Ducks open Pac-12 play with series win thanks to 5-2 victory over Cal on Saturday

EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon opened Pac-12 with a series win over No. 17 California at Jane Sanders Stadium this weekend. The Ducks split Friday's double-header, winning the second on a Vallery Wong walk-off single, before taking Saturday's deciding game 5-2 to finish the first weekend of conference play with a winning record.

The series was originally scheduled to be played from Friday to Sunday, but due to weather concerns, Sunday’s game was moved to create a doubleheader on Friday.

Game 1: California 11, Oregon 5

Stevie Hansen got the start for the Ducks (14-9, 2-1) in game one and got to work quickly, sitting down the top of the Cal (21-4, 1-2) lineup one-two-three in the top of the first inning. In the bottom of the frame, Ariel Carlson sent her fifth home run of the season off the scoreboard in right field to give Oregon an early 1-0 lead.

Cal answered in the top of the third, as Kyndal Todd and Hope Alley sent back-to-back solo shots over the fence in center and left field to give the Bears a 2-1 lead.

The Bears added three more runs in the fourth when Hansen hit a batter before surrendering another pair of back-to-back homers to end her day. She only allowed four hits in her 3.1 innings, but unfortunately, all four left the ballpark. She was replaced by Taylour Spencer, who, with the help of an incredible throw from Carlson in right field, got out of the inning without allowing any more runs.

Spencer surrendered a leadoff single to start the fifth before quickly getting two outs on three pitches. She hit the next batter, setting up Cal’s Elon Butler to send her second ball over the fence, bringing home another three runs. Raegan Breedlove then came in to replace Spencer, only needing one pitch to record the final out.

Breedlove managed a clean sixth while Oregon’s offense added one run to cut the lead to five when Kai Luschar was hit by a pitch and advanced to third on an error where she was brought home on a Carlson’s sac fly.

The Bears immediately loaded the bases in the seventh with a walk and a pair of singles, setting up Butler to bring home her sixth run of the day on a sac fly. Elise Sokolsky came in to replace Breedlove but let another run come home on a wild pitch.

Oregon’s offense tried to get a rally going in the bottom of the inning, needing eight runs to try to put the game into extra innings. Emma Kauf reached base on an error and came around to score on Paige Sinicki’s single two batters later. Luschar then singled and Hanna Delgado was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Luschar scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead to five but Carlson went down swinging to end the rally and secure Cal’s first Pac-12 win of the year.

Game 2: Oregon 4, California 3

Game two started the exact same way as game one, with Morgan Scott pitching a scoreless top of the first and Carlson sending one over the fence, this time to right-center, to put the Ducks up 1-0 in the bottom of the inning.

Scott picked up her second and third looking strikeouts in a 1-2-3 second inning and erased a leadoff single in the third, stranding the runner at second base. Oregon added their second run in the bottom half of the inning when Tehya Bird walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on Luschar’s infield single, and scored when Luschar was caught attempting to steal second.

Carlson led off the bottom of the fourth with a double down the right-field line and advanced to third on KK Humphreys’ groundout to the pitcher. Kauf then blooped a base hit into shallow left field, scoring Carlson from third, but was thrown at second trying to stretch the single into a double, ending the inning.

Cal put their first runs on the board in the fifth, plating two with a double and three singles before an incredible throw from Luschar in left field cut down a runner at home, ending the inning before the Bears could tie the game.

“Our outfield, they work on their throws all the time at practice,” head coach, Melyssa Lombardi said. “It was awesome to see the things they do at practice really show up.”

Scott got two quick outs to start the sixth before giving up a walk and a double to tie the score at 3-3. She then walked the next two batters on a total of eight pitches, loading the bases and ending her day as Spencer would enter in relief. She quickly got the third out to end the inning, leaving three potential runs on base.

“I thought Morgan threw well,” said Lombardi. “She was mixing speeds, different levels, and then just got to the point where we sometimes just need to make a change and I thought Taylour [Spencer] came in and really just stayed strong with it…What they did collectively gave us opportunity.”

It was a pitcher duel from there, as Cal’s Randi Roelling entered with two on and two out in the sixth and forced Humphreys to fly out to end the inning, and both pitchers exchanged one-two-three innings in the seventh, sending the game to extra innings.

Spencer forced two quick outs to start the eighth before giving up a single and a double to put two runners in scoring position. She dialed back in to strike out the next batter on three pitches, ending the inning and stranding both runners.

