The momentum from upsetting No. 6 Arizona in a wild 10-inning game Thursday evening couldn’t be sustained by Oregon softball throughout its last series of the year, losing both games to No. 9 Arizona State on Friday and Saturday at Howe Field.
Oregon finishes the year 16-34, 3-17 in the Pacific-10 Conference, its fewest wins since a six-win season in 1983 in a shortened 27-game schedule.
On senior weekend, honoring active players Melissa Rice, pitcher, and left fielder Sari-Jane Jenkins got off to the best start anyone could have imagined, a 2-1 win over the Wildcats on Thursday that took three extra innings to break a 1-1 deadlock until freshman Lindsey Chambers doubled in junior Blair Williamson for the winning run.
“I had seen her twice before and relied on good mechanics and hit it,” Chambers said of her familiarity with Arizona pitcher Sarah Akamine. Akamine allowed Oregon seven hits, and a run to start the game in the first inning, when Jenkins rushed home on a bunt by junior Neena Bryant.
Arizona had 10 hits but left nearly all of its chances on the basepaths. The Wildcats scored their lone run in the fifth on the 27th home run of the season for catcher Stacie Chambers, who leads the nation in that category, but hadn’t gone deep since April 19.
From there it was a pitchers’ duel with Akamine matching freshman Samantha Skillingstad, who threw all 10 innings, striking out eight, and walking four on 164 pitches. Akamine had 10 strikeouts and two walks in 9.1 innings.
“To hold Arizona to one run is phenomenal,” head coach Kathy Arendsen said. “We know how good they are, and we never gave in.”
Arizona led the Pac-10 with 144 runs scored during conference games this season, with Oregon’s 33 ranking dead last.
The Ducks couldn’t find much more offense the next two games against the Sun Devils while allowing many more to Arizona State, the defending national champions.
The Ducks lost both games by scores of 5-1. Each game the Ducks scored on solo home runs, by Bryant on Friday and Jenkins on Saturday.
On Friday ASU got two runs in the first inning by Kaylyn Castillo’s double that scored Jessica Mapes and Kaitlin Cochran. Bryant hit her eighth homer of the year and 28th of her career in the bottom of the inning, but the Ducks’ bats went silent the rest of the game as Elliott warmed up.
ASU lost Thursday afternoon to Oregon State, and tried to jump out early to curb Oregon’s momentum from the night before.
Team Award Winners
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| ? | Sari-Jane Jenkins was voted Most Outstanding Player by her teammates and coaches at the team’s annual banquet Saturday. |
| ? | Other award winners included Neena Bryant and Cortney Kivett being named Top Offensive and Defensive players respectively, Samantha Skillingstad winning Top Pitcher and Shelley Deadmond winning Most Inspirational. |
| ? | Jenkins, who hit a home run in her final collegiate game Saturday, also stole a team-record 96th stolen base, tops in UO history. She ranks in the top 10 in Oregon history in ?five categories. |
| ? | Bryant led Oregon with a .314 batting average, 49 hits and tied for the lead with eight home runs. |
| ? | Kivett moved from second to third base for the last half of the season, and led Oregon in its last 26 games with a .970 fielding percentage. |
| ? | Skillingstad, a freshman, struck out 170 hitters this season, the fourth-most all-time in just her first season in Eugene. Her 2.36 ERA was the fifth-best mark in the Pac-10. |
| ? | Deadmond, a redshirt junior, played in 32 of the team’s 50 games. |
“We knew they were dangerous,” said Elliott.
The Sun Devils scored twice more in the seventh inning on a throwing error to home.
On Saturday, senior day, Jenkins gave the Ducks a boost in the third inning with her shot over left-center field, but didn’t receive much help from her teammates. ASU had as many hits as Oregon, four, but finally broke through against a sharp Skillingstad (12-15) in the fifth inning, scoring three times on a bases-loaded walk and then a single that scored two batters.
“I think we played the best seven innings we could, and we didn’t leave anything on the field; I’m proud of that,” Jenkins said. “Today was a fitting conclusion, and I couldn’t ask for anything better in a final game.”
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