Living by the seat of its pants after capturing two must-win games Saturday, the Oregon softball team’s season came to an end Sunday when the Ducks lost their first game of the Regional tournament Friday against 10th-ranked Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., 2-1.
It marks the first time in three seasons the Ducks haven’t reached the Super Regionals.
A rough first inning sealed the Ducks’ (35-25 overall) fate against the host Sooners (50-15).
Oregon gave up the only two runs Oklahoma would score in the game on a double steal and an error by left fielder Lovena Chaput.
The Sooners started the inning with back-to-back singles by Norrelle Dickson and Kristin Vesely off Oregon ace Amy Harris. Oklahoma’s Christina Enea sent a deep fly ball to right field that was caught, allowing Dickson to advance to third base.
With clean-up hitter Heather Scaglione at the plate, the Sooners executed a perfect double steal to score Dickson from third and move Vesely to second. Scaglione singled to left later in the at-bat, and a Chaput error allowed Vesely to score, giving the Sooners a 2-0 advantage.
Oregon fought back in the bottom of the second and had runners on second and third, but as was the case most of the day, the team couldn’t get to Oklahoma pitcher Kami Keiter. First baseman Kristi Leiter popped out to end the inning. The Sooner pitcher dominated the Ducks most of the day, giving up six hits and an earned run while striking out eight and walking two.
With two outs in the top of the fifth, Harris was replaced by freshman Alicia Cook after giving up a single to Enea and walking Scaglione. Cook
retired the next seven batters to keep the Ducks alive for a rally. The Elmira native didn’t give up an earned run during the entire tournament
(9.1 innings), and batters hit a microscopic
.033 against her.
Duck hitters finally got to Keiter in the bottom of the fifth inning. Senior second baseman Erin Goodell singled, followed by a Suzie Barnes double to put runners on second and third with one out. Chaput drove in Goodell on a groundout to the second baseman, but the Ducks couldn’t scrape together anything else as Sabol ended the inning by popping out to the catcher.
Oregon threatened again in the bottom of the sixth inning. Beth Boskovich walked and Ashley Richards reached when the Sooners attempted to get Boskovich at second but were unsuccessful.
With runners on first and second and no outs, Keiter once again shut down the Ducks’ bats, getting Kayleen Hudson to pop out and pinch hitter Ann Marie Topps and Goodell to strike out.
The Ducks were given a third chance to tie the score in the last inning, but they failed to convert. A single by Barnes and a single by Chaput put runners on first and second with one out.
Oregon couldn’t capitalize with tying and winning runs on base, as Keiter mowed down Sabol and Boskovich to end the game and secure the Sooners a spot in the Super Regionals.
Oregon’s journey to the Regional final started last Friday when the Ducks fell to No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette in a high scoring battle, 7-5.
The Ragin’ Cajuns used four home runs to
garner the victory against the Ducks.
The Ducks fell behind early after a one-out home run by ULL’s Danyele Gomez to give the Ragin’ Cajuns a 1-0 first-inning lead. It was Gomez’s 20th home run of the season.
The score remained the same until ULL scored three times in the top of the fourth inning to push the lead to 4-0.
The Ducks cut the lead to 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning after Boskovich crushed a three-run homer, but they couldn’t quite make it all the way back.
“We had several opportunities in the game, and we weren’t able to get the timely hitting we needed,” Oregon head coach Kathy
Arendsen said.
Oregon came back Saturday with an extra-inning victory against Wichita State. Richards doubled with two outs in the top of the eighth inning to drive in two and help the Ducks win 3-2.
Harris led the team in batting, going the distance for the Ducks’ lone earned run in the contest. With her five strikeouts in the game, she became Oregon’s all-time leader with
476 career strikeouts. In the game against Oklahoma, her two strikeouts also gave her the single-season mark of 203, surpassing Ani Nyhus’ Oregon record of 202 last season.
The win against Wichita State set up another matchup with ULL to decide who would face Oklahoma in the championship, and the Ducks sent freshman Cook to the mound. She didn’t disappoint.
Cook pitched a complete-game one-hitter and pushed the Ducks to a 3-1 victory over ULL, securing a Regional final matchup with Oklahoma.
The offense staked Cook with an early 3-0 lead against the Ragin’ Cajuns after the first inning, including a two-run double by Hudson.
