Suffering the first series loss to Oregon State(24-18,6-13 Pac-12) in a decade yesterday, the Ducks(21-25,4-14 Pac-12) came into Sunday's match up looking to avoid the sweep at the hands of their rival. In a back and forth battle with plenty of offense being showcased, Oregon dropped the final game 12-8. In order to reach .500 the team must go 5-1 in their remaining games to keep their tournament hopes alive.
Pitching for the third time in three days, starting pitcher Jordan Dail(3.96 ERA) fell victim to some big innings by the Beavers offense. In the 3rd, Oregon State put up five runs and added another three in the 6th, which would be Dail's last inning. Her final line was 5.1 innings, 7 earned runs, 3 home runs, 2 strikeouts and no walks, although she did hit a batter. She maintained her velocity, but the main problem was that she seemed to lose her command, and was just missing a lot of those corners that she usually thrives on. Coming in relief were Kailey Krueger and, for the the second game in a row, third baseman Rachel Cid. They combined for 1.2 innings and gave up no earned runs and only two hits. Cid especially looked sharp for someone who rarely pitches, being called upon to pitch against a hot Beavers offense and essentially shut them down.
The Ducks on offense did a better job putting runs on the board early in the game compared to the previous two game, grabbing their first lead of the series with a two-run 1st inning. Center fielder Haley Cruse was the star today for Oregon, going 2-4 with two runs scored and two stolen bases. Past the box score though she managed to help her team out some more, getting into an intentional pickle between first and second to score a runner from third, and still managing to scamper back to first safe. She then promptly stole second; but all of this is more impressive considering she had a very hard collision early in the game with right fielder Hannah Galey and managed to get back up, showing her true grit.
Next, the Ducks travel to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Utes from May 3-5 as they play the first of their last two regular season series before the NCAA tournament. The team returns to Eugene on May 9 to face the Arizona State Sundevils.
Game story - Kent Williams
Post Game Audio
Coach Melyssa Lombardi