend, Oregon had three of the top four hitters in terms of average among the four-team field. Pappas batted .500 (6 for 12, two doubles and two RBI), followed by junior second baseman Kaylan Howard@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204763249@@ (4 for 9, two doubles, home run, three RBI) and freshman center fielder Janie Takeda@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205158962@@ (4 for 9, two RBI) at .444 each.
Meanwhile, Moore led the field in innings pitched (21), hits allowed (17), walks (eight) and strikeouts (24), while holding opponents to a .213 batting average.
Looking ahead to the Super Regionals, Moore expects a different outcome than the previous two years in which Oregon has lost to Missouri in Columbia (2010) and to Florida in Gainesville (2011). @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=4374&SPID=245&DB_OEM_ID=500&Q_SEASON=2010@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=4374&SPID=245&DB_OEM_ID=500&Q_SEASON=2009@@
“I feel like this year out of any we’re really rolling into it well and I think we’re a little more prepared,” Moore said. “We’re better all around as a team and we have a lot of veterans that have been there. A few of us have been to Super Regionals a couple times before, and those are the leaders.”