Last year, No. 6 Oregon opened up the season with 14 consecutive victories. But on the second day of the 2016 season, it proved history would not repeat itself.
Playing on the second day of the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona, Oregon (3-1) earned its third win of the season with a 7-2 victory over Maryland before falling to No. 17 Kentucky in a drama-filled 8-6 loss.
Game: 1 OREGON 7 — Maryland 2
It wasn’t the typical game for the Ducks. For the first time this year, they found themselves trailing in a game. Geri Ann Glasco, Oregon’s pitcher, surrendered two runs in the second inning to Maryland. But before the Terrapins could add to the lead, Glasco got back-to-back strikeouts to end the rally.
The Ducks showed fight in the third inning and threatened with two on and one out until Nikki Udria was thrown out at home.
The score remained stuck at 2-0 in favor of Maryland until Oregon’s offense exploded for seven runs to put the game away.
Janelle Lindvall started the inning with a double before Gwen Svekis singled her home to get the Ducks on the board. After an out was recorded, Koral Costa and Lauren Lindvall each singled to load the bases for Udria. Udria gave the Ducks the lead when she hit a two-RBI single to right field.
After a Maryland pitching change, Alyssa Gillespie kept the scoring going for Oregon with a two-RBI double that gave Oregon a 5-2 lead. The Ducks added the final two runs of the inning on two Maryland errors, allowing Gillespie and Jenna Lilley to score.
Freshman pitcher Megan Kleist, who repealed Glasco in the fifth inning, earned her team-leading second victory of the year while Udria and Gillespie each added two hits and two RBI’s.
Game 2: KENTUCKY 8 — Oregon 6
In Oregon’s first nationally ranked matchup of the season, the Ducks failed to pass the test.
The Ducks sent ace pitcher Cheridan Hawkins, one of the top pitchers in the nation, into the pitcher’s circle and two pitches proved to be her demise in the third inning. Hawkins every bit as dominant as advertised as she had two perfect innings in the first and second with five strikeouts before running into trouble.
Hawkins gave up a leadoff homerun to put Oregon behind but that was just the beginning of the trouble. Kentucky loaded the bases with two walks and a bunt but Hawkins was able to get two outs during that time. Facing her seventh batter of the inning, Hawkins gave up a grand slam that put the Ducks in a 5-0 hole. She ended Kentucky’s rally by striking out the next batter.
Oregon looked poise to respond in the bottom half of its inning when Glasco led off with a double. A strikeout and two groundouts in the next three batters ended the Ducks’ rally.
Hawkins came out for the fourth inning and continued to struggle, walking the first two batters, and prompting head coach Mike White to make a pitching change. Glasco entered the pitcher’s circle and ended the Wildcats rally by retiring the next three batters to end the inning.
Oregon finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning when Lilley led off with a double and the bases were later loaded after a Janelle was hit by a pitch and Svekis singled. With one out, Koral Costa was hit by a pitch that scored Lilley and kept the bases loaded but Glasco lined into a double play to end the inning.
Kentucky added a run in the fifth inning off Glasco but Udria got the run back for Oregon in the bottom half of the inning when she hit a solo blast over the center field fence, her first homerun of the year.
In the sixth inning, Glasco gave up two runs when she allowed to run string doubles in the inning to give Kentucky an 8-2 lead.
Not to be outdone, Oregon rallied in the bottom half of the inning by taking advantage of two Kentucky errors. After Costa and Sammie Puentes reached on errors by the shortstop, Udria stepped to the plate. With one swing of the bat, she cut Oregon’s deficit in half as she sent a ball over the right center fence for a three-run homerun.
Kentucky went down in order in the top of the seventh, giving the Ducks one last chance.
Decker started the inning with a solo homerun, cutting the Oregon deficit to two, 8-6. After a lineout, Svekis and Costa singled to give the Ducks a chance. Both runners advanced a base after Glasco grounded out to the shortstop for the second out of the inning. Made Bishop then pinch hit for Puentes and grounded out to the pitcher to end the game.
Udria and Svekis both had two hits for the Ducks while Udria added four RBI’s.
Oregon returns to action tomorrow to face Northwestern and Boston College in back-to-back games, starting at 10:15 a.m.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka