Saturday was a perfect day for sports, with the sun shining in crystal-clear skies. After a great afternoon for the Spring Game, the sun draped the baseball and softball games, which were also in Eugene. The positive football vibes must have carried over into our Diamond Ducks, as they both came out on the winning side of their contests. Here is how the action went down:
Softball vs. Ohio State Game 2
Elise Sokolsky started in the circle for the Ducks in Game 2. While the Buckeyes were able to score
runs again on our pitching, Oregon’s bats woke up from yesterday’s nap as the Ducks came from behind to overtake Ohio State and even the series, 13-6.
Oregon’s offense earned Sokolsky her seventh win of the season, and Lyndsey Grein picked up her first save.
In the first few innings, the game felt uncomfortably the same as yesterday, with the Buckeyes scoring first in the opening inning before adding three more in the third to take a 4-0 lead. OSU went up 2-0 on an inside the park home run:
A fielding error scored the next run, followed by a sacrifice grounder.
Oregon did not score in the first three innings, but in the bottom of the fourth Elon Butler decided that her bat had been silent long enough, and let it rip.
OSU went up 5-3 off a home run in the fifth inning, but Emma Cox tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer.
Oregon then moved ahead when the Buckeyes succumbed to fielding yips.
A sacrifice fly gave the Ducks a 7-5 lead to close the fifth inning.
Grein came in to pitch in the sixth inning, gave up her obligatory home run, and the Buckeyes pulled to within one.
Emma Cox said “No comebacks on my watch!” and immediately fired off her second 2-run homer in as many innings. (Curiously, Amari Harper walked as the first batter in the fifth and sixth inning, and was sent home by Cox).
Later in the bottom of the inning, with the bases loaded, Katie Flannery hit her first home run of the season.
In the top of the seventh inning, Grein was locked in and Ohio State went 3-up and 3-down. The Ducks won with their 18th come-from-behind victory this season.
Emma Cox was understandably elated and had this to say after the game:
Head coach Melyssa Lombardi had these observations following the Game 2 win:
Oregon softball plays for their 15th straight Big Ten series win today when they battle the Buckeyes in Game 3. The game starts at noon and can be seen on Big Ten Plus.
Baseball vs. Penn State Game 2
Oregon baseball also had to come from behind yesterday, but the pitching knuckled down and the offense did enough to take the game into extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th inning, the Ducks literally picked up a walkoff win, as PSU walked Jack Brooks and Oregon prevailed, 5-4.
But man, oh man, the top of the first inning was an ugly way to start a ball game.
Collin Clarke started on the hill, and hit the Lions’ first batter on the second pitch of the game. PSU scored four in the top of the first inning, highlighted by a two-run homer en route to a 4-0 lead.
The Ducks picked up one in the bottom of the inning off a ground-out single.
Clarke stayed in the game, and to his credit he shook off a disastrous start to pitch through 5.2 innings, giving Oregon the start they needed while allowing no more runs.
The Ducks added another run in the bottom of the third inning. It could have been two, but an outstanding play by PSU’s Jack Porter robbed Ryan Cooney of a home run.
The game stayed 4-2 through the middle innings, but Oregon tied the game up in the bottom of the 7th inning. Small ball led the way in the 7th, as it had all game. Aided by a PSU error, Oregon twice crossed the plate on fielder’s choice hits and tied the game, 4-4.
Devin Bell came in to relieve Toby Twist in the top of the eighth inning, and Bell was locked in. He pitched a fantastic ninth and tenth inning, putting all batters down in order.
PSU pitching was not locked down in the 10th. They cracked, and gave the game to the Ducks.
It may have taken extra innings, but Oregon baseball won another tense contest against a surprisingly tough Penn State squad, winning both games by a 5-4 score. Here is your final line:
Devin Bell had this to say after getting the Game 2 win:
Head coach Mark Wasikowski had these comments after the game:
Oregon wins the series, and today goes for the sweep against the Nittany Lions. First pitch is at 12:05 pm PT, and the game can be seen on Big Ten Plus.
