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The Pac-12’s baseball standings showed Oregon and Washington State to be on level ground at 7-5 entering a three-game series to close out this week. For one night, at least, there was a huge gulf between the Ducks and Cougars. Oregon got seven shutout innings from Tommy Thorpe, scored 11 runs in the first six innings and played errorless defense to beat WSU 11-1 at PK Park on Thursday. The No. 23 Ducks (29-10, 8-5 Pac-12) now find themselves tied with UCLA in third place in the conference, entering two more against Washington State on Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.
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A little piece of history was made Thursday, when the Oregon softball team played at home for the first time as the No. 1 team in the nation. The Ducks rose to No. 1 a week ago, before playing a series at Oregon State. They then became the unanimous top-ranked team in the country — garnering every first-place vote in both major polls — earlier this week, prior to hosting California this weekend at Howe Field. The Ducks did just that in sweeping the Beavers last week, and they remained unburdened by the pressure of their No. 1 ranking Thursday. Oregon’s first five batters of the game scored, and starting pitcher Cheridan Hawkins improved to 23-3 on the season as the Ducks run-ruled the Golden Bears 9-1 in five innings. Oregon (38-5, 12-1 Pac-12) chased the opposing starting pitcher in the first inning for the second straight game, and won by the eight-run rule for the third time in a row. They play again today at 4 p.m.
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Senior Isabelle Batayola and junior Dani Gilmore both doubled, but the Oregon State softball team came up short in its attempt to upset No. 2 UCLA Thursday evening, as the Bruins took an 8-4 victory in Los Angeles. Batayola came close to recording her first career home run, but the ball bounced off the wall to end up as an RBI double. She finished the day 2-for-3 with a run. Gilmore’s double plated three runs in the seventh-inning, bringing her total to 25 RBIs on the season. Junior Kori Nishitomi went 2-for-4 with a run, while freshman Alexis Gonzalez tallied two walks and a run in the contest. Junior Ya Garcia recorded a hit and a run, freshman Kylie Padilla, freshman Amee Aarhus, and junior CJ Chirichigno finished with one hit apiece. The Bruins (37-4, 10-3 Pac-12) jumped in front right from the start with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Oregon State (13-24, 3-11) pulled one back in the top of the second, as Gonzalez walked, before advancing on a single from Padilla. Batayola then smoked a liner off the top of the wall to score Gonzalez, cutting the edge to one. UCLA bounced back with a run in the bottom of the second, however, to stretch the lead back to two.