Oregon Ducks Softball: Oregon Evens The Cardinal Series 5-1

Oregon started Makenna Kliethermes today vs. Tatum Boyd for the Cardinal. Once again, Kliethermes punched in a great pitching performance and was backed by a Ducks offense that stung Stanford, winning the second game of the series 5-1.

Today showed none of the control issues that had plagued Kliethermes this year.

Oregon hit the Cardinal early. In the first inning, Terra McGowan hit an early single and was brought home by an Allee Bunker triple.

Enough cannot be said about Kliethermes’ pitching today. She allowed only 4 hits in 5.2 innings and gave up what would be a meaningless late Stanford run. Today might have been her best outing of the conference play and it’s coming at just the right time, going into postseason play.

Oregon backed up Kliethermes’ pitching with timely offense. In the second inning, after singles by Tehya Bird and Jasmine Williams, Paige Sinicki reached base on a fielder’s choice. That brought a Terra McGowan single that scored Williams.

The Ducks were not done scoring. A Hannah Delgado 2-RBI single took Oregon up 4-0.

In the third inning, Ariel Carlson and KK Humphreys would single, and Carlson’s steal at home put the Ducks up 5-0.

Meanwhile, Kliethermes continued her masterful pitching in this game.

Kliethermes was aided by some great defense, such as this grab by Paige Sinicki.

After Stanford hit a meaningless run in the bottom of the sixth, Jordan Dail relieved Kliethermes and completely shut down the Cardinal.

The Oregon Ducks, after looking rather shaky in being in the top-25, are finally showing life when it counts. Today was a complete performance, and bodes well looking to the postseason. Tomorrow, the Ducks really need to seal the series win and go into the postseason on a solid note.

The Oregon Ducks play their final game of the Stanford series tomorrow, 5/8/22, at 12:00 pm PT. That game can be watched on the Pac-12 Network.