Oregon softball fell to Texas State 5-1 on Friday in Austin, Texas. The game marked the Ducks first playoff appearance since 2018.
The NCAA softball regionals include four teams in a double-elimination tournament.
The Ducks entered Friday’s regional matchup as the No. 2 seed, coming off a four-game sweep against Cal and a 37-15 regular season record.
There was a lot of controversy surrounding the Ducks not being a host team. Despite finishing the season ranked No. 11 in the nation in RPI and ninth in strength of schedule, the Ducks did not make the top 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the Ducks traveled to Austin, Texas to play in the NCAA regional tournament.
Texas State jumped ahead early after Hailey MacKay launched a two-run homer to center on a 1-1 pitch. After Friday’s win over Oregon, Texas State is 30-2 after scoring first. The Bobcats finished the season with a 39-12 overall record.
Leading up to the home run, Oregon pitcher Brooke Yanez had allowed only two runs through six games and 32.2 innings.
Yanez was handed the loss despite a phenomenal performance, posting 10 strikeouts through 5.1 innings. In the face of a fierce batting performance from the Bobcats, Yanez remained strong, bouncing back and striking out the next four she faced.
“I think Brooke is a great competitor, she has a fire under her and she hates when people hit off of her,” Alee Bunker said. “I’m confident that she will come out tomorrow strong and keep that fire that she had going into [to Friday’s playoff game].”
Yanez kept the game close for as long as she could, but the Ducks loss ultimately came down to the first four innings, where Oregon stranded eight runners on base and went 0-9 with runners in scoring position.
“I think we didn’t find enough ways to score runs,” Bunker said. “We had runners in scoring position the entire game, we just needed to have those clutch hits in the right moments, and we didn’t have those tonight.”
Not only were the Ducks not hitting with runners in scoring position, but they weren’t hitting with two outs. This season, 48% of Oregon’s runs were scored with two outs, but they lacked the same consistency on Friday.
Bunker tallied Oregon’s lone run on a solo shot in the third to make the game 3-1.
The game remained locked at 3-1 until the sixth inning, when Texas State tallied two more off of relief pitcher Samaria Diaz.
Texas State will remain in Austin, where they’ll take on the Longhorns in McCombs Field at the University of Texas on Saturday.
The Ducks will face elimination on Saturday as they play Saint Francis University at 1 p.m. Pacific Time. Head coach Melyssa Lombardi remained upbeat and confident looking ahead, despite Friday’s shortcomings.
“I’ve done it before where we lost the first game in regionals and fought our way back, so it can be done,” Lombardi said.
