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Jessica Moore didn't seem to have her usual electric stuff as she struggled with her control in her five innings of work. "I just didn't throw as well as I needed to," Jessica Moore said of her performance as th Ducks dropped the irst of a three game series against Nebraska, 5-2. Nebraska had a huge fifth inning and then survived a late charge by the Ducks to hand Oregon their first loss in Howe Field this season.
The Ducks weren't getting the breaks early, in the second inning they had runners on first and second with nobody down and a hard line drive from Kaylan Howard was snagged by second turning a potential RBI situation into a double play.
Oregon lived dangerously through the first four innings but wouldn't pay until the fifth when Moore ran into trouble and the Nebraska bats broke through. A single to center and then a line drive, grand slam off the bat of Brooke Thomason broke the game open to give Nebraska a 5-0 lead in the fifth inning. To this point, the Ducks had only mustered two hits and were unable to mount much of a scoring threat.
While Tatum Edwards was not overpowering, she pitched to contact and the Ducks were unable to find the gaps against her. They were able to get a runner in scoring position but a chopper that appeared to go off of Alexa Peterson's toe resulted in a double play and ended the Oregon's opportunity in the 6th.
Oregon remained resilient as they came in to the 7th and quickly loaded the bases with one down. Jessica Moore would get a run across at the expense of the second out of the inning. Koral Costa came to the plate next and when her hot shot to short popped out of the short stop's glove, things looked to be getting interesting with the Ducks only down three and the lead-off hitter Janie Takeda at the plate. The drama would end with Takeda as her soft liner was caught and ending the Ducks rally at 5-2.
Oregon and Nebraska play again tomorrow at noon and if the Ducks win that one will be right back at it at 3 PM to conclude the super regional. "This game is about inches, the inch on the home run, the inch on the line drive it''s just one of those breaks...are we down? We're dangerous now. We have got to come out and we have got to work hard to win that game." Coach Mike White said previewing a bit of tomorrow's matchup in retrospect of the loss.