Oregon ended the regular season in putrid fashion, being no-hit at home for the first time in the history of Jane Sanders Stadium to seal a fifth-place in the Pac-12 and greatly diminishing its chances of hosting an NCAA Regional.
For the second time in three days Utah’s Mariah Lopez befuddled the Ducks. After allowing just one run on four hits over 7.0 innings to win the series-opening Friday night, Lopez notched the first Utah individual no-hitter since it joined the Pac-12 while issuing three walks and striking out six in a 2-0 win over the No. 13 Ducks Sunday afternoon at Jane Sanders Stadium.
“I think this overall weekend was a tough weekend,” Oregon coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “We had to really push through. I liked our energy today. I loved how we competed. In the end they did a little more to win the game.”
The series sweep sent No. 20 Utah (33-13, 14-9 Pac-12) past Oregon and Stanford for third place in the Pac-12. It will face No. 6 Cal at 10 a.m. Thursday at Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium in Tucson, Arizona in next week’s inaugural Pac-12 tournament.
Oregon (35-13, 14-9) will face No. 4 seed Stanford, which won the regular-season series between the teams, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Tucson.
It was the fourth time the Ducks were shutout this season, the first time they were no-hit since April 7, 2019 at Missouri and first time they’ve been no-hit in Eugene since April 30, 2006 against Cal.
Utah had a combined no-hitter earlier this season in an 8-0 win in five innings against Niagara. Its last seven-inning no-hitter was by Generra Nielson against Colgate on March 12, 2012.
The Utes scored both their runs in the fourth.
Abby Dayton singled, advanced on a wild pitch and then on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Haley Denning. Aliya Belarde followed with a solo home run that just cleared the wall in right to end the day for Stevie Hansen (18-6), who allowed two runs on three hits in 2.2 innings.
Raegan Breedlove kept the Ducks in the game, allowing just four hits over 4.1 scoreless innings of relief.
“I think letting my defense work, rolling ground balls, letting Paige (Sinicki), Tehya (Bird), all my defense work,” Breedlove said. “I think that was really good.”
The Ducks drew back-to-back two-out walks in the second but Lopez struck out Bird to end the scoring threat.
Bird drew a two-out walk in the fifth but Lopez struck out pinch hitter Katelyn Howard to end the frame.
The Ducks hit just .153 (11 for 72) against Utah’s two left-handed pitchers this weekend, dropping their season average against Southpaws to .246 compared to .320 against righties.
Oregon won’t face a lefty against Stanford but could against top-seeded UCLA if it advances in the conference tournament or in the NCAA Tournament.
Lombardi said she’s not worried about potential matchups with left-handed pitchers.
“I think we just had a rough weekend,” Lombardi said. “We had some balls that we hit hard that were hit right at people and then getting some breaks. It was a tough weekend. I trust who we are. I trust what we’ve been doing all year and I’m excited for us to compete in the first Pac-12 tournament.”
