WMU vs. Oregon Game Statistics
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Western Michigan softball team suffered its fourth-straight loss after opening the season with a 21-16 win over Ole Miss when the Broncos fell to Oregon, 4-0, to close out the 2010 Kajikawa Classic hosted by No. 7 Arizona State.
The Broncos fell behind early to the Ducks, ranked No. 30 according to the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Preseason Poll. Right fielder Sam Pappas launched a home run to straightaway center field to lead off the game. Pappas' shot, which landed 30 feet over the fence, was an 0-1 offering from freshman Diana Patterson for Western Michigan.
Patterson earned her first collegiate start in the circle for the Broncos on Sunday afternoon. The freshman worked all seven innings in the loss, throwing 99 pitches with three strikeouts and allowing four earned runs on seven hits.
Oregon added its second run in the top of the third when Kaylan Howard reached on an infield single and later crossed home plate on Neena Bryant's double to right center field, scoring Howard all the way from first base. The Ducks manufactured two more runs in the top of the seventh inning to give them the winning margin.
Western Michigan had its best scoring opportunities in the second and sixth innings, the only two frames that the Broncos had base runners advance past first base. In the second Michelle Bendewald and Gracie Barstad each reached on successive errors by the Oregon shortstop but were stranded. Patterson flew out to center field and Elisha Handshoe grounded out to third base to end the threat.
The only other time a Bronco reached second base came in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs Meredith ripped a double to left center field but Bendewald struck out on three-straight pitches to end the frame. WMU led off the home half of the seventh inning with Barstad reaching the Ducks' third error of the game but she too was stranded as the next three Broncos went down via the strikeout, fly out and ground out, respectively, to end the game.
Western Michigan will head back to Kalamazoo for two weeks before heading south to Florida for a pair of single games against Maine (March 3) and Florida Gulf Coast (March 4) before participating in the Under Armour Invitational hosted by South Florida in Clearwater, Fla.
