EUGENE, Ore, — After picking up their second Pac-12 series win last weekend in Salt Lake City, the No. 22 Oregon Ducks return home this weekend to host the Arizona State Sun Devils for a three-game set. Game one is scheduled for a 5 PM first pitch on Friday followed by game two at 2 PM on Saturday before game three closes out the weekend at noon on Sunday.
“If you can start off moving in the right direction in the Pac it’s really important,” said head coach Melyssa Lombardi. “Every win is so valuable. It’s just tough. Every weekend you’re gonna go into a tough battle so the more wins that you can get, and to be able to get the series to go along with it, I think will really make a difference for us.”
The Ducks (16-10, 4-2) put on an offensive clinic last weekend against the Utah Utes, averaging over 10 runs per game, including a 20-run outburst in game one’s blowout win. Surprisingly, even with all the runs that the Ducks scored, they only hit three homers, as they were consistently able to get on base and move runners around the old-fashioned way.
“Coming out and scoring 20 runs the first game is something is something I’ll never forget,” said outfielder, Ariel Carlson. “And then to bounce back on Sunday after the loss on Saturday shows a lot about us as a team.”
Collectively against Utah, Oregon managed a .441 on-base percentage, which was certainly helped by their 34 hits but also by their plate discipline. They walked 13 times over the three games. So far through the beginning of conference play, the Ducks rank second in the Pac-12 with 19 walks, only trailing the No. 9 Washington Huskies by two. This has contributed to their .399 OBP as a team in Pac-12 play, only trailing Washington and No. 13 UCLA.
“I think earlier on, we were really chasing pitches maybe out of the zone a little bit and putting ourselves in tough counts,” said Lombardi. “With the walks, it’s allowing us to increase the pitch count for the pitcher, but then also we’re able to see a lot of pitches and then put that next person in position to hit something.”
One of Oregon’s strengths all season has been their speed as a team. They stole eight bases in Salt Lake City last weekend, only being caught once. So far this season, their 55 steals lead the Pac-12 and have them tied for 15th in the country.
“I think we’ve really rallied around our strength, and seeing how we can use our strength to maximize our offense and to get us to score runs,” Lombardi said of speed being one of the team’s strengths this year. “We hit a single and with our speed, we’re able to turn it into a double. Same thing with runners at first and second, you’ve seen us steal second and third. Our speed allows us to constantly be in scoring position.”
The Ducks’ speed also plays to their strength in the field, allowing them to cover ground and make plays that not many teams can. They are tied for the Pac-12 lead with a .981 fielding percentage, a testament to the work that this team has put in on that side of the ball.
“We have really good communication with each other,” said centerfielder, Hanna Delgado. “I think our motive is if we can get to a ball, to not let it drop for the pitcher. The defense in the infield is just super solid, it’s been like that for the past couple of years. I feel like our defense has been our strongest suit and I think we’re one of the best in the nation.”
“I think the one thing that this team does, regardless of their age, is that they communicate extremely well pre-pitch,” said Lombardi. “We do a lot of shifts so they have to constantly understand and know where the other is going to be, but I do think that having veterans helps a lot.”
After game one’s 20-run outing and game two’s late offensive struggles, the story of game three wasn’t the offense. Elise Sokolsky tossed her fourth career complete game on Sunday, her first as a Duck with the other three coming during her time at UConn, limiting the Utah offense to just one run on three hits while notching three strikeouts.
“I love having her out in the circle, she brings a lot of energy,” Carlson said of her teammate. “It’s very easy to go back into the dugout and hit for her after… She just brings that so we just wanna give it right back to her. It was amazing seeing her pitch a full seven, I don’t think she’s done that here at Oregon yet, so it just gives the team a lot of confidence in her.”
“Anytime a pitcher goes, they’re just trying to understand how they want their pitches to break and the type of command that they have over their pitches and then executing their strategy,” Lombardi said of Sokolsky. “I think it just took her a little bit to get there with those couple things, and then once she got there, she just got comfortable, she trusted the unbelievable defense that we have and just settled in really nice. I think you got to see that she’s got really good velo, got great spin, and can change speeds.
“It was nice to go into Utah and on the third day, start Elise and they hadn’t even seen her game one or game two. That’s what I really, really love about our pitching staff, is that we’re deep and we’re able to use these guys in different ways.”
Carlson was again her dominant self in Salt Lake City, finishing the weekend 3-for-8 at the plate while homering in both game two and game three. Carlson also walked five times, drove in six runs, and scored in every game. She now leads the team in on-base percentage, slugging, home runs, RBIs, walks, and total bases, while being tied for second with six doubles and only trailing Kai Luschar in batting average and stolen bases.
“I don’t think it was anything about Utah in particular,” Carlson said of her success last weekend. “I just think I’m in a very good spot mentally right now so that’s just showing.”
One change in Oregon’s lineup last weekend was Lombardi moving Hanna Delgado down to the nine-hole for the entire series. Delgado had spent the majority of the season bouncing between spots near the top of the lineup before Lombardi decided to start experimenting with her in a secondary leadoff role against Cal. She seems to have settled into her new role, going 4-for-8 last weekend while adding two walks and coming around to score four times.
“It’s definitely been different,” Delgado said. “That’s not particularly a spot I’ve normally batted before, but I feel like the past couple of games I’ve gotten more confident with it and it’s been really fun to work with Kai [Luschar] being behind me and then Ariel [Carlson]... I feel like it’s been flowing really well.”
“We talk a lot about the nine, whether it’s Hanna or whether it was Paige [Sinicki], to have the ability to flip the lineup over,” Lombardi said. “Hanna, since we put her there, has done a really good job at it. This last series against Utah, what was nice, not only did you get to see her slap and do some things short, but you also started to see her power that she has as well. It’s not only for her to get on, but then if we have people on in front of her, for her to have the ability to drive them in, get on, and then now let the top of the lineup drive her in.”
Arizona State (17-11, 2-4) is coming to Eugene looking for their first Pac-12 series win after dropping two out of three games to both Washington and Oregon State. The Sun Devils are an offense-first team, having scored the most runs of any Pac-12 team while their pitching staff has allowed the most.
As a team, they rank second in the Pac-12 in both batting average and slugging percentage as they have one of the deepest lineups in the conference with four different qualified players posting an OPS over 1.000 on the year.
“I think that they swing it, you can see that they’ve got a lot of power at the plate,” Lombardi said of the Sun Devils. “They run really well. I feel like we run, but they run really well. Also, they’ve got a complete pitching staff. I feel like everything we’re going into every weekend is the same thing, it’s just a different name on the jersey.”
Like the Ducks, Arizona State’s strength comes from their speed. The Sun Devils’ 53 steals this season only trails Oregon’s Pac-12 leading mark by two, and it has come on elite efficiency. Arizona State has only been caught stealing six times this season, almost half the amount of the Ducks’ 11.
“I think it’s important for us, for our defense, for our catchers to be able to throw runners out,” said Lombardi. “I think they’ll probably say the same thing. It’s about having the opportunity to throw a runner out and how many runners can we eliminate, I think that’s a big deal.”
This should be a very winnable series for the Ducks, and they would love to have the momentum of three straight Pac-12 series wins when they visit the No. 13 UCLA Bruins next weekend. This team has postseason ambitions, and each series is just one step towards the ultimate goal.
“I think we’re learning from every single weekend, and I’m really happy about how we’ve came out in Pac and took two series right off the bat,” Carlson said. “I think we should just keep that momentum going forward.”
“You can see this team really starting to figure things out,” Lombardi said. “We’re getting hot right at the right time.
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