Oregon State Takes Day One Sweep of Mary Nutter

Thursday, February 22

Palm Springs, CA

5:30 PM

Oregon State

8-4

Oklahoma State

9-3

Oregon State

Oklahoma State

Photo by: Dave Nishitani/Oregon State Athletics

February 23, 2018 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score vs Oklahoma State Box Score vs Bethune-Cookman

Beavers best Cowgirls and Wildcats in opener

By: Athletic Communications

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – The No. RV/RV Oregon State University softball program outlasted No. 16/18 Oklahoma State in extra innings before putting on a hitting clinic against Bethune-Cookman on Thursday to take the day one sweep at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.

"The team did great today," said head coach Laura Berg. "Nerissa (Eason) and Meehra (Nelson) threw extremely well against a very good Oklahoma State team, while Michelle (Sass) came up with the clutch hit in extra innings."

GAME ONE vs OKLAHOMA STATE

The Beavers (8-4) struck first in the rematch against the Cowgirls (9-3) after freshman Hope Brandner (Vacaville, Calif.) sent a diving liner to the third baseman that was misplayed and the miscue allowed senior McKenna Arriola (West Hills, Calif.) to cross the plate for a 1-0 lead heading into the second.

Oregon State added another in the third inning after junior Jessica Garcia (Hughson, Calif.) pushed a hard bunt past a shallow infield and stretched it into a double while freshman Chance Burden (Huntington Beach, Calif.) ended up scoring on the play.

The 2-0 lead held firm until the Cowgirls plated their first run behind a Sydney Pennington single to left center that plated Madi Sue Montgomery in the fourth inning, before Montgomery knotted the game at 2-2 in the seventh inning off a one-out double into the left center gap.

Sophomore Nerissa Eason (Grass Valley, Calif.) was given the hook following the double, but still turned in a strong performance with the no-decision off 6.1 innings pitched with one strikeout.

Junior Meehra Nelson (Simi Valley, Calif.) (6-1) took over thereafter and promptly sat down the next two Cowgirls on strikes to end the threat. Nelson finished with four strikeouts on five batters faced while claiming her sixth win of the year.

The Beavers loaded the bases in the eighth inning after Garcia was placed on second for the international tiebreaker rule, while freshman Missy Nunes (Livermore, Calif.) drew a four-pitch walk before Brandner singled into right field.

Junior Michelle Sass (St. Helens, Ore.) became the difference maker as her two-out single back up the middle plated Nunes and freshman Mayu Molina (Granger, Wash.), who was pinch-running for Brandner, for a 4-2 Oregon State lead heading into the bottom half of the stanza.

Nelson sat down the batters in order in the frame to secure the win.

GAME TWO vs BETHUNE-COOKMAN

The Beavers (9-4) had no need for the late-inning heroics for the nightcap against the Wildcats (5-7) after capitalizing on five Bethune-Cookman miscues en route to the 11-2 win.

Two mistakes from the shortstop in the first inning put Oregon State up early after Nunes reached on a throwing error, scoring senior Alysha Everett (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.), while freshman Camryn Ybarra (Mission Viejo, Calif.) reached on a fielding error that scored Brandner and Nunes.

The Beavers took advantage of two more errors in the second inning after Arriola reached on another fielding error by the shortstop, swiped second, and ended up at third following a misplay on the throw attempt from the catcher down to second.

Garcia plated Arriola on an infield single and ended up scoring on a groundout from Everett for a 5-0 Oregon State lead.

The Wildcats cut into the lead in the bottom of the second with two runs behind a triple from Iesha Waters and a sacrifice fly from Alexis Bermudez, before freshman Mariah Mazon (Tulare, Calif.) (3-3) sat down the next two batters to end the inning.

Mazon took the complete game win as she scattered five hits over six innings of work to go with six punchouts. The Tulare, Calif., native sat down 12 straight batters starting from the sacrifice fly and ending with the leadoff batter in the sixth inning.

The Beavers got their run total to nine in the bottom of the third starting with a leadoff home run from Nunes as she smashed the 2-2 pitch to straightaway center field to begin the frame.

Arriola added a two-run double later in the inning before Everett reached on the fifth error of the game from Bethune-Cookman to plate Burden.

The final two runs of the game came in the top of the sixth as freshman Paityn Willoughby (Newberg, Ore.) posted her first career hit on a single back up the middle to score Sass, while Garcia reached on yet another infield single to the shortstop to cap junior Kayleen Shafer (Mission Viejo, Calif.) to set the score at 11-2.

Bethune-Cookman got the first two batters on base in the bottom of the sixth before Mazon induced a flyout, a popup and a fielder's choice ground ball to get her third win of the year.

As a team, Oregon State recorded 14 hits on the backend of the doubleheader, led by Sass (3-for-4) and Garcia (3-for-5).

The Beavers will take on No. 11/11 Tennessee to start day two of the classic on Friday, February 23, with first pitch at 6 p.m. PT and will wrap up the day with a scrimmage against the USSSA Pride starting at 8:30 p.m. PT.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Tickets to select Oregon State softball games are now on sale at BeaverTickets.com/softball, and can be purchased for the Civil War series (March 29-31) and the Oklahoma series (April 20-21). More information can be found here.

For more information on the Oregon State softball team, visit OSUBeavers.com or follow the team @BeaverSoftball on Twitter

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