Despite being down early, the Oregon Ducks found their Offensive rhythm against Arizona State, winning 11-6 to open the Women’s College World Series.
Last weekend, Oregon Starter Megan Kleist struggled in the Oregon Ducks first of three games against Kentucky. Miranda Elish came in to finish out the weekend picking up back to back wins and was the hot hand entering the Women’s College World Series. Head Coach Mike White went with Elish to start against G Juarez and Arizona State. Both players had ERA’s under 1 entering the game.
Elish gave up two runs in the first inning, but the Ducks came back to tie the game at 2 in the bottom of the frame. For the game, Miranda Elish threw five innings giving up 6 hits and 5 earned runs while striking out six. Megan Kleist closed out the game for the save. For Arizona State, G Juarez did not have a good day in the circle. Rather than going for power, Oregon stuck with what the do best and turned to a small ball approach.
All but two Oregon Batters had hits as the Ducks opened up the game in the third inning led by an RBI Double from Lauren Burke. The Freshman is now 7 for 13 in the postseason hitting .373 – second best on the team to Alexis Mack. Elish held Arizona State to under a .300 batting average and Oregon took advantage with runners in scoring position batting at a .444 clip and .400 with two outs in the later innings.
Oregon had more opportunities. The Ducks had two spots with runners on third and less than two outs and hit over .500 for the game when there was a chance to advance the runner.
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The Oregon Ducks will face the Washington Huskies in the Winners Bracket on Friday. The Huskies beat Oklahoma on Thursday to advance. Oregon and Washington will have a first pitch at 4 pm Pacific Time Friday on ESPN.