Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 March 25, 2008
Game 1: Oregon 7, UC Davis 3
Game 2: Oregon 2, UC Davis 0
EUGENE, Ore. - Junior right-hander Melissa Rice fired a four-hit shutout to lead Oregon to a 2-0 win over UC Davis in the nightcap of a Cascade Clash women's softball doubleheader at Howe Field Tuesday afternoon. The Ducks also picked up a 7-3 win over the Aggies earlier in the day.
UC Davis falls to 15-18 for the season. Oregon, winner of 11 straight, improves to 25-11 overall.
The Aggies totalled four hits in each of the two games. Sophomore Erin Emde and junior Deanna Menapace each finished the day with a single and a double, while sophomore outfielder Michelle Espiritu collected two singles. Junior Jessica Hancock went the distance in Game 1, allowing six hits and just one earned run while fanning five UO batters through seven innings of work.
Sophomore center fielder Neena Bryant provided the Ducks with the bulk of their offense in the two wins. She hit 3-for-3 with two solo home runs in the opener, then went 2-for-3 with a double in Game 2. Rice retired 10 straight Aggie batters early in her shutout victory in the nightcap, while Alicia Cook struck out six to post her fifth consecutive win in Game 1.
In Tueday's opener, the Ducks scored five runs in the sixth inning to erase a brief UC Davis lead en route to the 7-3 win. Bryant had opened the scoring with a solo shot in the first inning, then followed with another solo homer in the fourth to lift Oregon to a 2-0 edge. The Aggies tied the game in the top of the fifth inning as Sarah Axelson walked and Lindsey Jones reached on an error with no outs. Axelson scored on a force out off the bat of pinch hitter Ashley Johnson, then Menapace then drove in Johnson on a double to left center, evening the tally at 2-2.
UC Davis took a 3-2 lead in the sixth as second baseman Julie Stauder scored on Cook's wild pitch. But Oregon answered in the bottom half of the frame, capitalizing on two Aggie errors for a five-hit, five-run inning. With no outs, Bryant rapped a bases-loaded single to tie the game. Then again with the bases full, Lovena Chaput cleared the table on a combination of a single to left and a second UC Davis miscue. Third baseman Joanna Gail extended the lead to 7-3 with her RBI single later in the rally.
Despite a hit and stolen base by right fielder Michelle Espiritu in the seventh, UC Davis was unable to push across any runs in the seventh, shipping the opening victory to the Ducks.
In Game 2, Bryant sent an RBI double to left to put Oregon on the board, but a bases-loaded groundout back to Hancock ended any further offensive threat. Gail led off the fourth inning with a solo homer to right center to conclude the Ducks' scoring for the day. Hancock retired the next eight UO batters, but the Aggies could not cut into the lead, stranding a runner in the fifth and two in the sixth.
UC Davis returns to California for a road doubleheader at Stanford on Wednesday, then comes home on Saturday to begin Big West Conference play in a three-game series with Long Beach State.
GAME #1
| UC Davis (15-17) | 000 | 021 | 0 | - | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Oregon (24-11) | 000 | 000 | 0 | - | 0 | 4 | 1 |
Alex Holmes and Deanna Menapace. Alicia Cook and Ashley Kivett. Win - Rice (10-7). Loss - Holmes (5-8). Hitters - UC Davis: Deanna Menapace 1x4, 2B, RBI; Julie Stauder 1x3; Erin Emde 1x1, 2B; Michelle Espiritu 1x3. Oregon: Cortney Kivett 1x3; Neena Bryant 3x3, 2 HR, 3 RBI; Lovena Chaput 1x3, 2 RBI; Joanna Gail 1x3, RBI; Ashley Kivett, 1x2.
GAME #2
| UC Davis (15-18) | 000 | 000 | 0 | - | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Oregon (25-11) | 100 | 100 | X | - | 2 | 6 | 0 |
Jessica Hancock and Ashley Johnson. Melissa Rice and Amie Morris. Win - Rice (11-4). Loss - Hancock (10-10). Hitters - UC Davis: Michelle Espiritu 1x3; Deanna Menapace 1x3; Ashley Johnson 1x3, 2B; Erin Emde 1x2. Oregon: Neena Bryant 2x3, 2B, RBI; Monique Fuiava 1x3; Joanna Gail 3x3, HR, RBI.
