SEATTLE – The eighth-ranked Washington Huskies used a walkoff double to left-center with two away to stave off an upset bid by Oregon State on Thursday night, winning 5-4.
OSU battled back from an early deficit – trailing by four runs – before the first out of the opening inning was recorded.
The homestanding Huskies used a leadoff home run and another longball – scoring three – just a few batters later to build up a lead on OSU.
The Beavers (15-17, 3-4 Pac-12) used a two-out rally in just the ensuing inning to trim their early deficit to one at 4-3 as Kiki Escobar’s double to the track brought cleared the bases. Abby Doerr and Savanah Whatley kept the frame alive with singles and a Madison Simon walk sandwiched between set up Escobar’s bases-clearing double to the track.
An inning later, OSU made quick work with their offense in getting the first two – Eliana Gottlieb and Lici Campbell – aboard before Paige Doerr pushed home Gottlieb to even things at 4. The Beavers were unsuccessful in plating anymore as the next two were retired to end the half-inning with the score knotted up.
The Beaver offense forced the Husky starter – Ruby Meylan – to a shorter outing following all four runs on the eight hits scattered across 4.2 innings. Escobar led the Beaver hitters with three runs batted in while Eliana Gottlieb’s three hits paced OSU in the category.
Sarah Haendiges (7-5) went the distance but was charged with the loss after she surrendered all five runs. The righty allowed eight hits, walked five and struck out three in the 6.2 frames.
Oregon State will look to even the conference series with game two set for 6 p.m. and can be seen on Washington’s live stream.
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