Hot Start Fuels Top-10 Win For Ducks

Saturday, April 6

Eugene, OR

5:00 PM

University of Oregon

21-13, 0

Washington

26-6, 0

Washington

Oregon

Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com

04/06/24 | Softball

Box Score Box Score: Oregon 9, UW 8 Photo Gallery

Oregon scored nine runs over the first two innings and held on to knock off Washington on Saturday and even the weekend series.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — It started 45 minutes late due to weather, and there was another 45-minute rain delay in the sixth inning. For the Oregon softball team and its fans, the result was worth the wait.

Facing a rival, a fellow contender in the Pac-12 and a top-10 team nationally, the Ducks got off to a fast start and then held off Washington's comeback attempt as the No. 24 Oregon softball team knocked off the No. 9 Huskies, 9-8, before a season-high crowd of 2,036 at Jane Sanders Stadium on Saturday. Vallery Wong homered during a four-run first inning and again during a five-run second for the Ducks, who will look to win the series Sunday afternoon.

"I thought these guys just stayed with it," UO coach Melyssa Lombardi said. "They've been great all year long; we've had to battle weather and they really understand how to stay locked in. That was a big win. For these guys to fight from start to finish, I loved it."

After scoring first in the four-run bottom of the first inning Saturday, the Ducks broke a 4-4 tie with their five-run second. Washington got within 9-8 in the sixth, before the second extended rain delay, but Morgan Scott got out of that inning once play resumed and then pitched around a one-out walk to close it out in the seventh.

"I think it means everything," said Scott, whose nine career saves are fifth in UO history. "It shows this team we can beat any top-10 opponent, but also someone in Pac. We just need to come out tomorrow and take the series. … I think it's just going to be a dog fight tomorrow."

Wong drove in four on her two home runs, and she now has four homers with 10 RBIs against UW over the last two seasons. Hanna Delgado and Ariel Carlson each also had two hits with a homer Saturday, as the top five hitters in the UO order combined to go 8-for-18 with nine runs and eight RBIs.

"Today was just a really gritty win," said Delgado, who has eight RBIs during a five-game hitting streak. "It was back and forth … but I think we pulled through and it was just what we were meant to do."

How It Happened: Elise Sokolsky got the start in the circle for Oregon, and the delayed first pitch was no bother as she struck out two in a 1-2-3 top of the first. In the bottom of the inning, Alyssa Daniell came up with two on and one out and, a day after Oregon was unable to capitalize on early opportunities, doubled to score both runners. Wong followed with her first homer of the game, and it was 4-0.

A three-run homer with one out in the top of the second followed by two walks brought Taylor Spencer (7-3) in to relieve Sokolsky, and the freshman allowed a game-tying single with two out before escaping the jam. The Ducks then rallied with two out in the bottom half — Kai Luschar singled for her 50th hit of the season, Delgado and Carlson hit back-to-back homers, Daniell walked and Wong greeted a new pitcher with her second home run.

"The Huskies are a rival of ours," Wong said. "So you've just got to make big plays, big moments against a team like that."

Washington got a run back in the third on a solo homer, and another with a two-out homer in the fifth that brought Scott on in place of Spencer. Scott stranded a runner in scoring position to end that inning, and after allowing two runs in the sixth, she got out of a bases-loaded jam to end that inning following the second rain delay.

"Even when I was younger, I kind of thrived in those situations," Scott said. "In high school that's what I wanted — I wanted those high-pressure moments. And it's only gotten higher in college."

Luschar walked and Delgado singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth, but the Ducks were unable to push across an insurance run. Scott made sure it didn't matter, protecting the 9-8 lead by allowing only a one-out walk in the seventh.

The Ducks improved to 3-5 this season against top-15 teams with the win. They also ended a three-game losing streak that began with the previous weekend's weather-shortened series at UCLA, in which the finale was canceled.

"Coming off last weekend, we just really didn't get what we wanted," Delgado said. "We were looking forward to that third game that got canceled. Coming into this week we were thinking, what can we do to get our momentum back, get our flow back? We just fought our hardest today to get that back."

The win got Oregon's record this season to 21-13 overall, and 8-5 in the Pac-12. A win Sunday would get the Ducks within a half-game of Washington for third place in the conference.

"It's huge," Lombardi said. "We want to win the Pac. We're right in the middle of it, so to split the series today gives us the opportunity to win it tomorrow. So it's huge for us."

Notable: Carlson's home run was the 38th of her career, fifth-most in UO history and one shy of Koral Costa, who hit 39 from 2013-16. … Carlson is the ninth player nationally to reach 10 home runs with 10 stolen bases this season, and the only one so far from the Pac-12. … Daniell's double in the first made her the fourth Duck this season with at least nine doubles. … Spencer's four strikeouts were a career high for the freshman.

Up Next: The Ducks and Huskies will play the series finale Sunday at noon.