2013 Softball World Series Eugene Super Regional Breakdown
Location: Eugene, Oregon
How They Advanced:
In Eugene, the #3 seeded Oregon Ducks defeated the BYU Cougars 5-2 in the opening tilt. Alexa Peterson set the tone with a three run homer in the first inning, and Jessica Moore cruised from the circle, fanning nine while scattering seven hits. North Carolina won a close one against Wisconsin, scoring the go-ahead run in the 7th, but giving up the tying run in the bottom on a Marissa Mersch solo home run. The Tar Heels were able to manufacture a run in the 8th to move to the winner’s bracket.
BYU bowed out of the tournament with a loss to Wisconsin 6-0. Stephanie Peace provided much of the reason with a three run home run in the third inning, and pitcher Cassandra Darrah the rest, holding the Cougars to just two hits. Oregon rolled 3-0 over North carolina in the alternate contest, the Ducks not scoring after the third inning, but not needing to behind another strong performance by Moore on the mound. In their rematch and second elimination game, Wisconsin defeated North Carolina 6-2, to advance. The Badgers’ Meghan McIntosh held UNC to five hits.
In Saturday’s final, Oregon showed Wisconsin the door, shutting out the Badgers 3-0 to advance to the Super Regional next week. The Ducks managed only three hits, but tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh to seal solid pitching behind starter Cheridan Hawkins and Jessica Moore in relief. Mike White’s Oregon team will be at home again next week to host the Super Regional.
Regionals - Lincoln, Nebraska:
Regional host and coming in at #14, Nebraska’s Tatum Edwards’ two-hit, 4-0 shutout over Northern Iowa got things going in Lincoln. In the Stanford/Tulsa matchup, the Cardinal trailed 2-0 early but used home runs by Jessica Plaza and Kayla Bonstrom to come back to win 4-2.
In the winner’s bracket game, the Huskers roughed up Stanford’s ace Teagan Gerhart early, then added five runs in the 6th inning to put away the Cardinal 7-1. In the loser’s game, UNI survived Tulsa 2-1, setting up the elimination game. Stanford used a balanced, 11-hit attack and a strong outing by Gerhart to roll past UNI 4-1 on Saturday and earn a rematch against the Cornhuskers.
In Sunday action, the Nebraska and Stanford rematch would have the same result, a Nebraska Cornhusker win. The Huskers will advance to the Supers to play at Oregon with a 10-5 win over the Cardinal. Down 3-1 after four innings, Nebraska caught fire, scoring nine over the next two innings. Tatum Edwards picked up the win behind Brooke Thomason and Courtney Breault, who together had four hits and six RBI.
Projection:
Nebraska’s Tatum Edwards has a sub 2.0 ERA, but the Huskers’ .292 batting average is a concern against Oregon’s Jessica Moore with a 1.58 ERA of her own. The Ducks and Huskers played similar levels of competition in their respective regionals so not much can be gleaned from identical 3-0 records there. This one will come down to pitching, which is often the case. Considering the conferences they play in, take the Ducks in two games.
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