Oregon State
12-6
Seattle
5-12
Nunes Hits Grand Slam as Beavers Take Both on Day Two
February 28, 2020 | Softball
Honolulu, Hawaii. – Oregon State softball (13-6) captured two victories on the second day of the Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament. OSU captured a 1-0 extra-inning victory over Seattle U to start the afternoon before defeating Hawaii, 5-1, to cap off the night.
Junior Missy Nunes went the distance for her first-career grand slam to lead Oregon State in the victory over Hawaii.
Vs. Hawaii
The Beavers came to life in the day-two finale against Hawaii led by Melancon in the circle and Nunes at the plate.
Melancon came out on fire from the circle for the Beavers striking out the side in the top of the first inning. She continued that prowess in the bottom of the second inning striking out the first two batters of the inning for five straight strikeouts.
The Tomball, Texas native had a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the third to keep Hawaii's offense at a stalemate as the Beaver defense hung tight.
Mariah Mazon got the bats going in the top of the fourth hitting a two-out single into shallow left. Grace Messmer followed with a single through the left side to put runners on first and second, but OSU left both of them stranded.
Melancon threw 3.2 perfect innings before Hawaii drew back-to-back walks. Nunes got OSU out of the inning as she caught a pop-up directly in-front of home plate.
OSU came alive offensively in the fifth inning that began with Ashton Phillips drawing a walk followed by freshman Ivana Perez recording her first career hit as she smokes one through the legs of the third baseman. Maia Rader followed suit with a single of her own into left center to load the bases. Freshman Xiao Gin hit one to the shortstop and made it to first as Phillips was ruled out at home. With the bases loaded and two outs, Nunes stepped up and hit the first OSU grand slam since Frankie Hammoude hit one in 2019 against Arizona. This is Nunes' fifth homer on the season and gave OSU a 4-0 lead after five.
The bats stayed hot for the Beavers in the sixth when Owen drew a two-out walk. She made it around to third on a wild pitch and eventually crossed home off a single from Phillips through the right side.
Hawaii came back and scored in the bottom of the sixth after getting back-to-back singles to start the inning. Rader fielded one and stepped on her bag to get the lead runner for the first out and Owen caught a fly ball in right field for the second out, but the runner on second advanced to third before the throw got there. A miscued pop-up in center field dropped to allow Hawaii to score before OSU made the throw to Nunes to tag the second runner before she crossed the plate to make it 5-1 after six.
The Beavers defense held tight in the seventh inning and Melancon picked her 11th strikeout to end to put an end to the night and capture the 5-1 victory.
Vs. Seattle U
An extra-inning walk-off over the Redhawks started the afternoon off for the Beavers with Rader scoring the winning run and Mazon improving to 7-5 on the season from the circle.
OSU had multiple attempts to score first, including in the bottom of the first starting with Nunes hitting a single through the left side. Mazon followed with a hit and reached on a fielder's choice that got Nunes out at second.
Things looked food for OSU in the bottom of the second again as sophomore Izzy Owen singled to the pitcher to leadoff. Chance Burden advanced her to second to put a runner in scoring position with two outs. Phillips drilled one back at the feet of the pitcher for a single and advancing Owen to third to put runners on the corners, but OSU left both of them stranded.
SU got its first true chance of scoring in the fifth with a leadoff double, followed by a single to put runners at the corners. Rader fielded a bouncer in front of third base and made the flip over to Messmer at third to get the lead runner out on the tag after she took too far of a lead off of third for the first out. With runners at first and second, Mazon fielded a bouncer in the circle and made the throw to Rader at third to, once again, get the lead runner for the second out. The Beavers were able to escape the inning unscratched with Mazon picking up her fifth strikeout to end the inning.
Despite OSU getting runners on in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, none would score so the game headed to extras.
Following the international tie-breaker rule, Seattle U started with a runner on second. The first batter popped-up to Rader after she attempted to bunt. Mazon followed that with a strikeout. The runner advanced to third on a wild pitch. The runner attempted to head to home off a passed ball, but Nunes fielded it as it bounced off the backstop and made the throw to Mazon covering home to get the tag and end the top-half of the inning.
OSU started the bottom of the eighth with Rader on second base. Gin drew a leadoff walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. Nunes was able to hit a fly ball into right field that advanced Rader to third after tagging up. Mazon came to the plate with runners on the corners and only one out. Mazon hit one to the second baseman who went home with it to try to get Rader at the plate but made a bad throw to give OSU the 1-0 walk-off.
Mazon started in circle for the Beavers and pitched all 8.0 innings picking up six strikeouts without giving up a walk.
Up Next
OSU is back tomorrow for the final day of action at the Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament facing Seattle U at 12 p.m. before taking on Nevada at 2:30 p.m.
For more information on the Oregon State softball team, visit OSUBeavers.com or follow the team @BeaverSoftball on Twitter and Instagram.
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Mazon, Mariah (7-5)
L: Nance, C (2-6)
Batting:
2B: Silvan, C 1
Base Running:
CS: Madokoro, M 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rader, Maia 1
SB: Rader, Maia 1
