The Ducks are no longer perfect at home.
In front of a sold out home crowd at Howe Field, the No. 3-seeded Ducks faced up against No. 14-seeded Nebraska and came away empty handed in the opening game of the Eugene Super Regional as they fell 5-2.
Not only do the Ducks now need to win back-t0-back games tomorrow in order to advance to the College World Series in Oklahoma City, they will also need to get better production from their batters as they continued their struggles on the offensive side of the ball this evening. With home field advantage and veteran experience, the Ducks should be able to bounce back, but they will need to do it quick as they get set to play tomorrow afternoon.
To begin the game, the Ducks had a great chance to take an early lead as Janie Takeda doubled to lead-off the first inning. Though the Ducks failed to convert any runs on the inning, Takeda set up some good early offense to get the Ducks going on offense. Following the great opening offensive sequence for the Ducks in the first inning, the Ducks came out in the bottom of the second with a similar scenario as they had runners on first and second. Kailee Cuico stepped up to the plate to try and bring home some runs, but after a great running catch by Hailey Decker of Nebraska, the Ducks found themselves without runs heading into the third inning.
“The fact that we got out of that first inning without a run was huge for us,” Nebraska coach Rhonda Rezvelle said after the win. “I just felt like it was two teams that had great will and both teams fought really well.”
After both teams went scoreless for the first four innings, the course of the game dramatically changed in the top of the fifth inning in favor of Nebraska. With one out and the bases loaded for the Cornhuskers, Gabby Banda stepped up to the plate and recorded an RBI single to bring in the first run of the game. Following Banda would be the key play of the game as Brooke Thomason took the plate with the bases loaded and two outs remaining.
Thomason has been one of the better batters in the Nebraska lineup this season with a .333 batting average and proved it today as she blasted a grand slam to give her team a commanding 5-0 lead heading into the sixth inning. Not only did this put a time crunch on the Ducks to score, it also gave the Huskers an eventual 1-0 series lead. The Ducks had been the team coming up with big time home runs, but it was the Cornhuskers this time, as they came up with just enough offense to grab the win.
“We’re fortunate that Brooke got a hold of a ball — we had runners on and we got a few runs out of that,” coach Revelle said. “Oregon kept fighting until the very end, and there was never a comfortable moment.”
Heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Ducks had one last chance to make a late game comeback. With the bases loaded and two outs remaining, Jessica Moore stepped up to the plate and recorded an RBI single to bring home Samantha Pappas for the first Oregon score of the game. Koral Costa would bring in another runner after recording another RBI single for the Ducks, but it just wouldn’t be enough as the Ducks fell short in game one.
After the game, Moore seemed confident about tomorrow, but also very disappointed in her performance this evening.
“My performance just wasn’t good enough for my team to come out with a win,” Moore said after the game. “Defense is playing great behind me, I just didn’t show up and throw as well as I needed to.”
Aside from giving up the grand slam home run, the Ducks should be proud of the way they played on defense. Alongside a combined six strikeouts coming from Moore and Karissa Hovinga, who came in the top of the sixth inning, outfielder Allie Burger had the throw of the game to home in the top of the third inning to prevent a Cornhusker run.
The Ducks’ problems lied more on the offensive side of the ball as they continue to bat in short strides rather than come up with consistent hits. This has been a recurring theme for the Ducks this postseason and though it hasn’t come back to bite them until now, the Ducks will need to bat better tomorrow afternoon if they wish to come out of this series alive.
“Congratulations to Nebraska, I think they played very well today and took most of their opportunities,” Oregon head coach Mike White after the loss. “Of course the big blow was the grand slam and I think that was the turning point in the game for sure. We could have capitalized early on a bit, but we didn’t get the big hit again — just a little bit too little, too late. Hopefully we can make adjustments tomorrow against whoever they pitch and capitalize on some of the opportunities we’re creating.”
Turning point: After going scoreless in the first four innings, the grand slam from Thomason late in the fifth inning simply ended the game. Despite the Ducks making a mini-run late in the seventh inning, the Cornhuskers had the game in the bag after the big hit and it could potentially be the hit of the series if the Ducks fail to come up with a win in game two tomorrow.
On the horizon: The Ducks must now turnaround and face the Cornhuskers tomorrow in game two of the Eugene Super Regional. Game time is set for 12 p.m., and if the Ducks win game two, a third and final game will be scheduled for 3 p.m. For all news and recaps following the game, check back here with the Emerald.