STANFORD, Calif. — Less than a month after snapping a 10-game losing streak, the Oregon State softball team is one victory away from its first trip to the Women’s College World Series since 2006.
The Beavers (38-20) rode a complete-game pitching performance from senior Mariah Mazon and a two-run home run by Madison Simon to a 3-1 victory over Stanford in their opener of the NCAA super regional on Friday night.
The teams play Game 2 at 3 p.m. Saturday, and a victory would send OSU to the WCWS, beginning Thursday in Oklahoma City. If Stanford (39-21) squares the series, the teams will meet again Sunday to determine the bid.
“Tomorrow is definitely exciting,” Simon said. “This whole experience is exciting.”
OSU coach Laura Berg isn’t expecting the Cardinal to roll over. “This series is far from over,” she said. “They put the barrel on the ball. They are tough outs.”
“Obviously, not the result we wanted,” Stanford coach Jessica Allister said. “Like I told the team, it’s a series, not a game.”
OSU, which beat host Tennessee twice on Sunday to reach the super regionals for the first time in 16 years, could easily have missed the postseason altogether. But the Beavers won two of three against Utah to close out the Pac-12 season, earned an NCAA bid and now have won seven of their past nine games.
Asked to explain the 10-game losing streak through May 1, Berg said, “It’s the Pac-12. Every weekend is a regional. It’s a grind, it’s a fight. Sometimes you go through the gauntlet. Hopefully, you survive.”
Mazon, who struck out 11 batters and allowed five hits to improve to 17-11 on the season, said the Beavers never became discouraged during their nearly month-long victory drought. Seven of the 10 defeats were by a single run.
“Those 10 games gave us a lot of fight,” she said. “They were good losses. We knew we could beat those teams. We just needed one more hit, one less error. That really set us up for postseason.”
The Beavers struck early, scoring three runs in the top of the second. Frankie Hammoude doubled down the left-field line to open the inning, moved to third on a ground out and scored on Grace Messmer’s infield single to deep shortstop.
Simon then lifted a high home run over the left-field wall and the Beavers had a 3-0 lead. It was the sophomore’s eighth homer of the season and second during the NCAA tournament.
Simon said she had an idea how Stanford pitcher Alana Vawter would come at her. “She was pretty much throwing me low and in,” she said. “But it’s just a reaction. You don’t really think it about it.”
Mazon worked her way out of a minor jam in the bottom of the second after Stanford put its first two batters on base with singles. Mazon then struck out the next two hitters before retiring the side on a ground out to shortstop.
Mazon struck out six of the first 12 batters she faced, but Stanford got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth when Sydney Steele hit a two-strike, two-out pitch for an RBI double to left-center, scoring Emily Young.
Oregon State’s pitching has largely handcuffed the Cardinal this season, allowing three runs and 14 hits over four games.
Berg praised Mazon’s performance, adding, “I’m not surprised by it. Mariah’s been doing this since her freshman year.”
But the Beavers coach stopped short of naming Mazon the Game 2 starter. “It’s a secret,” she said, smiling.
“She’s a great pitcher,” Stanford’s Young said. “We’ll probably see her again. I’m assuming so.”
— Jeff Faraudo for The Oregonian/OregonLive
