Ducks Live To Fight Another Day
NORMAN, Okla. — The Ducks live to fight another day.
Hours after dropping a game at the Norman Regional to host Oklahoma, the Oregon softball team bounced back with an 8-2 victory Saturday night over Boston University in an elimination game at Love's Field. The Ducks (30-20) advanced to the regional final Sunday, and will need to beat the Sooners twice in order to make their second straight Super Regional.
All that mattered Saturday evening was bouncing back from the loss to OU earlier in the day. The Ducks got homers from KK Humphreys and Katie Flannery and a solid start from Morgan Scott (10-9), nearly run-ruling the Terriers in five innings for the second time in two days before surrendering a couple of late runs.
But the end result was at least one more day of the 2024 Oregon softball season Sunday, after the rebound Saturday against BU.
"Any time we need a bounce back, we always bounce back," UO coach Melyssa Lombardi said. "That's just what this team is about and what they do, and I love that about them."
How It Happened: Though the better seed in the regional, Oregon was the visiting team for Saturday night's matchup and was retired in order to open the game. Scott, making her second start of the day, pitched around a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning.
Vallery Wong reached on an error to lead off the second, advancing to second base. Flannery bunted her over to third, and an RBI double by Alyssa Daniell gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead.
Scott continued to blank the Terriers through the third, and Oregon busted it open in the fourth. Wong again reached to open the inning, this time on a single, and Flannery followed with another base hit. Two batters later, Humphreys blasted a three-run home run — one day after her sister, Sierra, homered for Central Florida in an NCAA regional win over Auburn.
"I means everything to me," Oregon's Humphreys said. "Being able to watch her — being away from her, it's gonna get me emotional, but she just means the world to me. She's so far, so it's hard for me. But just to see her succeed and all the hard work she puts in, it just makes me so proud to be her big sister."
After Scott pitched around an error in the bottom of the fourth, Oregon put itself in position to win in five innings. Emma Kauf singled to open the top of the fifth, and two batters later the Ducks went up 6-0 on a two-run home run by Flannery, their second baseman who is just a freshman.
"The nerves are definitely there, this whole weekend," Flannery said. "But just leaning on my teammates helped me. I tried to just make things simple that last at-bat — just see ball, hit ball — so obviously that makes it easier."
With two outs, Humphreys and Tehya Bird singled, and an error put both in scoring position. Paige Sinicki followed with a two-run single for an 8-0 lead.
The Ducks were two outs way from a run-rule win, after BU put two on with one out in the fifth. Elise Sokolsky replaced Scott in the circle and retired the next two batters to end the inning, but the second out was a sacrifice fly that extended the game.
The Terriers added another run in the sixth before the Ducks closed out the victory, setting up a rematch Sunday with Oklahoma — and potentially two.
"I just think we need to clean a couple things up," Lombardi said. "I think some things were self-inflicted that made things bigger, earlier today, so it's just us coming out tomorrow and just playing our best ball. Playing free and just going about it the way we know how to go about it."
Notable: Oregon's 13 hits were one shy of the school record in an NCAA Tournament game. … With her homer against Oklahoma, Ariel Carlson tied the UO single-season record for extra-base hits of 31, matching the mark held by Kaylan Howard (2012) and Katie Mackey (1999). … Carlson's home run was her 16th of the year, tying her for fourth with DJ Sanders (2018) and Andrea Vidlund (2003). It was Carlson's 44th career home run. … Carlson's RBI was her 55th of the season, tying her for fifth on the single-season list with Nikki Udria (2016) and Kailee Cuico (2014).
Up Next: The Ducks face Oklahoma with their season on the line Sunday (noon PT, ESPN+).