TAMPA, Fla. – Continuing the opening weekend in the USF-Rawlings Invitational, Oregon State put up a pair of wins to ensure a winning opening stretch with triumphs over Illinois State and South Florida. Both of the contests included complete games from Ellie Garcia and Logan Hulon, respectively.
Game 1: Oregon State 1, Illinois State 0
Eliana Gottlieb’s single to shallow left in the bottom of the seventh – scoring Jade Soto – was just what the Beavs needed to walk-off Illinois State in the morning clash. Charity Sevaaetasi got the offense started in the frame when shesingled to the left and moved into scoring position off an Illinois State throwing error and was replaced on the bag by Soto. The threat increased when Grace Messmer’s perfectly-executed sacrifice moved Soto to just 60 feet from home.
Staring down an 0-1 count, Gottlieb’s knock landed just out of reach of the Redbird left fielder allowing Soto to cross home.
“I thought Ellie Garcia did a fantastic job of keeping us in the game,” noted head coach Laura Berg. “It was an ugly win but it was a win and I’ll take a win any day.”
Gottlieb and Sevaaetasi led the Beaver offense with two hits apiece, including their timely seventh-inning knocks. Additionally, no Beaver was retired via strikeout in the contest.
Making her first start of the season, Garcia (1-0) earned a complete-game shutout with six punchouts and no walks to just five hits to get her first win of the season. Coupled with yesterday’s relief outing, she has now fanned 10 batters and has yet to concede a base on balls.
Game 2: Oregon State 7, South Florida 1
Picking up where they left off in the seventh inning of the morning game, the Beavers (3-1) put on an offensive clinic in a 7-1 win over host South Florida on Saturday night. Campbell got the offense back alive with a no-doubt blast to the Bulls’ hitting facility for the 1-0 lead in the first frame.
“That’s a big win for us,” said Berg. “I thought they did an excellent job of coming out right off the bat and putting a run on the board. It was the first earned run against South Florida. Overall, we did well. We need to clean up the errors but I think we hit the ball well today.”
Collecting the first hit of her collegiate career in her first attempt, Paige Doerr’s standup double started the next spurt of offense. She crossed home from a Savanah Whatley single for a 2-0 lead.
After the hosts got a run back and halved the Beavs’ lead in the fourth, Oregon State struck back in a very big way in the fifth. The Beavers batted around and plated six to break the game open in their favor. When Soto pinch ran at second for Sevaaetasi, Messmer’s sacrifice to right brought in the senior from Florida for the first of the frame. A few batters later with two Beavs on, Kaiea Higa cleared them on a double to deep right for a 6-1 lead. Whatley’s score on a passed ball capped the scoring at 7-1.
When it looked like the hosts would make a late charge at their deficit, Hulon and the Beavers didn’t flinch. With the bases loaded full of Bulls and two away, Hulon made the USF batter chase high to end the threat and come away unscathed.
Hulon (1-1) evened her mark with a complete game in which she fanned five, walked one, surrendered five hits and the lone earned run.
Oregon State will conclude action in the USF-Rawlings Invitational with a game against the Michigan Wolverines tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. PT and can be followed with live stats.
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