#3 Bruins Blank Ducks, 6-0

Sunday, April 19

Eugene, Ore.

12:00 PM

University of Oregon

13-26, 2-10

UCLA

32-8, 7-4

UCLA

OREGON

Photo by: GoDucks.com

04/19/09 | Softball

Box Score

By: GoDucks.com

* A boxscore and play-by-play is located in the LINKS box to the right, and a more detailed recap will be posted shortly.

EUGENE - The No. 3 UCLA softball team validated its ranking as one of the nation's top teams with its sixth straight league win, a 6-0 decision over the University of Oregon Sunday afternoon at Howe Field.

The Ducks (13-26, 2-10) surrendered single runs in each of the first three innings, then allowed the final three runs on a three-run homer by Kaila Shull in the sixth.

Oregon freshman Samantha Skillingstad (10-10) started the game and struck out two, walked two, allowed seven hits, and all six of the runs allowed in her 5 1/3 innings were earned.

UO senior Melissa Rice came into the game in the sixth inning, and immediately struck out her first batter en route to 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, walked none and allowed two hits.

Oregon's defense earned its share of applause from a season-high home crowd of 429 thanks to a leaping grab over the wall by senior left fielder Sari-Jane Jenkins. The Salem, Ore., native robbed Julie Burney of her ninth homer of the season with a runner on first base and no outs in the top of the fourth inning. A batter later, UO turned its eighth double play of the season - 4-6-3 - on a grounder by designated player Dani Yudin.

“Every outfielder dreams of making a catch that brings back a home run," Jenkins said. "It's my job as an outfielder to give it my all, especially when Sam's out there throwing as well as she is. I owed it to her. ... As a team, we made a lot of mistakes today, but we need to move on and not dwell on them. We need to go back to making this game simple, focus on the good things, learn from the bad things, and grow as a team.”

For No. 3 UCLA (32-8, 7-4), staff ace Megan Langenfeld (8-0) earned the win for her 3 1/2 innings of relief, and allowed UO's only hit to junior Neena Bryant with two outs in the sixth inning. Overall, Langenfeld struck out two, walked none and allowed no runs.

Bruin starter Donna Kerr pitched the opening 2 2/3 innings, and re-entered in the seventh inning to get all three outs. In her 3 2/3 innings combined, she struck out six, walked three and allowed no hits or runs.

The Placentia, Calif., native Bryant stole her team-high 24th base of the season after her single - tying her for sixth all-time in a season for UO. Career-wise she moved into sole position for fourth all-time for Oregon with her 61 swipes in three seasons (behind Jenkins (first, 90), Kim Manning, (second, 72) and former teammate Suzie Barnes (third, 71)).

UO's best opportunity to score came in the third inning when it had the bases loaded with two outs after sophomore Ashley Kivett was hit by a pitch and Jenkins and sophomore Cortney Kivett walked, but an infield ground-out ended the inning.

For UCLA, six batters hit safely, and two had multiple hits - Langenfeld (3-for-4, 1 run, 1 RBI) and Amanda Kamekona (2-for-4, 1 run).

"UCLA showed they can swing the bat, so it was nice to see Melissa come in and pitch well," Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen said. "Our upperclass players like Sari and Melissa showed their maturity today, and even Carlyn (Re), after she made an uncharacteristic error, shook it off and showed our younger players what it's all about. I was pleased with our defense mostly - the double play is something we've been turning routinely in practice - so to see it in a game was nice but not unexpected."

For the season, Bryant continues to pace the Ducks in hitting (.344), hits (42) and RBI (25), and is followed by Jenkins in the former two categories (.328, 41 hits). In Pac-10 play, Bryant and Jenkins are again 1-2 for UO in hitting - .250 (9-of-36) and .242 (8-of-33). Earlier in the weekend, Bryant helped extend UO's longest current hit streak (4) with 1-for-3 days vs. No. 4 Washington and UCLA, the latter of which featured her sixth homer of the season (second-most for the Ducks in '09).

Looking ahead, UO plays its final non-conference games Wednesday, April 22 at Portland State in a doubleheader that starts at 2 p.m. at Irv Lind Park. Oregon then resumes Pac-10 play against another pair of highly-ranked Pac-10 foes with contests at No. 2 Stanford, Friday, April 24 at 7 p.m., and at No. 14 California, Saturday and Sunday, April 25-26, at 1 p.m. and noon, respectively.

LINESCORE

UCLA 6, OREGON 0 (Apr 19, 2009 at Eugene, Ore.)
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UCLA................ 111 003 0 - 6 9 0 (32-8, 7-4 Pac-10)
OREGON.............. 000 000 0 - 0 1 3 (13-26, 2-10 Pac-10)
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Pitchers: UCLA - Kerr; Langenfeld(4) and Shull. OREGON - Skillingstad, Sam; Rice, Melissa(6)
and Vitek, Kaitlin.
Win-Langenfeld(8-0) Loss-Skillingstad, Sam(10-10) T-1:58 A-429
HR UCLA - Schroeder, K; Langenfeld (4); Shull (9).
Weather: 73, sunny, wind 1-3 mph

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