Washington senior Danielle Lawrie gave up just two hits and struck out 12 as the No. 1 Huskies defeated the No. 17 Oregon Ducks 1-0 Sunday at Howe Field. The victory gave Washington the 2-1 edge in the weekend series and pushed them to 35-4 on the year.
Lawrie reached the dozen-strikeout mark for the second time on the weekend after fanning 12 Oregon batters Friday afternoon in the Huskies’ 9-2 win. The Canadian Olympian struck out nine hitters in Saturday’s 4-0 win for the Ducks, but also gave up an uncharacteristic four earned runs.
“Obviously, Danielle Lawrie isn’t the No. 1 pitcher in the college game if she doesn’t make adjustments.” First-year Oregon head coach Mike White said. “Obviously, she went back and made some adjustments — she pitched very tough against us.”
After giving up a leadoff single to Oregon freshman Allie Burger and walking senior Neena Bryant in the ensuing at-bat, Lawrie struck out the next five batters, starting a stretch where she retired 15 consecutive hitters in quick fashion, before Burger broke her groove with a one-out single in the bottom of the sixth.
Burger was the only Oregon player with a hit against the All-American, going 2 for 3.
The Ducks’ freshman ace Jessica Moore pitcher her best game of the series as well, striking out eight and walking only one. Moore bounced back from a shaky first start on Friday with two innings of shutout relief in the Ducks’ win Saturday.
“I think I came out a lot stronger today.” Moore said. “Way better than Friday or even yesterday with the save, but you know they’re a good team and they can hit the ball.”
Washington scored its only run in the top of the sixth inning after a series of untimely mistakes led to Husky shortstop Jenn Salling easily scoring on a passed ball.
Salling led off the inning with a single, which brought Lawrie — also Washington’s No. 3 hitter — to the dish. Lawrie smacked a ball back up the middle off Moore’s glove, which squirted passed Oregon shortstop Kelsey Chambers into left field. Salling and Lawrie both advanced on the play before Salling scored two batters later.
“Our defense got a little loose,” Moore said. “I deflected a ball, and you just can’t. You have to make plays when you have the opportunity.”
Sophomore Mikayla Endicott pitched the final 1 2/3 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three. She also pitched well in relief in Friday’s loss, striking out nine and giving up three hits, but Washington’s late rally tacked six earned runs onto her stat sheet.
“Jess Moore threw a brilliant game. Mikayla Endicott came in very tough situations and just pitched her heart out again.” White said. “Going forward, I think we feel pretty confident that we can hold the runs down as long as we play error-free defense.”
Oregon now sits at 30-8 on the year, holding down second in the conference with a 6-3 record. The team goes on the road for a three-game series with Arizona State next weekend, Oregon’s third straight series against a top-15 team.
Despite a pair of conference losses for the weekend, White still felt the series was a vital learning experience for his young team.
“We could’ve been in three games.” White concluded. “We could’ve gotten three but it didn’t happen that way. Again we’re very, very respectful of their team — they’re a great team — we’re excited to get one win off of them.”
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