For the first time since 2018, Oregon is headed to a softball super regional.
Ariel Carlson went 3 for 4 with seven RBIs and two home runs, including a walk-off grand slam, to send the Ducks past No. 11 seed Arkansas 14-4 in five innings to win the Fayetteville Regional on Sunday afternoon at Bogle Park.
It was the first career grand slam for Carlson, a fourth-year outfielder from Eugene, who had the most RBIs in a game since Gwen Svekis’ school record nine against Oregon State on March 15, 2015 and matched the school postseason record for a single game (Lindsey Welch against Iowa in 1998).
“It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had, being able to do it for the seniors and the girls around me,” said Carlson, who went 7 for 11 with five runs scored and 10 RBIs in three games at the regional. “I grew up being a Duck. I was a Duck before I even started playing softball and I’ll be a Duck when I finish. I will always love this university. ... I grew up watching Oregon softball. I grew up watching (assistant coach Nikki) Ragin play, all of my favorite players and it was a dream to be able to come here. I wanted to be able to do it for the girls after me and then for my girls that I’m playing around every single day.”
On the same field where its season ended a year ago in a regional final, Oregon (38-15) punched its ticket to a super regional as an unseeded team for the fourth time overall and first since 2011. The Ducks will play at No. 6 seed Oklahoma State next weekend.
“Last year it didn’t go our way, and I remember standing on the field with Allee Bunker and Terra McGowan, and we made a promise at that time to each other that this was happening for a reason and this is what is going to drive us to next year and what we’re going to do,” Oregon coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “To be standing on that field and not getting what we wanted, but then to hear our name called and for us to come back here, it was a part of our journey and we accepted it.”
Hannah Gammill went 2 for 2 with a three-run home run and Chenise Delce (21-11) allowed five runs on five hits and three walks with one strikeout over three innings in the loss for Arkansas (40-19).
Up 5-4 after four, Oregon exploded for nine runs in the fifth to invoke the run rule.
Terra McGowan (3 for 3) singled and Carlson demolished a two-run home run to left and ended the day for left-hander Callie Turner, who allowed two runs on three hits in one inning.
KK Humphreys, who hit a three-run homer in the first, and Hanna Delgado singled and Tehya Bird walked to load the bases and Arkansas again changed pitchers from Robyn Herron (1/3 IP, three runs on two hits and a walk) to lefty Hannah Camenzind. For the second consecutive day Oregon, which hit under .240 against southpaws during the regular season, feasted on the Arkansas lefties, who combined to allowed six runs on six hits and a walk over 1 1/3 innings.
“I think these guys did a really good job at the plate,” Lombardi said. “I thought (hitting coach Sam) Marder did a good job of preparing them, regardless if they’re right-handed or left-handed. They prepared us for the opposing pitchers and these guys were ready to go. I thought they did a good job of staying on time and swinging at pitches in the zone.”
In a rare opportunity to swing freely at a 1-2 pitch with the bases loaded, No. 9 hitter Paige Sinicki came through with a two-run double down the line in left. Allee Bunker drew a two-out walk to again load the bases and McGowan singled again to make it 10-4.
Then Carlson, the sixth player in UO history to homer twice in the same postseason game, came up and swatted a grand slam to send Oregon on to supers. It set a new program record for runs in an NCAA Tournament game.
“We’ve been talking about a quote all weekend and it’s fate happens so redemption can follow,’” McGowan said. “I think ending last season with tears of sadness and coming back here and being on that same field with tears of joy was the way it was supposed to happen. ... Knowing what we wanted and knowing how to get it is definitely what set us apart this year.”
It is the culmination of five years for McGowan, Bunker and fellow senior Katelyn Howard, who have been a part of polar extremes with the program.
Bunker is the only one to have been with Lombardi since the fall of 2018, when the Ducks were ravaged by outgoing transfers when the transfer portal was first enacted. McGowan arrived in January 2019, only to be forced to sit out that season due to Arizona State refusing to waive a since-abolished rule for intraconference transfers. Those three, Carlson and Vallery Wong are the only remaining players from the COVID-shortened 2020 season and five of eight players who played in the regional losses at Texas in 2021 and Arkansas last season. After the regional loss a year ago, All-America pitcher Brooke Yanez elected to transfer to UCLA because she felt it gave her the best chance to compete for a national championship. But the No. 2 seed Bruins were eliminated without winning a game at their regional in one of the worst performances by a national seed in NCAA history, while the Ducks are moving on.
“It’s been a journey since Version 1,” McGowan said. “Bunk, Kate and I really wanted to do this for coach more than we wanted to it for ourselves.”
The Ducks will return to Eugene before heading to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for a best-of-three super regional next weekend, with the winner advancing to the Women’s College World Series. The Cowgirls defeated the Ducks 3-0 at the Puerto Vallarta Challenge on Feb. 10.
“This is a first big step for us,” Lombardi said. “Now it’s the opportunity to go to what’s next and to a super regional. We’ve got a lot more to do and I think these guys are really in a good place.”
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