Oregon's Andrea Vidlund was 4-for-4 at the plate with a pair of home runs
and five runs batted in to pace the Ducks offense to a 9-2 victory over
Louisiana-Lafayette and force a second game for a berth in the Women's
College World Series on Saturday at the Titan Softball Complex.
Louisiana-Lafayette falls to 46-9 overall while Oregon improved to 37-18
overall. The two teams will meet in a second game at approximately 4:05
p.m. PDT.
Oregon capitalized on Louisiana-Lafayette's first loss of the day when
ace pitcher Brookw Mitchell left the game after just three batters due
to injury. Mitchell hit Oregon's Amber Hutchison to lead off the game,
got Lynsey Haij on the sacrifice attempt and surrendered her first walk
of the regional to Beth Boskovich to put two on base before leaving.
Afton Thoms, making her first-ever postseason appearance, was brought
in to relieve Mitchell and face Vidlund, who sent the first pitch she
saw from Thoms over the left field fence for a 3-0 Ducks lead.
Oregon added another run in the second when, with two outs, Hutchison
singled and was driven home on an RBI single by Haij, extending the advantage
to 4-0.
Crystal George got the Ragin' Cajuns on the board in their half of the
second inning with an RBI single to right, scoring Lauren Castle, who
singled with one out earlier in the frame, cutting the deficit to 4-1.
The Ducks threatened in the third, loading the bases with two outs and
plating a run when an attempted pickoff throw sailed past the third baseman
and into left field, scoring Vidlund for the 5-1 lead.
Oregon opened the floodgates in the fourth with Vidlund's second home
run of the day, a two-run shot to left for the 7-1 advantage and added
another pair in the fifth on another error by the Ragin' Cajuns' defense
and an RBI fielder's choice by Haij.
Louisiana-Lafayette scored its second run of the game on an RBI double
by George in the fourth.
Amy Harris (16-14) earned the win in relief, throwing 3 1/3 innings of
two-hit ball with a walk and nine strikeouts. Anissa Meashintubby started
and allowed an earned run on four hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Mitchell (25-7) suffered the loss, responsible for two runs before leaving
with a walk.