“I just think she’s a fierce competitor,” Lombardi said of Spencer. “She’s not fearful of anything and she embraces the moment, and you get to see that. She fought and just kept giving us opportunities to win the game.”

Paige Sinicki drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the frame, advancing to second on Luschar’s sac bunt. Lombardi went to her bench, calling on Kedre Luschar to pinch-hit for Delgado but she struck out on three pitches, bringing Carlson to the plate with two outs, only needing a single to send the Ducks home with a win.

Carlson battled, working the count to 2-2. On the fifth pitch, she sent the ball sailing down the right-field line. The crowd roared, thinking that Carlson had just hit a walk-off home run, but the ball went just foul, missing the foul pole by no more than three feet. Carlson took another pitch to bring the count to full and on the seventh pitch, checked her swing and was called out by the third base umpire, much to the chagrin of the Oregon crowd as the inning ended.

“It was close either way,” Carlson said about the controversial check swing. “I personally didn’t [think I went around], but it doesn’t matter because it all worked out.

Spencer quickly forced a grounder to Humphreys at second to start the ninth before Lagi Quiroga roped a double into left field. Kaylee Pond followed with a single to advance Quiroga to third and put two runners on base. On the next pitch, Acacia Anders chopped a weak ground ball to first baseman, Alyssa Daniell, who made the heads-up play, throwing home to keep the game tied at three. With two runners still on, Spencer struck out the next batter swinging to end the inning.

“It’s amazing having her out there, she brings a lot of energy,” Carlson said of Spencer. “It’s very easy to feed off of her and keep the momentum on our side when she’s out there.”

Keeping the momentum from her incredible defensive play, Daniell led off the bottom of the ninth with a single through the middle of the infield. Humphreys then bunted her over to second before Kauf popped up on the first pitch for the second out, bringing up Vallery Wong.

Wong was hitless in her first five plate appearances on Friday but didn’t let that derail her confidence. After taking the first pitch for a ball, she roped a line drive over the head of the center fielder, bringing Daniell around to score to give the Ducks the walk-off win.

“I’m a very confident hitter,” Wong said. “I know what I can do and I just go up there and keep it simple, and just try to see-ball hit-ball.”

“To watch these guys just fight and battle together, from the first all the way to the ninth inning, it’s pretty remarkable,” said Lombardi

While Wong was the hero on Friday, Oregon wouldn’t have been able to get the win without an impressive performance from Carlson across both games. She finished the day 3-for-6, scoring three times and driving in three runs, including her team-leading fifth and sixth homers.

“See-ball hit-ball,” Carlson said was her approach on Friday. “Just as simple as possible, that’s when I’m at my best.”

Game 3: Oregon 5, California 2

Oregon continued with their impressive defensive effort to start game three on Saturday. Elise Sokolsky gave up a leadoff single to Cal’s Tatum Anzaldo and the Bears decided to lay down a sacrifice bunt to move her into scoring position. Lagi Quiroga laid down a successful bunt, moving Anzaldo over to second, but with third base uncovered due to the infield playing in to cover the bunt, Anzaldo thought she could take an extra base. Luckily for the Ducks, third baseman, Katie Flannery recognized what was happening and ran back to cover the base, tagging Anzaldo out to secure the double-play and erase the baserunner.

“We always talk about defense wins championships, and you can see that our defense is really, really talented,” Lombardi said. “I thought our defense set the tone for the game today.”

“They got the runner on, they had the bunt, we threw the runner out at first, and then they kept trying to go to third and we were able to throw her out at third. That was a humungous momentum shift for them [Cal] and seeing the momentum go from them to us. From there we just carried the momentum the rest of the way.”

Ariel Carlson and Emma Kauf each picked up a single in the first two innings but couldn’t get any help and were both left stranded.

Sokolsky sat Cal down in order in the second inning but found herself in trouble in the third, even with Emma Kauf gunning down a runner trying to steal second, loading the bases while surrendering three singles and a walk. With the bases loaded and two down, she got the flyball she needed, with Kai Luschar securing the catch in left to end the inning.

The Ducks kept their momentum going into the bottom half of the inning, playing small ball to score two in the frame. Luschar and Carlson both singled before executing a double steal to put them both in scoring position. Daniell then laid down a perfect squeeze bunt, bringing Luschar home to score. Wong drew a walk to load the bases, allowing Humphreys to bring Carlson on a deep sac fly to center field.

