Moore Douses No. 3 Sun Devils With One-Hitter

Sunday, April 10

Eugene, Ore.

11:00 AM

University of Oregon

30-8, 2-4

Arizona State

37-4, 4-2

Arizona State

OREGON

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

04/10/11 | Softball

Box Score

By: GoDucks.com

* A boxscore and play-by-play are located in the LINKS box to the right.

EUGENE - The No. 15 University of Oregon softball team (30-8, 2-4) handed No. 3 Arizona State (37-4, 4-2) – the nation's top hitting team - only its fourth loss of the season Sunday in the series finale at Howe Field.

In her ninth complete game of the season, sophomore Jessica Moore (15-4) struck out six, walked five and allowed no earned runs. Her only hit allowed was a ball hit to deep shortstop that was nearly fielded, but glanced off the latter player's glove into left field in the first inning.

In the fifth inning, junior Christie Nieto knocked in her third game-winning RBI of the season on a double to left center field, and drove in senior Monique Fuiava who had singled to open the inning.

Two batters later, Nieto came around to score when sophomore Kaylan Howard hit her first triple of the season to right center field, past a diving attempt by centerfielder Lesley Rogers.

ASU answered with a run in the top of the sixth inning. Leadoff batter Katelyn Boyd walked on a nine-pitch at-bat, advanced to second on a ground-out to shortstop, then scored on an error by the second baseman on a hard grounder through her legs.

Freshman Sun Devil starter Mackenzie Popescue (10-2) allowed three hits and two earned runs, struck out none, and walked none in her opening 4.2 innings of work. Freshman Dallas Escobedo pitched the final 1.1 innings, struck out two, and allowed no hits or walks.

Coming into Sunday's game, only one other team had held ASU to one run or less – then-No. 6 Michigan in a 1-0 win three weeks ago at Fullerton, Calif.

Earlier in the weekend, ASU won the first game, 2-0, on a seventh-inning homer by Boyd that broke a scoreless tie in the sixth. In Saturday's 10-5 Sun Devil win, UO tied the most runs allowed by an ASU opponent this season, while ASU's 10 runs slightly bettered its pre-weekend per-game average (8.76) that ranked second nationally.

Duck pitchers also held ASU hitters to a .233 clip for the series - far below its .380 mark that topped the nation this week.

For the three game-series, Fuiava paced UO starters in hitting (.429, 3-for-7), and five others topped .250 – seniors Ashley Kivett (1.000, 1-for-1) and Kaitlin Vitek (.333, 1-for-3), Nieto (.286, 2-for-7, 1 2B, 1 RBI) and Howard (2-for-7, 1 3B, 1 RBI).

On the mound vs. ASU, Moore staked a 1.00 ERA, struck out 11, walked nine, scattered four hits in 14 innings, notched two complete games and held opposing hitters to a paltry .087 hitting mark.

The returning All-Pac-10 Second Team pick also hiked her season strikeout total to 131 – the 10th-best mark in school history that passed Alicia Cook (125, 2007) – while last year's total (238) reset the school record.

UO's win Sunday was its sixth of the season against a top-20 team, and second in Pac-10 play after it beat No.6 Washington, 8-0, last Sunday and tied the largest win in the series rivalry

The opening month of the season, Oregon also topped then-No. 16 BYU (5-0), then-No. 19 Texas A&M (3-2), then-No. 9 Hawai'i (13-5, 5 innings) and then-No. 17 Louisiana-Lafayette (5-2).

Looking ahead, No. 15 UO travels to No. 9 California for single games, Friday-Sunday, April 15-17.

LINESCORE

#15 OREGON 2, #3 Arizona State 1 (Apr 10, 2011 at Eugene, Ore.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
#3 Arizona State.... 000 001 0 - 1 1 0 (37-4, 4-2 Pac-10)
#15 OREGON.......... 000 020 X - 2 3 2 (30-8, 2-4 Pac-10)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Arizona State - Popescue; Escobedo(5) and Goodman. OREGON - Moore, Jessica and Peterson, Alexa . Win-Moore, Jessica (15-4) Loss-Popescue(10-2) T-1:45 A-386. Weather: 54, cloudy, wind 0-2 mph.

- www.GoDucks.com -