On Friday night the Ducks continued to do what they know how to do best. Win.
Freshman Maggie Balint went the distance in Oregon’s 5-1 victory over Cal at Jane Sanders Stadium.
“There’s some things we need to work on,” said head coach Mike White following the game. “But coming away with the win is what it’s all about.”
The freshman got the nod in the team’s conference opener and didn’t disappoint.
Cal took the early 1-0 lead in the second inning on an Alleah Laxamana sacrifice fly. That’s all the scoring the Beats got off of Balint, who improved to 12-0 with the win.
“The nerves come because it’s better competition,” said Balint. “My team was awesome and supportive. I’m excited for the rest of this weekend.”
Oregon bounced right back in the bottom half of the second after surrendering the early 1-0 lead. A sac-fly from Lauren Lindvall and RBI single off the bat of Alexis Mack turned out to be all the offense the Ducks needed.
But that’s not the mindset the No. 3 Ducks have. Balint retired the Golden Bears in order in a quick top of the third inning to get her teammates back in the dugout. The Ducks would respond – Danica Mercado and Gwen Svekis would lead off the inning with back-to-back singles. Mercado then came home on a groundout from Jenna Lilley, before Svekis got a free pass home on a balk from Cal.
“It wasn’t very clean this game,” said White. “We didn’t let the mistakes roll over into some big innings.”
Svekis provided the Ducks with their fifth and final run of the game with a solo home run – her fourth of the season – over the left field fence. Balint would slam the door shut in the final two innings of the game, retiring 6 straight to snuff any attempt by Cal to get back into the game.
“The least amount of pitches I can throw in the sixth and seventh [innings] is good for my team,” said Balint.
Just as impressive as her clean 1-2-3 innings was Balint’s ability to navigate around some trouble throughout the night. Balint came up with a big strikeout of Danielle Bowers in the second inning to prevent Cal from growing their early lead. The Golden Bears would get two hits apiece in the fourth and fifth innings, but with nothing to show on the scoreboard.
The Ducks look to make it 2-0 in Pac-12 play — and 26-0 on the season — when they take on Cal in the second game of the series on Saturday.
“This is another half to the season,” said White on Pac-12 play. “That’s the way we’re looking at it.”
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