“You can just tell the other team gets nervous when most of our team gets on base because we all create chaos,” Luschar said of Oregon’s excellent base running.

“I think for us as a team, we’ve got to understand that whatever the game is asking for, we can give it,” Lombardi said. “Today it was asking for small ball and those were the things that we needed, and we were able to come through.”

“One thing that we do know is that we have speed… Whether it’s driving somebody in and using our speed to run around the bases, but then also too, when we do have to go to small ball, that we have the speed to do that as well.

Sokolsky walked the first batter of the fourth inning on four pitches pitches, ending her day. Lombardi went to Morgan Scott out of the bullpen who gave up a single to her first batter to put two runners on. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners over and a sacrifice fly brought home a run, though Scott would force a lineout to first from the next batter to end the inning and preserve Oregon’s lead.

Kauf reached on an error to start the bottom of the fourth and was pinch-run for by Ayanna Shaw, who moved over to second on Sinicki’s sac bunt. Delgado walked on a full count and Luschar singled up the middle to load the bases for the Ducks with only one out. Cal’s catcher, Lagi Quiroga tried to catch Shaw taking a lead at third but sailed the throw into left field, allowing Shaw to come home to score and moving Delgado and Luschar into scoring position. After Carlson went down swinging, a wild pitch gave Delgado the opportunity to race home to score, giving the Ducks a three-run lead.

“Today, I asked her specifically, ‘Hanna I want to put you in the nine, and I want to see if you can have the ability to flip out lineup over,’ and she did,” Lombardi said of Delgado, who normally hits towards the top of the Oregon lineup. “That was huge in the end of the game, her flipping our lineup, that was really, really big, so I love what she’s doing and thought she had a really good day.”

Scott worked a one-two-three inning in the top of the fifth, picking up her first strikeout in the process. Oregon’s offense kept cooking, with Kauf, Flannery, and Delgado all singling in the bottom of the inning. Delgado’s single brought Kauf home to score, but she got a bit greedy and was thrown out trying to turn her single into a double, ending the inning with the Ducks leading 5-1.

After two quick outs to start the sixth, Elon Butler took Scott deep for her third home run of the series. Scott didn’t let that phase her, as she quickly forced a popup on her next pitch to get out number three.

The top of Oregon’s lineup went down in order in the bottom of the sixth, setting up Scott to seal the win in the seventh. She out the first batter before forcing a groundout to short for the second out of the inning. With Cal down to their last out, D’Auna Johnson pinch-hit and singled up the middle to keep the Bears alive and bring the top of the order back up. Scott never faltered and after three pitches got another grounder to short, where Sinicki fielded the ball and threw to Daniell at first to end the game.

After allowing eight hits and three runs on Friday, Scott was locked in all day on Saturday. After she entered in relief, Cal’s offense couldn’t get anything going except Butler’s solo homer. Scott finished Saturday allowing only one run on three hits in her four innings, striking out two while walking none.

“I think I had more command [more than yesterday], my ball was moving a lot more, and I just knew I wasn’t gonna let them in,” Scott said.

“I thought she attacked the zone,” Lombardi said of Scott. “You could see she wasn’t throwing as hard today but I thought she had good movement. They hit the bomb, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got the runs on the board, just reset. That’s what I think I was most impressed with her, just the ability to reset after that and just go get the last out.”

“My whole mentality this year, because it is my last year, is I don’t care,” Scott said of her ability to recover from Butler’s homer. “It doesn’t matter, it wasn’t gonna affect anything that I was doing at that point.”

After coming into the weekend unranked but receiving votes, a series win over the No. 17 team in the country will give the Ducks a good chance to find their way back into the top 25.

Oregon is now 2-1 to start conference play, and after losing the first game on Friday, never found themselves down and out, fighting to win an electric second game in extra innings before clinching the series on Saturday.

“You have to have the ability to reset,” Lombardi said. “You just have to let it go. I believe if we did not let that first game go, I don’t think we would’ve come out on top in the second game, I think we would’ve put ourselves in a hole. So, the fact that they were able to let it go and know that we still have an opportunity to win the series.”

“This was a big weekend for us. This is a weekend that I think we needed, just collectively as a group, to really get to see the type of fight that we have, and our ability to have our backs against the wall and just see how we respond.”

The Ducks continue their conference schedule next weekend when they head to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Utes for three games that will be their first true road test of the season