Bryant & Vitek Homer in #3 UCLA's 9-2 Win

Saturday, April 18

Eugene, Ore

1:00 PM

University of Oregon

13-25, 2-9

UCLA

31-8, 6-4

UCLA

OREGON

04/18/09 | Softball

Box Score

By: GoDucks.com

* A boxscore and play-by-play is located in the LINKS box to the right, and a link to updated season/careers stats is available above.

EUGENE - Junior Neena Bryant and sophomore Kaitlin Vitek hit their sixth and second homers of the season Saturday at Howe Field, but No. 3 UCLA came away with a 9-2 win over the University of Oregon in the teams' first softball meeting of 2009.

For Oregon (13-25, 2-9), senior Melissa Rice pitched the first four innings of the game, then also got the final out in her second start the last three games, and fifth overall this season.

Overall, the Colville, Wash., native Rice struck out two, walked one, allowed seven hits, and all five of her runs allowed were earned in her 117th career appearance - seventh-most career-wise among Duck pitchers.

Sophomore Brittany Rumfelt pitched the other 2 2/3 innings, struck out none, walked two, and all four of her runs allowed were earned.

Junior Carlyn Re collected UO's third hit of the day in the fifth inning, two batters after Vitek's blast and forced UCLA to bring in pitcher Megan Langenfeld with a 5-2 lead and only one out.

The Bruin star pitcher promptly got freshman Lindsey Chambers to hit a shallow liner that the first baseman dived to barely catch, and a quick throw to first base capped the double play since the runner failed to tag.

Bryant's homer in the first inning was her team-best third in Pac-10 action, and second in three games after she also homered vs. Oregon State the week before. The Placentia, Calif., native now has 26 career home runs and is tied for fifth all-time for UO with former Duck Lindsey Welch.

The Valencia, Calif, native Vitek made her first plate appearances in two weeks and also threw out her fourth base runner of the season Saturday to end the fifth inning - the same number this season as fellow sophomore catcher Ashley Kivett who gunned two Huskies down on Friday

“I wasn't nervous at-bat,” Vitek said. “I hadn't been performing so I knew I needed to take advantage of the opportunity, and try to lift the team's spirits. ... We didn't keep our energy up today and felt a little flat. We need to work on our attitude, and we know we can get that positive energy right back tomorrow. (On the mound) Melissa (Rice) was on it ? she showed good command of her dropball, and her change-up was effective.”

Ultimately for UCLA (31-8, 6-4), starting pitcher Whitney Baker (9-2) was credited with the win, while Langenfeld posted her third save of the year and struck out two in her final 2 1/3 innings of work.

At the plate, eight of UCLA's starters hit safely, and four had multiple hits - Katie Schroeder (3-for-5, 1 run, 1 RBI), Langenfeld (2-for-4, 1 run), Gionna DiSalvatore (2-for-3, 2 runs) and Monica Harrison (2-for-, 1 RBI).

UCLA tied the game, 1-1, in the second inning on Julie Burney's single down the right field line. She added three more runs in the fifth on a three-run homer - her eighth of the season - and UCLA added single runs on a Schroeder homer in the fifth inning and a Harrison single in the sixth.

The Bruins put three more runs on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh on a two-out, 2 RBI single by Dani Yudin that was followed by another RBI single by Harrison.

Earlier in the weekend on Friday, UCLA had beaten Oregon State, 8-1, in Corvallis, while No. 4 Washington edged UO, 3-0.

Looking ahead, UO returns to Howe Field Sunday, April 19 to host No. 3 UCLA at noon for a ?Crowd Howe' day to help support the environment, with the price of each ticket donated to the Eugene Tree Foundation.

LINESCORE

UCLA 9, OREGON 2 (Apr 18, 2009 at Eugene, Ore.)
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UCLA................ 010 311 3 - 9 14 0 (31-8, 6-4 Pac-10)
OREGON.............. 100 010 0 - 2 3 1 (13-25, 2-9 Pac-10)
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Pitchers: UCLA - Baker; Langenfeld(5) and Shull. OREGON - Rice, Melissa; Rumfelt, Brittany(5)
and Kivett, Ashley; Vitek, Kaitlin.
Win-Baker(9-2) Loss-Rice, Melissa(0-6) T-1:52 A-340
HR UCLA - Schroeder, K; Burney (8).
HR ORE - Bryant, Neena (6); Vitek, Kaitlin (2).
Weather: 67, sunny, wind 2-4 mph
Rice faced 1 batter in the 5th.