Oregon completed a four-game sweep of Utah to open Pac-12 play.
Haley Cruse and Alyssa Brito each had a double and home run and Brooke Yanez notched nine strikeouts in another complete game as the No. 4 Ducks topped the Utes, 5-2, at Jane Sanders Stadium on Sunday.
It was the first time Yanez (9-0), a fourth-year junior, threw back-to-back complete games of seven innings in her time at UO.
The southpaw didn’t make it easy on herself at first, putting two on with one out in the first. Utah got on the board via an RBI single by Alyssa Barrera.
Cruse led off the bottom of the frame with a laser over the wall in left. Allee Bunker hit a one-out single and Brito followed with a two-run shot to make it 3-1 Oregon (20-1, 3-0 Pac-12).
“All weekend long and really all season long they’ve been doing a great job of that; every time the opponent scores they always answer,” Oregon coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “Always. What I would like to see them do is score first and not wait for the opponent to score.”
Julia Noskin drove in a run in the fifth, but Utah (9-9, 0-3 Pac-12) wouldn’t get any closer as Yanez settled in. She allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits and two hit batters.
“Trusting my pitches and trusting that my defense has my back and same thing with offense, when we have all three of those we’re pretty solid and it gives me more confidence throwing to them,” Yanez said. “Staying consistent with my pitches too, it helps a lot.”
McGowan hit a two-out, two-run single to score Bunker and Brito in the bottom of the inning.
It was the first time McGowan caught all four games in a weekend this season. Along with her battery mate’s back-to-back outings in the circle, those were among personnel objectives Lombardi wanted to see during the first weekend of conference play.
“To go from Brooke’s performance last night and hand her the ball again today and see if she can continue on it was good to see,” Lombardi said. “I thought she had to work a little bit more today but she found a way. Good pitchers, when they may have their absolute best but they still want a way, that’s a really good sign.
“To see Terra behind the plate and swinging the bat well and still being physical behind the plate, I think she did a great job receiving this weekend. This is probably one of her best weekends that she’s received and I love the way she’s throwing runners out and I love the way she’s swinging.”
The Ducks have won 11 straight and have eight players hitting at least .323, including three over .400.
“I think we’re a lot more confident than people think we are, which is good,” McGowan said. “We don’t see ourselves as the underdogs, which is also good. We know our preparation and we trust it and I think going into Pac after this weekend we’re going to keep climbing and you’ll see a different team every weekend.”
Much as she loves her team’s grittiness and resilience to respond when opponents score, Lombardi believes there is still much to refine for Oregon to reach its full potential. To be sure, UO has had dominant outings this season, but replicating it against the best competition over the course of four-game series is the next hurdle.
“More than anything we need to clean some things up,” she said. “I think we clean some things up. At times we’re making things too difficult or we’re putting ourselves in a hole and we shouldn’t be putting ourselves in a hole. Those are the things that I think once we get past that you’re going to really get to see how good this team can be.”
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March 22, 2021 at 05:16AM
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Brooke Yanez, Oregon softball complete 4-game sweep of Utah - OregonLive
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