The winds were howling and the rain was pouring, yet on Saturday versus Arizona, the Ducks remained steady.
It took extra effort on Sunday to complete the game, in which No. 5 Oregon beat No. 9 Arizona on a wild pitch that allowed Shannon Rhodes to trot home to win the game for the Ducks.
The rain proved to be too much for the game to finish on Saturday with the Ducks leading the Wildcats 5-0 through five innings. Oregon went on to complete the game on Sunday, beating Arizona 8-0 in six innings ahead of the third and final game of the series.
Gwen Svekis didn’t waste any time following up her two home-run performance on Friday night. The senior delivered a two-out RBI single to bring home Jenna Lilley to put the Ducks up 1-0.
Oregon continued the two-out rally. Mary Iakopo followed Svekis with an RBI single of her own. Iakopo advanced to second and Svekis scored on a throwing error by Ashleigh Hughes to give Oregon the 2-0 lead. Eugene native Lauren Burke then brought the crowd to its feet with an RBI triple to left center to drive home Iakopo and give Oregon the 3-0 lead.
As the Ducks’ two catchers, Svekis and Iakopo have been complementing each other all season on the defensive side of the ball. On Saturday, though, it was their bats that especially worked well together.
After the duo hit back-to-back singles in the first inning, Svekis and Iakopo smoked back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the Ducks up, 4-0. The Ducks made it 5-0 as Lauren Lindvall singled, scoring Cherish Burks.
Miranda Elish had 10 strikeouts through the five innings.
But, the rain and wind proved to be too much for the game to finish on Saturday and the final bits of the game would be played on Sunday.
The Ducks took care of business quickly with Elish returning to the circle to strike out three batters in the sixth while allowing a two-out double.
In the bottom half of the inning, Oregon finished things off with Rhodes’ walk-off wild pitch as the Ducks run-ruled Arizona 8-0.
Oregon and Arizona faced a quick turnaround with the next game starting at 3 p.m.
Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow and Cole Kundich @ckundich
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