University of Oregon
9-1
Ole Miss
6-2
Kleist Dominates, But Ducks Fall to Ole Miss in Nine
02/17/18 | Softball
Megan Kleist struck out a career-high 16 with no walks in 8.1 sterling innings, but No. 3 Oregon was unable to give her any run support in a tough 1-0 loss to No. 15 Ole Miss in nine innings
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico - Junior Megan Kleist was absolutely brilliant on Saturday night against No. 15 Ole Miss, but the third-ranked Oregon softball team was unable to give her any run support as the Ducks suffered a tough 1-0 loss in nine innings at Nancie Almaraz Field.
Oregon (9-1) lost for the first time this season to finish 3-1 at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge. Kleist (3-1) was nearly untouchable over 8.1 sterling innings, striking out a career-high 16 with no walks while allowing just one unearned run on three hits.
How it Happened: After fielding her position for the first out of the bottom of the first inning, Kleist ripped off eight consecutive strikeouts while setting down the first 11 batters she faced. Through seven innings, Kleist had allowed just two baserunners on two singles with 13 strikeouts.More like Megan KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKleist.@MeganKleist ties for the third-most strikeouts in Oregon single-game history. Here's all 16 #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/uKJMXpVewC
— Oregon Softball (@OregonSB) February 18, 2018
The Ducks struggled at the plate against Ole Miss pitcher Kaitlin Lee (4-0), however, recording just three hits through the first seven innings. Back-to-back singles by Jenna Lilley and Shannon Rhodes to open the seventh inning put the Ducks in position to strike, but the next three batters were retired in order to force extras.
International tiebreaker rules were in effect after the seventh inning with the game being played in Mexico, meaning each inning started with the offensive team placing a runner on second base.
Oregon had two on with no outs in the eighth, but Ole Miss (6-2) got the lead runner at third on a bunt attempt, and a runner interference call on the play quickly gave UO two outs before a Haley Cruse liner to third ended the threat. Kleist struck out two in the bottom half and Gwen Svekis gunned down a runner trying to steal third to push the game to the ninth.
The Ducks again had two on with one out in the ninth but were unable to score and, after Kleist's 16th strikeout, Ole Miss snuck a single up the middle to score the runner who was placed on second and give Oregon its first loss of 2018.
In the Circle: Kleist's dominant outing capped a phenomenal weekend in Puerto Vallarta for the junior, who deservedly landed on the all-tournament team. In two starts, Kleist allowed no earned runs and just four hits over 15.1 innings while striking out 26 without surrendering a walk. Kleist's career-high 16 strikeouts against Ole Miss tie for the third-most in Oregon single-game history. She has not given up an earned run in 16.2 straight innings.
At the Plate: Lilley and Rhodes each finished 2-for-4 to account for Oregon's four hits in the game, and Rhodes just barely missed a go-ahead home run to straight-away center field in the ninth inning. Lilley, now riding a 13-game hitting streak, finished the weekend 8-for-12 (.667) with two doubles and a team-best seven RBIs to join Kleist on the all-tournament team along with Alexis Mack, who hit .417 (5-for-12) in four games with five runs scored. Mack had her impressive 15-game hitting streak snapped on Saturday.
Up Next: The Ducks will stay on the road for another loaded nonconference tournament next weekend as they travel to Cathedral, Calif., for the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic (Feb. 23-25).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kaitlin Lee (4-0)
L: Kleist, Megan (3-1)
Batting:
RBI: Elantra Cox 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Paige McKinney 1
CS: Bry Castro 1
