By Dylan Farrell
In one of its most important games of the season, No. 18 Oregon (20-8, 3-4) upset No. 4 UCLA (27-4, 4-3) 3-0 in front of an electric home crowd on Friday night. Oregon was led by a dominant performance from Morgan Scott, who pitched a complete game for the Ducks, allowing 0 runs and just 2 hits against one of the most potent offenses in the nation. She was helped by strong outings by Terra McGowan and Paige Sinicki on the offensive side of the ball, with each recording one run and at least 1 RBI to accompany batting averages over .500 on the night. The score could’ve been higher, but UCLA managed to lock it down in the bottom of the fifth with runners on second and third.
Megan Faraimo led the charge for the Bruins, recording 6 strikeouts against 26 batters. She allowed just one earned run on the night, as two of Oregon’s scorers reached base by fielder’s choice and an error. Rachel Cid had a strong game in her return to the Jane, though she struggled to make contact, recording 3 putouts and an assist with no errors, but with no hits.
McGowan went 2-for-3 at the plate on the evening and was the largest contributing factor to the Ducks’ win not named Morgan Scott. She had a score-opening solo home run at the bottom of the first in the team’s second at-bat, then she hit a clutch double in the fifth to bring Paige Sinicki home.
“With my age, I’ve had the luxury of facing Megan since I was 14, so I’ve had the most at bats off of her,” McGowan said after the game. “I think we had a really great game plan going in.”
Outside of Scott and McGowan, Sinicki and Ariel Carlson also contributed significantly. Sinicki reached base early in the fifth before McGowan batted her in, and Carlson’s defensive contributions shined throughout the game, especially in the fourth inning, when she made a diving catch on a fly ball to keep Jordan Woolery off base.
All told, the Ducks played a complete game throughout and put on one of their most dominant performances of the year against one of the toughest opponents they’ve faced. Winning games in this series is going to be decisive in the Pac-12 standings, as Oregon is now just one game below .500 in conference play despite battling in one of the toughest conferences in the country. Oregon will face UCLA twice more this weekend: once on Saturday the 25, and once more on Sunday the 25.