Washington softball drops Pac-12 opener as Oregon rallies in seventh

With two outs, nothing is guaranteed. 

The University of Washington softball team lost its Pac-12 and home opener to Oregon on Friday night 8-6 as the 19th-ranked Ducks came through with a trio of two-out RBI hits in the top of the seventh to stage an upset victory against the No. 10 Huskies. 

Washington went into the inning with a 5-4 lead, thanks to Olivia Johnson’s RBI single in the bottom of the fifth. 

Hanna Delgado reached second in the seventh inning on a throwing error by Washington third baseman Baylee Klingler and scored the tying run when Ducks catcher Valerie Wong hit a single off Huskies freshman pitcher Ruby Meylan. KK Humphreys followed that with a two-run double to left-center field to make it 7-5. 

Ariel Carlson drove in the Ducks’ final run with a two-out single to right field, scoring Humphreys from second. 

The loss snaps Washington’s eight-game winning streak. 

“It’s a long season,” Washington head coach Heather Tarr said. “You look at some of the hits we gave up, a couple of the leadoff stuff was probably where we got more into trouble than anything. But I thought it was a good game. A good game overall.”

No players were made available for interviews after the game.

Humphreys, the Oregon left fielder, put the Ducks ahead to start the game with a two-run triple in the top of the first. Washington’s Madison Huskey tied the game with a two-run homer in the Huskies’ half of the inning. 

Two batters later, Johnson gave Washington the lead with a solo blast over the left-field wall. In the second inning, sophomore Rylee Holtorf hit her second career home run to center field to give the Huskies a 4-2 lead. 

In the fifth, Oregon catcher Valerie Wong hit a two-out, two-run homer to tie the game at 4-4, but Johnson put the Huskies ahead again in the bottom of the fifth with a single up the middle that scored pinch runner Megan Vandegrift. 

That lead didn’t last long either, as Oregon scored four in the seventh to put itself in position for the win. 

The Huskies made it 8-6 when Madison Huskey drove in Sami Reynolds with a single to right field in the bottom of the seventh inning, which brought the potential winning run to the plate. 

That was as close as Washington would get, as Oregon pitcher Morgan Scott struck out Johnson and coaxed a flyout to center field from Kelley Lynch to end it. 

Meylan allowed 13 hits and eight runs with 11 strikeouts in her first start at Husky Softball Stadium. Though it wasn’t the result she had hoped for, Tarr has plenty of confidence in the freshman out of Omaha, Nebraska. 

“She’s definitely capable,” Tarr said. “We could’ve bailed her out, we’ve done that in the past, but she’s got to learn how to win a game and finish a game. That’s OK. They’ve got to learn how to do that. It’s a skill and it doesn’t happen because you can dominate.”

Oregon starter Stevie Hansen allowed three hits, two walks and four earned runs in 1⅓ innings, while Raegan Breedlove earned the win by allowing four hits and two earned runs over 4⅔ innings. 

While it was a disappointing way to kick off their home schedule, Tarr saw plenty of fight from her squad, and is eager to see what the Huskies can do in the rest of this weekend series against the Ducks. 

“At the end of the day, we didn’t win the game,” Tarr said. “Why didn’t we win the game? Those things are more so the questions to answer, not ‘Are we good enough, can we play at this stage?’ It’ll be exciting to see us come back, learn and respond.”

Washington and Oregon will face off again Saturday at 4 p.m. and conclude the weekend series Sunday at noon.