No. 17 Oregon Wins 17TH Straight

Ducks sweep tourney first day with 7-1 win over Hawaii.

Sophomore Melissa Rice won her eighth game in as many starts. Photo: goducks.com

HONOLULU - The No. 17-ranked University of Oregon softball team wrapped up Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Invitational opening day action with its second win Thursday, a 7-1 decision over host No. 24 Hawaii, at Wahine Stadium on the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus.

Oregon’s hitting attack was sparked by the top of its lineup as sophomore centerfield Sari-Jane Jenkins and freshman Jennifer Salling each had a pair of hits and RBI, while senior first baseman Kristi Leiter scored twice and also had a hit.

On the mound for UO, sophomore right-hander Melissa Rice notched a complete game and recorded four strikeouts, balanced by one hit and six walks.

The Colbert, Wash., native improved her record to 8-0 on the season in as many appearances.

“We played confidently and aggressively to get some great wins against two nationally ranked teams,” Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen said.

“We battled a little fatigue by getting in late last night, but it didn’t seem to effect us. We didn’t look incredibly sharp against Hawaii, but we still scored seven runs, so I’m very pleased. This was our toughest day of competition so far this season with both opponents in the hunt for their conference titles, not to mention playing Hawai’i on their home field.”

The Ducks opened with two runs in the bottom of the first first inning – the first on a on a single up the middle by Salling that scored Jenkins from second base.

Salling took second on the throw home, then moved to third on a subsequent force out. During the next at-bat, she scored on a wild pitch by starting pitcher Justine Smethurst.

In the second inning, UO extended its lead with four more runs – the first coming after an fielder’s choice by Suzi Barnes to the third baseman that led to an errant throw and scored catcher Amie Morris.

Jenkins followed with a two-run triple, and Salling added another RBI on a bunt play to score Jenkins.

By game’s end, Hawai’i had left eight runners on base with its biggest scoring threats in the early going. In the first inning, the Ducks made a pair of infield throwing errors with no outs to allow one run and leave two on base.

Rice responded with a strikeout, then forced a groundout to third base and a weak popup to the pitcher to end the inning.

The Rainbow offense made noise again in the third inning with a single and two walks, but Rice struck out shortstop Valana Manuma to end the inning with the bases loaded.

Hawaii’s Smethurst suffered the loss and dropped to 4-3 on the season after she gave up six earned runs on five hits in two innings.

Hawaii's second pitcher – Jessica Morton – gave up two hits and one earned run and struck out three in her four innings of duty.

Oregon (17-1) won its 17th straight game and second of the day after it opened with a 5-0 win in the morning over No. 23 Georgia.

“Nobody can focus on any specific player in our lineup,” Arendsen said, “and we hit all the way from top to bottom. There were some obvious people who had some big hits – Salling, Topps, Bryant – and it was good to see Joanna Gail continue to come on. (On the pitching mound, Alicia) Cook threw particularly well in the first game.”

Looking ahead to Friday’s second day action of the four-day tournament, the Ducks continue round robin play against St. Mary’s at 8:00 AM HT (10:00 AM PT) and Kent State at 10:00 AM HT (Noon PT).

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