No. 8 Tigers Take Super Regional With 7-2 Win

Sunday, May 30

Columbia, Mo.

10:00 AM

University of Oregon

36-21

Missouri

51-11

Missouri

Oregon

05/30/10 | Softball

Box Score

By: GoDucks.com

* A boxscore and play-by-play are located in the LINKS box to the right, and updated season and career stats are available via the link above.

COLUMBIA, Mo. - In its first-ever Super Regional appearance, the No. 20-ranked University of Oregon softball team (36-21) wrapped up its season Sunday with a 7-2 loss to host and No. 8-ranked Missouri (51-11).

The NCAA tourney's ninth-seeded Tigers scored twice in the first inning, once in the fourth, and four more times in the sixth en route to its fifth straight postseason win and a return to the Women's College World Series.

The Oregon offense combined on eight hits Sunday and scored single runs in the first and fifth innings, courtesy of errant throw by the second baseman and a sacrifice fly by freshman left fielder Allie Burger, respectively.

“Today came down to execution,” Oregon head coach Mike White said. “Missouri made the most of their chances and capitalized on our mistakes. It's a tough way to lose, and our pitchers didn't hit their corners consistently. This game comes down to a little bit of luck and breaks, and we failed to capitalize on some chances in the middle innings. We didn't put the pressure back on the pitcher and made too many easy outs.”

At the plate for UO, five Ducks hit safely, led by senior centerfielder Neena Bryant's season-high three hits (3-for-4). Senior designated player Carlyn Re added a 2-for-3 day, and three others collected hits – Burger (1-for-3, 1 RBI), freshman second baseman Kaylan Howard (1-for-3) and sophomore shortstop Kelsey Chambers (1-for-3).

“I'm so proud of my teammates, no matter if we win or lose,” Re said. “We always believed in each other, even down to the last strike, and we had so many comebacks to be proud of this year. Unfortunately we didn't pull this one out, but this is a season I will always remember.”

With Sunday's effort, Bryant made her final move up the Duck all-time career category in at-bats (fourth, 694), and also ended top 10 in RBI (second, 144), doubles (third-tie, 38), stolen bases (third, 71), games played (fourth, 233), hits (fifth, 217), runs (sixth, 122) and batting average (10th, .313)

For comparison's sake on the Oregon all-time season list, freshman right fielder Samantha Pappas ended her debut campaign ranked top 10 in RBI (third, 48), total bases (seventh, 107), slugging (seventh, .641) and homers (eighth-tied, 11).

On the mound Sunday, Duck freshman Jessica Moore (16-13) started the game, struck out one, walked none, allowed five hits, and two of her three runs allowed were earned.

The Sutter, Calif., native upped her school season strikeout record to 238 (in 192 innings this year) – 35 better than the previous mark set by White's former pupil Amy Harris in 2005 (203 strikeouts in 231.2 innings). On other all-time UO charts, Moore's 16 victories and 32 starts in 2010 were both one shy of the 10th-best marks in a season (17 / 32).

UO's other three pitchers Sunday all pitched 1.1 innings, and their stats follow: sophomores Mikayla Endicott (0 strikeouts, 1 walk, 1 hit) and Samantha Skillingstad (2 strikeouts, 0 walks, 3 hits, 3 earned runs) and junior Brittany Rumfelt (1 strikeout, 2 walks, 1 hit, 1 unearned run).

Missouri scored twice in the first inning to go up 2-0, thanks to a single off the top of the center field wall, an infield fielder's choice that netted no outs, a passed ball, and another single up the middle.

The Tigers added a run in the fourth inning when left fielder Lisa Simmons hit her second homer of the season over the right field wall to make it 3-1.

In the sixth inning, after Skillingstad opened the inning with a pair of strikeouts, MU scored its final four runs all with two outs. All-Big 12 Second team pick Nicole Hudson started the scoring with a homer to right field, and was followed by a single, double, walk, infield error by the first baseman, and walk before a foul-out to right field ended the inning.

