Oregon Ducks Softball: UCLA Prevails 5-2

The Oregon Ducks ladies batted better than yesterday, but could not fully take advantage of the Bruins’ 3 errors and left 6 on base en route to their second loss of this series. UCLA has now won 23 games in a row and shows no signs of cooling off.

Oregon started Jordan Dail today against Holly Azevedo for UCLA.

Dail ran into trouble from the first inning, giving up Delanie Wisz home run on the heels of Briana Perex double, ending the inning in an immediate 2-0 hole.

Both sides were quiet in the 2nd, and then Oregon attempted to catch up some ground in the third. KK Humphreys singled, Kai Luschar singled to the shortstop, but was safe after a throwing error which allowed Humphreys to advance to third. Luschar stole second, and then UCLA brought in Megan Faraimo to pitch against Allee Bunker. Bunker grounded out to the shortstop, but scored Humphreys, and then Luschar was out at home after rounding third base. And that’s all that Faraimo would pitch in this game.

In the bottom of the third, the Bruins popped a single up the middle and stole second before Wisz hit a single down the right field line, tacking on yet another RBI. After Dail struck out the next batter, Oregon brought in Makenna Kliethermes for relief, and she notched the final out of the inning. The Ducks were now down 3-1.

Holly Azevedo went to the circle again for UCLA, and would pitch the rest of the game. Azevedo kept the Oregon offense quiet and then Faraimo hit a single as the leadoff hitter, followed by Seneca Curo home run, putting the Bruins up 5-1, and essentially putting this game out of reach. In the fifth, Hannah Delgado scored the Ducks’ only other run, and Azevedo and Kliethermes kept their respective opponents off the board, but UCLA already had the commanding lead to close out the game to its final score of 5-2.

Holly Azevedo (13-1) took the win over Jordan Dail (7-4). The Oregon offense did marginally better than yesterday, but only half the lineup picked up one hit with no one getting more than the single hit.

The Ducks have tomorrow to try and avoid the UCLA sweep, but the Bruins’ 23 game win streak only serves to underscore just how difficult that will be. Oregon will need to take this weekend’s lessons to heart and improve ahead of a challenging Pac-12 season.

The final game of the Oregon/UCLA series will be tomorrow, 4/3/22, at 12:00 pm PT. The game can be viewed on the Pac-12 Network.