Pac-10 Softball: Beavers McGowan Tosses 1-Hitter vs Cal

McGowan breezed through the Cal batters en route to her school record 36th career shutout victory.

Senior Brianne McGowan threw a 1-hitter on Thursday as the Beavers dominated Cal, 10-0 in five innings. Photo: OSU Athletics

BERKELEY, Calif. - Oregon State’s offense came alive and Brianne McGowan dominated in the circle as the No. 15 ranked Beavers rolled past California, 10-0 in five innings, in Thursday’s Pac-10 softball action.

The victory marked the first time in Oregon State history that the Beavers have won three games in the regular season series against the Golden Bears.

The win was also the largest for Oregon State in the history of the series.

McGowan breezed through the California (32-29; 6-13 Pac-10) batters en route to her school record 36th career shutout victory.

It was all Oregon State (37-21; 8-11 Pac-10) from the start.

The Beavers took advantage of a pair of first inning walks and used a single up-the-middle by McGowan to push a pair of runs across the plate.

OSU batted around the order in the top of the second, scoring six runs on five hits in the frame to make the score 8-0.

All of the Beavers were getting in on the action and a three-run blast over the center field fence by sophomore Stefanie Ewing capped off the scoring. Ewing’s shot to straight-away center field was her fifth home run of the season.

The Beavers extended the lead to 9-0 in the top of the fourth when McGowan lined a ball off the glove of California reliever Brittany LaRosa that scored Mia Longfellow.

The Golden Bears broke-up McGowan’s bid for a perfect game in the bottom of the fourth as Alex Sutton was hit by a pitch to lead-off the inning.

Ericka Racklin then followed with an infield single for Cal’s first hit of the day. McGowan settled in and worked her way out of the inning, retiring two straight with the bases loaded to retain the shutout.

OSU scored their 10th run of the game when Sherina Galvan started the fifth inning with a double to right-center field and crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly from freshman Dani Chisholm.

Beaver second baseman Paige Lowe made several spectacular plays on the afternoon, snagging a pair of line drives early in the game and then keeping the shutout by making a diving stop in the bottom of the fifth.

Eight different Beaver players picked up hits in the game with Longfellow going 2-for-2 from the plate with two runs scored.

Oregon State wraps up the regular season against No. 16 Stanford. The Beavers and Cardinal will square-off on Friday with a 7:00 PM start and close out action on Saturday at 1:00 PM.

GAME RESULTS:

No. 15 Oregon State – 260 11 – 10 9 2

California – 000 00 – 0 1 2

McGowan and Ewing (OSU), Drewrey, LaRosa (2) and Meyer (CAL). Win – McGowan (21-12). Loss – Drewrey (11-6). HR – Ewing (OSU). 2B – Galvan (OSU).

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