Softball picked up an important series win against the ranked Washington Huskies, while baseball lost a crazy, seemingly fated contest against host Illinois. Here is how yesterday’s action went down.
Baseball Game 2 vs. Illinois
The Fighting Illini came out on top in a high scoring game 2 – where the wind wreaked havoc on pitchers and carried hits over the fence – by a final score of 16-13.
Oregon got on the board first in the second inning with a Jack Brooks RBI single. The Ducks loaded the bases and
Illinois walked a runner across the plate, and Oregon was up 2-0.
Scoring was quiet until the bottom of the fourth inning, when the Illini plated four to go up 4-2. The first two singles sailed down the right field line, and on this 2-RBI double you can see the wind (which hit a steady 20 mph, especially in the later innings) pushing the ball to the right, making fielding easy plays super challenging.
Maddox Molony tied the game in the top of the fifth with a two-run shot, and the game was relatively quiet until the seventh inning.
That’s when all scoring hell broke loose. The wind picked up and pitching became nigh impossible. The Ducks scored two to take a 6-4 lead, and the bottom of the inning saw Illinois pin eight runs on Oregon before the Ducks finally got out of the inning.
Illinois may have had a 12-6 lead, but wind plays no favorites, and in the top of the eighth the Ducks surged back in the lead. Brayden Jaksa hit a grand slam to bring Oregon with one run.
Drew Smith followed with a two-run shot to rally the Ducks and return the lead to Oregon.
An error in the bottom of the inning tied the game. Oregon could generate nothing in the ninth inning, and that set up the Illini for a walkoff, 3-RBI homer to right field, which evened the series and set us up for today’s rubber match.
Illinois and Oregon play an early Game 3 today to decide the series. First pitch is at 11:00 am PT and can be seen on B1G+.
Softball Game 2 vs. Washington
Softball played the second game against the Huskies with an unusual pitching rotation, which saw the return of Elise Sokolsky. After Lyndsey Grein gave up her obligatory home run in the first inning, and Maddie Milhorn did the same in the top of the third inning, Sokolsky came to the circle. Aided by Oregon’s bats and excellent fielding, Sokolsky did enough to earn the win as the Ducks took the series with a 5-4 win.
Down 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning, Oregon took control of the game. Emma Cox hit a 2-RBI shot on the third pitch thrown at her:
And was immediately followed by a Stefini Ma’ake solo shot.
Washington tied the game in the top of the fourth inning, with another home run. Oregon responded in the fifth inning with Amari Harper’s two-run shot to right field, meaning that all of Oregon’s scoring came from the long ball.
Washington’s final run came from an RBI double in the top of the sixth inning, and that’s as much as they would get in the second game. Sokolsky pitched just good enough in her return, and as I said, the Ducks defense their job in supporting her.
But the pivotal play was the game-ender in the seventh inning, when Elon Butler rifled a throw for the second time in as many games to get a Washington base runner out.
Note to Washington: Don’t hit balls to Elon Butler. It won’t end well.
With the win, Oregon softball has picked up a series win against a Washington squad that came to Eugene with an unbeaten Big Ten record. The Ducks play for a sweep today, with first pitch at 3:00 pm PT. The game is Big enough that it will be on the Big Ten Network.
