Long after the stands cleared and the handful of spectators returned home, Jessica Moore stood alone in an empty Oregon dugout with a hard-fought level of frustration painted on her face. After splitting the final non-conference doubleheader of the season with an unranked Portland State team, Moore and the Ducks were left searching for answers Wednesday night at Howe Field.
In what should have been Oregon’s last tune-up before a big upcoming weekend against the No. 3 Arizona Wildcats, the Ducks instead barely escaped with a 5-4 victory in the first game followed by a 4-1 loss in the second.
“We definitely didn’t play the way we’d hoped, that’s for sure,” first-year Oregon head coach Mike White said. “We didn’t show the intensity and level of play that it takes to be in the top 25. Right now we played like a bottom-50 team. It was just very disappointing.”
Portland State opened the scoring in the top of the second with a two-out RBI single from junior shortstop Arielle Wiser, scoring designated player DeChauna Skinner from first base. The Vikings added on another run in the top of the fourth when freshman center fielder Danielle Lynn scored on a two-out double from Wiser. Wiser finished the game 3 for 3 with two RBI and a run scored. She also had one hit in the first game.
The Ducks scored their only run in the bottom of the fifth when freshman Samantha Pappas drove in sophomore Ashley Kivett with her third single of the game. Kivett walked to open the inning, then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior Neena Bryant, before crossing home on Pappas’ shot up the middle.
After a scoreless sixth inning, the Vikings responded with two more runs in the bottom of the seventh to put the game out of reach for good. In all, the Ducks left eight runners on base in the game, bringing their total for the day to 17.
Despite striking out a career-high 14 batters and allowing just two walks, Moore (13-9) said dwelling over the lack of run support isn’t something she’s about to do.
“You can’t get frustrated,” Moore said. “Stuff happens, you know. Hitters have bad days, but it’s just something that’s part of the game and I think you just have to learn from it and know that everybody did the best that they could, and you can’t really be mad about it.”
Moore now sits at 201 strikeouts on the year with her 12th complete game added to her rookie resume.
In the opening game, sophomore pitcher Samantha Skillingstad gave up four earned runs in her 2 1/3 innings pitched, leaving the door open for the fellow sophomore Mikayla Endicott to pick up her third win of the season. Endicott, the Pacific-10 Conference leader in relief appearances, struck out eight and walked one in less than five innings of work.
The Ducks were out-hit 8-4 in that game, but a two-run fifth inning followed by another run in the sixth helped provide just enough separation to pull out the win.
Though the pitching was good overall, the lack of hitting and untimely errors is what White believed was the downfall in the second game, and even more so with a crucial series up ahead.
“Just some of the things we’re doing, you know, not hustling after balls when we make errors,” White said. “It’s just a bit concerning to me that we don’t have the fire and intensity that we need at this time of the season.”
Freshman left fielder Allie Burger seemed to still have that intensity as she went 4 for 5 with a run scored and one RBI on the day. She was the only Duck player to tally multiple hits in both games.
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