Former Oregon softball star Jessica Moore was Team USA’s starting pitcher against Japan on July 14 in the championship game of the General Tire World Cup of Softball, held in Oklahoma City. Moore was tagged with the loss, however, giving up six runs in 3.2 innings. The final score was 6-3.
Moore’s previous start went much smoother, to say the least. Against Australia, the right-hander threw a complete game shutout, giving up just one hit. She also struck out four as the U.S. National Team won 4-0.
Moore just finished her historic four-year career with the Ducks. She holds Oregon softball records for wins (100) and strikeouts (915), and boasts a 2.08 career ERA. This past season, Moore was a First Team All-American and was named the PAC-12 Pitcher of the Year.
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The watch list for the Biletnikoff Award, given out annually to the nation’s most outstanding wide receiver, was announced earlier on Tuesday. Ducks senior wideout Josh Huff is one of the 75 receivers on that list.
The award is named after Fred Biletnikoff, who was an All-American receiver for Florida State and played his entire Hall of Fame professional career with the Oakland Raiders. USC’s Marquis Lee won the award last season and is on this year’s watch list.
Huff led all Oregon players in 2012 with 493 receiving yards and 7 touchdown receptions. Only De’Anthony Thomas (45) had more receptions than Huff’s 32.
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Oakland’s Yoenis Cespedes won the Home Run Derby last night in New York’s Citi Field, sealing the victory over Washington’s Bryce Harper with a 455-foot blast to center field. The A’s slugger hit 32 home runs in the contest, which tied him for the third highest total in Home Run Derby history. Only Bobby Abreu in 2005 (41 total HRs) and Josh Hamilton in 2008 (35) have hit more. Cespedes also mashed his way to third place on the all-time list for most homers in a single Derby round, with 17 in the first. Again, only Hamilton (28 HRs) and Abreu (24) have ever hit more in a single round.
Cespedes, 27, didn’t hit the longest blast of the night, though. Detroit’s Prince Fielder took that crown with a 483-foot moonshot in the first round. Harper took second place in this category, as well, with a 471-foot bomb.
Of the eight Derby participants, Cespedes is the only one who isn’t on either of the rosters for tonight’s All-Star game. The Cuban defector has 15 HRs, a .223 batting average and a .293 on-base percentage this season.