May 22, 2010
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ATLANTA – Oregon finished with 12 hits on its way to an 11-2 win over No. 8 nationally-seeded Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon at Shirley Mewborn Field.
“That’s fast-pitch softball,” Oregon head coach Mike White said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen. We capitalized on opportunities today. If we didn’t get those runs I think it would have been a lot different. It was good to keep scoring and putting pressure on Georgia Tech.”
The Ducks Jessica Moore surrendered a pair of runs in the first inning but set down the final 13 batters to lead her team into Sunday’s regional final game.
The Yellow Jackets got on the board early, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Jen Yee, who walked to lead off the game, scored her 90th run of the season to move in to fourth place on the NCAA all-time list for runs scored in a season.
The Ducks responded in the bottom of the first behind a two-out grand slam by Kaylan Howard, her ninth long ball of the season.
“My teammates were fired up about the grand slam,” Howard said. “I think it got them to cheer a little bit louder. After that, we started making up cheers in the dugout, getting up and supporting each other. We had a lot of fun in the dugout and I think that contributed.”
Oregon broke open the game with a run in the second and three more in the third inning, including a Sam Pappas two-run double. The Ducks did not look back as they cruised to the victory.
Oregon moves into Sunday’s regional championship game beginning at 1 p.m. and will face the winner of tonight’s game five. Georgia Tech will meet the winner over the Auburn-Jacksonville State elimination game tonight at 5:30 p.m.
– NCAA Softball Regional Game Three –
