Oregon dropped its first series since late March and will need a win and help elsewhere to avoid finishing in fifth-place in the Pac-12.
Allee Bunker and Terra McGowan each hit solo home runs, but the rest of the lineup failed to come through in the clutch for the No. 13 Ducks in an 8-2 loss to No. 20 Utah Saturday afternoon at Jane Sanders Stadium.
Karlie Davison hammered two of four home runs on the day for the Utes (33-13, 14-9 Pac-12), who clinched the series and pulled into a three-way tie for third-place in the conference.
Davison, a .155 hitter batting No. 9 in the order, demolished a 3-2 pitch from Stevie Hansen to center for a two-run home run in the third.
Oregon (35-13, 14-9 Pac-12) left the bases loaded in the first, stranded a runner on second in the third and had two-on with nobody out in the fourth and got nothing to show for it.
McGowan capped an eight-pitch at-bat with her 12th home run of the season to get UO on the board and make it 2-1 after five.
Julia Jimenez got the run back for Utah in the top of the sixth with a solo home run off Hansen (18-5), who allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits with just one strikeout over 6.0 innings.
The Ducks got two on and two out in the bottom of the inning, but their lack of depth in the middle infield again proved costly as Paige Sinicki popped out to foul territory to end the scoring threat. Oregon went 2 for 12 with runners on, including 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position, and stranded eight.
Utah broke the game open in the seventh. Davison smashed a two-run shot to left off Morgan Scott, who got tagged for a three-run shot by Jimenez that made it 8-1. Scott allowed four runs on four hits in just 0.2 innings in her worst appearance of the season.
Bunker added her 10th home run of the season in the bottom of the inning.
In her first start since March 12, Sarah Ladd (5-0) allowed just two runs on seven hits and four walks with one strikeout in a complete game win for Utah, which can finish third, fourth or fifth in the league.
Oregon will attempt to avoid the sweep in Sunday’s series finale (2 p.m., Pac-12 Network). The Ducks will finish in fifth with a loss and could finish as high as third with a win and if the loser of Saturday’s game between Washington and Stanford also loses on Sunday.
The Oregonian/OregonLive will update this story.
