Galey, Sievers Power 5-0 Ducks Past Seattle

Sunday, February 10

Tempe, AZ

8:00 AM

University of Oregon

5-0

Seattle

1-4

Seattle U

Oregon

02/10/19 | Softball

Box Score Box: Oregon 8, Seattle 6

By: Nate Krueger

TEMPE, Ariz. – Freshmen Hannah Galey and Jasmine Sievers both hit clutch home runs and combined for six RBIs on Sunday to lift the Oregon softball team to an 8-6 comeback victory over Seattle U in the Ducks' final game of the Kajikawa Classic at Farrington Stadium.

Trailing 5-3 with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Galey gave the Ducks the lead with a three-run home run and Sievers followed with a two-run blast of her own to put Oregon on top for good.

With the win, the No. 25 Ducks finished a perfect 5-0 in Tempe and put an exclamation point on a tremendous opening weekend under new head coach Melyssa Lombardi.

How it Happened: Seattle (1-4) jumped out to a 2-0 lead with runs in the second and third innings, with the first coming on a solo home run and the second on a wild pitch with the bases loaded. Oregon did a good job to limit the damage early on, with starter Jordan Dail striking out two to leave the bases loaded in the first and Shaye Bowden throwing out a runner trying to steal to end the second.

Sievers, making her collegiate debut after missing the first four games with an injury, started the third inning with a single and came around to score on an RBI base hit by classmate Rachel Cid. Bowden then tied the game at 2-2 with an RBI triple into the right field corner.

Seattle responded with three runs in the fourth on a three-run homer after an error gave the Redhawks extra life, but Sievers got one right back for the Ducks in the bottom half with an RBI single to score Galey.

The Redhawks appeared set to get through the bottom of the fifth unscathed, but an error on a grounder to second kept Oregon alive. A walk by April Utecht brought Galey to the plate representing the go-ahead run, and the freshman blasted a three-run homer to left-center to put Oregon ahead. Fellow freshman Lexi Wagner followed with a double to chase SU starter Carley Nance, and Sievers capped a tremendous debut with a two-run shot to left center to make it a three-run ballgame.

Seattle threatened in the sixth with a pair of leadoff walks before scoring a run on a double play, but Dail kept the Redhawks off the board the rest of the way to send Oregon back to Eugene with a perfect 5-0 record.

At the Plate: Sievers was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored in her first game, and Galey notched her third homer of the weekend while finishing 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a walk. Wagner, Bowden, Allee Bunker and Haley Cruse all had two hits, and Cid finished 1-for-4 with an RBI.

In the Circle: Dail allowed only two earned runs on five hits with six strikeouts over 5.2 total innings, sandwiched around a relief appearance by Maddie MacGrandle (2-0). Dail left the game after the fourth-inning home run to give way to MacGrandle, who allowed one run over 1.1 innings to earn the win. Dail re-entered after a leadoff walk to start the sixth and pitched the rest of the way to cap a solid first weekend as a Duck. The transfer from Virginia Tech finished the weekend 3-0 with a 2.51 ERA while racking up 26 strikeouts in 22.1 innings.

Big Offensive Weekend: The Ducks outscored their opponents 53-20 in their first five games under Lombardi, hitting .389 as a team with 33 walks to just 18 strikeouts. Bowden hit an even .500 (9-for-18) through the first five games to lead the way, and Cid posted a .471 mark with three home runs and a team-high 10 RBIs. Galey is tied with Cid for the team lead with three home runs while hitting .400 and driving in nine, and senior Cherish Burks quietly got off to a .471 start with eight singles. Cruse, Bunker and Wagner all hit better than .350 for the weekend.

What it Means: The Ducks put an offseason of transition immediately in the rearview mirror, getting Lombardi's first season off to as good of a start as they could have hoped for. Oregon showed great fight against Seattle to come from behind and finish the weekend undefeated, and will look to take that toughness on the road again next weekend when the Ducks travel to Clearwater, Fla., for the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational.

Up Next: Oregon will play four games against four high-quality opponents next weekend in Clearwater, beginning Friday with games against No. 11 LSU and No. 23 James Madison. The Ducks will face Florida Atlantic and No. 13 Kentucky on Saturday to wrap the weekend.