Hot-Swinging Ducks Win Season Opener

Friday, February 8

Tempe, AZ

10:30 AM

University of Oregon

1-0

Kansas

0-1

Oregon

Kansas

02/08/19 | Softball

Box Score Box: Oregon 14, Kansas 5

By: Nate Krueger

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Oregon softball team came out swinging in its 2019 season opener on Friday afternoon, erupting for 14 runs on 13 hits and four home runs to beat Kansas, 14-5, in the opening game of the Kajikawa Classic at Farrington Stadium.

Oregon (1-0) scored at least one run in each inning and got big collegiate debuts from freshmen Hannah Galey and Rachel Cid to win its first game under new coach Melyssa Lombardi, who earned her first victory as a head coach.

The No. 25 Ducks will be back in action at approximately 4:30 p.m. PT against CSUN in the second of five games this weekend in Tempe.

How it Happened: Senior Cherish Burks opened the scoring for the Ducks in the top of the first, knocking a two-run single up the middle with two outs to give Oregon a 2-0 lead. After a 1-2-3 bottom half of the inning by starter Jordan Dail, Cid took advantage of back-to-back walks by Kansas and crushed a three-run bomb to dead centerfield for her first career home run.

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Sophomore Shaye Bowden picked up a run for the Ducks in the third, leading off the inning with a solo home run to left field. Dail continued to pitch well through three, striking out the side in the third, and Cid came through with an RBI single in the fourth to pick up her fourth RBI and make it 7-0, Ducks.

A double, wild pitch and RBI groundout gave Kansas its first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth, but Galey got it right back for the Ducks with a leadoff home run after a gritty 10-pitch at-bat. The freshman showed off her power again in the sixth, crushing a two-run homer to left field for her second round-tripper in as many innings.

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Kansas struck for four in the bottom of the sixth on a pair of two-run home runs to cut Oregon's lead to 10-5, but Oregon's offense responded once again in the next frame. Bowden drove in a run with an RBI fielder's choice, Burks followed with a hard line drive off the wall for a long RBI single and Galey capped a terrific collegiate debut with a two-run single up the middle. Sophomore Maddie MacGrandle came on to get the final four outs for the Ducks to lock up the opening day victory.

At the Plate: Galey finished 3-for-5 with two home runs and a game-high five RBIs, and Cid was 3-for-3 with four RBIs and two walks in a perfect day at the plate. Burks drove in three while going 3-for-5, Bowden finished with two hits and two RBIs and leadoff hitter Haley Cruse went 2-for-4 with a double. As a team, Oregon drew 10 total walks and did not strike out once.

In the Circle: Dail (below) was nearly untouchable for five innings before getting hurt by the long ball in the sixth, finishing with 10 strikeouts while allowing just four hits over 5.2 innings to earn her first win as a Duck. MacGrandle retired all four batters she faced, including a strikeout to end the game.

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What it Means: After an offseason of transition, Cruse said earlier in the week that the Ducks would be able to come out and "play loose" with "nothing to lose." Lombardi's squad did just that in a tremendous opening performance, and the first-year head coach picked up what figures to be the first of many victories at the helm of the Oregon softball program.

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