EUGENE, Ore. -- After heavy rain forced the series opener to be pushed back to Saturday, the Arizona State softball team split with Oregon in a doubleheader at Howe Field. The Sun Devils fell 3-0 in the first game but came back in for a 7-4 victory in the late game.
A three-run surge by the Ducks (23-7, 2-3 Pac-12) in the fifth inning of the opener proved too much for Arizona State (32-4, 4-1) to overcome.
The Devils answered in the second game, scoring three runs in the first frame and four in the second to take a commanding lead en route to a 7-4 win, its first-ever Pac-12 road win.
Haley Steele went 2 for 3 in the first game and 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored in the second.
Game 1: Oregon 3, ASU 0
After four scoreless innings, the Ducks got on the board first in the bottom of the fifth when Christie Nieto led off with a solo shot over the center-field fence for a 1-0 lead. Oregon made it a 3-0 advantage later that same inning when an ASU error with two outs allowed two runners to come home unearned.
Oregon held on from there for the 3-0 shutout. Dallas Escobedo took the loss to drop to 12-3 on the year, while Jessica Moore earned the win to improve to 15-5.
Game 2: ASU 7, Oregon 4
The Sun Devils responded quickly in the afternoon game, taking a 3-0 lead in the first frame. Katelyn Boyd scored unearned during an Annie Lockwood at-bat, and Steele notched her seventh homer of the year two batters later with Elizabeth Caporuscio on base, making it 3-0.
In the second, ASU capitalized on two Oregon errors to score four runs on five hits for a 7-0 lead. Lockwood picked up her second RBI of the game, plating Alix Johnson with a single to right. Nikole Afusia then brought around Lockwood and Caporuscio on a single to center.
Oregon ended the shutout in the bottom of the fifth, scoring four runs on four hits to make it 7-4 heading into the top of the sixth. ASU used three pitchers to close out the game, with Hillary Bach earning the win to move to 15-0.
Dallas Escobedo earned the save, her third, closing out the last two innings after replacing Mackenzie Popescue, who came in briefly in the fifth inning.