For Missouri, sophomore starting pitcher Kristin Nottelman (24-7) notched her second complete game in as many days, struck out four, walked none, scattered eight hits, and one of her two runs allowed were earned.

At the plate for MU, Rhea Taylor (1-for-5) finally connected on her first hit of the series in her last at-bat after an 0-for-3 day Saturday. The junior centerfielder entered the series ranked fifth and seventh nationally in stolen bases (45) and hitting (.457), and respectively, added two swipes to the former total Sunday.

Five other Tiger hitters hit safely, and three had multiple hits – Ashley Fleming (3-for-3, 2 RBI), Hudson (2-for-5, 1 RBI) and Lisa Simmons (2-for-2, 1 RBI).

Earlier in the series, Big 12 tournament runner-up Missouri won 1-0 Saturday on an unearned run and spoiled an otherwise great pitching effort by Moore who pitched her 14th complete game of the season, struck out five, allowed only four hits and walked none.

Sunday's game capped up one of UO's greatest seasons in recent memory. The Ducks'
eight wins in the 'Conference of Champions' were its most since it won 10 in 2003 and '04. Oregon also beat five different Pac-10 teams this season – No. 1 Washington, No. 3 Arizona, No. 9 Arizona State, No. 13 California (3 times), OSU (twice) – for the first time since topping all seven rivals in '04.

Among those victories, UO beat a top-ranked team for the first time since 2004, staked a pair of ninth-inning comebacks in its first ever sweep of No. 14 California, won the Oregon State series for the first time since 2007, and also topped No. 9 Arizona State for the first time since '07. Oregon also beat five other NCAA qualifiers during the non-conference slate in Hawai'i (4-3),Creighton (8-2), Long Island (3-1), Notre Dame (4-1), and then-No. 19 Texas A&M (4-0).

Last weekend, Oregon's 14th postseason trip (and 12th in NCAA tournament play) began with a 3-0 mark in the NCAA regional in Atlanta with wins over the tourney's eighth seed and No. 7-ranked Georgia Tech, 11-2 and 4-3 in five and eight innings, respectively, and Auburn, 1-0.

“Just like all season, we fought the whole way today,” Burger said, “We never got down one inning because we knew we could come back. Even that seventh inning we were still fighting, getting people on base and in scoring position. That's just the type of team we are.”

More importantly, UO's 36 wins in '10 under the guidance of the first-year mentor White more than doubled its number (16) from '09.

Stat-wise, White's widely-respected reputation as a pitching guru was again well-deserved as Duck hurlers reset the school record under his tutelage with their 470 K's in 381.2 innings, compared with the former mark (394, 432.2 innings) set by his 2004 staff when he served as an assistant coach. UO's hitters also posted the second-highest batting (.299) and slugging (.466) totals in school history in 2010.

Oregon also said farewell to two senior starters from Sunday's game – Bryant and Re – and three other seniors in Hannah Barril, Shelley Deadmond and Blair Williams, but will welcome a talented four-person newcomer class in 2011 that includes junior Christie Nieto and freshmen Courtney Ceo, Kailee Cuico, and Alexa Peterson.

Looking ahead to later this week, Missouri will play the tourney's No. 16 seed Hawai'i Thursday in opening day action in the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, with the tournament running through Thursday, June 9. More information on the NCAA tournament is available at the www.NCAAsports.com website.

LINESCORE

#8 Missouri 7, #20 Oregon 2 (May 30, 2010 at Columbia, Mo.)
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Missouri............ 200 104 0 - 7 10 2 (51-11)
Oregon.............. 100 010 0 - 2 8 2 (36-21)
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Pitchers: Missouri - Nottelmann and Christopher. Oregon - Moore, Jessica; Endicott, Mikayla(4);
Skillingstad, Sam(5); Rumfelt, Brittany(6) and Kivett, Ashley. Win-Nottelmann(24-7) Loss-Moore, Jessica(16-13) T-2:38 A-1487. HR MISSOURI - Hudson; Simmons. Weather: 83, Overcast, W: SE at 7 mph. Moore, J faced 1 batter in the 4th.