Oregon State
Oregon
No. 16 Softball Drops Heartbreaker To No. 17 Oregon, 9-8
March 26, 2004 | Softball
March 26, 2004
EUGENE, Ore. - A six-run seventh inning helped No. 17 University of Oregon rally for a 9-8 victory against No. 16 Oregon State amidst soggy conditions in Friday's Pacific-10 Conference softball opener.
Oregon (24-7; 1-0 Pac-10) took the early lead when the Ducks scored a pair of runs in the first inning. UO took advantage of three walks to load the bases and then Dani Baird flared a two-out single to shallow right field to give the Ducks a 2-0 advantage.
Oregon State (28-9; 0-1) responded with six runs of their own in the top of the second to take the lead.
Freshman Brianne McGowan reached base with a leadoff walk and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch from UO starter Anissa Meashintubby. Freshman Natalie Johnson plated Alana Mendoza with an RBI single through the left side and Adrienne Alo blasted a sacrifice fly to left field with a lined shot that scored Ingrid Lochelt, who had reached base with her 8th double of the year. Freshman Mia Longfellow then stepped to the plate and sent a double over the Oregon left fielder's head to add another OSU run. The Beavers added two more runs when Longfellow stole home against Duck reliever Amy Harris and McGowan singled in Kelly Petersen.
A sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second inning helped the Ducks narrow the Beaver lead to 6-3, but Alo's shallow single to center field in the top of the third helped push the OSU advantage back up to an 8-3 margin.
The Beavers appeared to have the game under wraps until Oregon started the seventh inning with three consecutive singles and pushed two runs across the plate after back-to-back walks. Hoffman re-entered the game to replace Ta'Tyana McElroy for the Beavers, forcing Julie Jaime to fly-out to center field but the Ducks added another run on the play, making the score 8-6. With the bases loaded Jen Poore got plunked in the left shoulder adding another to the board for Oregon. Shortstop Breanne Sabol stepped to the plate and drove the game-winning hit into left field as two Ducks rounded the bases to give Oregon its second straight Pac-10 opening victory against the Beavers.
"It was an ugly day, an ugly game, and an ugly inning," said OSU head coach Kirk Walker.
Nine different OSU players recorded at least one hit on the day. McGowan went 2-for-3 from the plate, while Longfellow went 2-for-4 with a double. Hoffman (14-6) was credited with the loss after allowing four runs in only 1.2 innings of work.
Both teams combined for 12 walks on the afternoon while dealing with wet weather conditions and a small strike zone from the home plate umpire.
"It wasn't an easy game for any of the pitchers to throw," said Walker.
Sabol went 3-for-5 from the plate including the game-winning RBIs, while Baird finished with a 2-for-3 clip and three RBI.
Oregon State returns to action on Sunday when the Beavers host a double-header with Utah State University. Game-one is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the OSU Softball Complex.
GAME RESULTS:
No. 16 Oregon State - 062 000 0 - 8 10 0
No. 17 Oregon - 210 000 6 - 9 8 3
Hoffman, McElroy (2), Hoffman (7) and Allen (OSU), Meashintubby, Harris (2), Nyhus (3) and Poore (UO). WP - Nyhus (10-4). LP - Hoffman (14-6). 2B - Lochelt (OSU), Longfellow (OSU), Mendoza (OSU).
