University of Oregon
19-3
Iowa
7-15
Oregon Sneaks by Iowa, 2-1
03/08/15 | Softball
FULLERTON, Calif. – The No. 2 Oregon softball team sneaked by Iowa on Sunday, in its first game of the double header with a 2-1 win.
How It Happened: After walking the leadoff batter, followed by back-to-back singles to load the bases, Karissa Hovinga was relieved by Jasmine Smithson-Willett in the circle in the bottom of the first.
Smithson-Willett plated the first run for Iowa (7-15) after drilling the first batter she faced, but was able to settle down and get out of the inning allowing just one run.
Oregon (19-3) tied things up at one apiece after Gwen Svekis and Koral Costa got on base to lead off the second inning. Svekis crossed the plate after back-to-back sacrifice bunts from Sammie Puentes and Nikki Udria.
Janie Takeda hit into a fielder's choice for the first out of third inning and immediately stole second after catching the Iowa pitcher not paying attention. She would then steal third on the next pitch before scoring on a single to left from Janelle Lindvall to put Oregon on top 2-1.
Smithson-Willett found her groove in the bottom of the third after putting runners on second and third with no outs. The junior righty would get a pair of strikeouts and a fly out to right to end the Iowa threat.
Iowa threatened once again in the bottom of the fourth, putting runners on second and third after a leadoff single and double. Smithson-Willett would get two outs before being relieved by Cheridan Hawkins who struck out the lone batter she faced to end the inning.
Oregon had Svekis on second with two outs in the top of the sixth, but Iowa's Shayla Starkenburg was able to get Costa swinging to end the inning.
Hawkins would once again close the door in relief and collected her sixth save of the season as her and Smithson-Willett combined to pitch seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts between the two.
Up Next: The Ducks will immediately play Long Beach State to conclude the Judi Garman Classic after the Iowa with a schedule time of 11:30 a.m. (PT).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Smithson-Willett, Jasmine (1-0)
L: Starkenburg (5-9)
S: Hawkins, Cheridan (6)
Batting:
2B: Svekis, Gwen 1
RBI: Lindvall, Janelle 1 ; Udria, Nikki 1
SH: Puentes, Sammie 1 ; Udria, Nikki 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Takeda, Janie 1 ; Svekis, Gwen 1
SB: Takeda, Janie 3
Batting:
2B: Blank 1 ; Mullarkey 1
RBI: Blank 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Fritsch 1
HBP: Blank 1
