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A couple of uncharacteristic mistakes gave Oregon some life Sunday afternoon, but Arkansas responded with a knock-out blow to punch its ticket to the super regionals.
After the Ducks tied the game on a play with two errors, the Razorbacks used another big sixth inning to pull away for a 9-3 win — their school-record 47th of the season — and clinch the Fayetteville Regional championship.
“I thought they showed a ton of toughness, a ton of resilience and just stayed the course and found a way to get the job done,” head coach Courtney Deifel said. “Just staying the course when we, uncharacteristically, gave some runs away. It’s just not what we do, but we had a chance to answer and they did that.”
With the score tied at 3-3 entering the sixth inning, Arkansas loaded the bases with the help of an Oregon error and then took the lead when pinch runner Cally Kildow raced home on a wild pitch.
However, the Ducks — after intentionally walking Kacie Hoffman and getting Audrie LaValley to line out — were one out away from getting out of the inning with the score just 4-3. At that point, Deifel opted to pinch hit Rylin Hedgecock for Marlene Friedman.
Making her first appearance in two weeks, the redshirt sophomore delivered arguably the most important hit of her career. Hedgecock sent the full-count pitch to deep center and centerfielder Jasmine Williams couldn’t quite track it down. It went off the end of her glove and cleared the bases for a three-run double.
“She is an incredibly talented hitter and obviously really strong, but she is really level,” Deifel said. “She just does a really good job of staying level in the moment, not making anything too big. … She obviously came through for us today.”
That gave the Razorbacks some cushion and then, two pitches later, SEC Player of the Year KB Sides iced it with a two-run blast to center.
It was actually the Razorbacks’ fourth home run of the game — and 109th of the season, which is tied for second in SEC history. They used the long ball to jump out to an early 3-0 lead.
Linnie Malkin and Hoffmann hit back-to-back solo shots with two outs in the second inning and Danielle Gibson added one of her own to start the fourth.
“We are just trying to hit the ball hard,” Gibson said. “We have a lot of power up and down the lineup and so much power and depth. … It’s really fun when you hit a home run or when your teammate hits a home run because it’s just a big celebration.”
The celebration was put on hold in the fourth, as the first two Oregon batters reached base. Ariel Carlson followed with a ground ball that deflected off Friedman, who made a diving effort.
The hit resulted in one RBI, but everyone came around to score when left fielder Hannah McEwen’s throw to second got away and then so did Hoffman’s throw to third from right field, essentially giving Carlson a little league home run that was officially scored an RBI double with two errors.
It was the kind of play that could lead to a pitcher unraveling, but super senior Mary Haff responded by retiring 12 of the final 15 batters she faced.
She was ultimately charged with only one earned run on six hits and one walk while striking out four in seven innings.
“I thought she was really, really good today,” Deifel said. “I think we saw that Mary, after those three runs, she just kind of dug in and she didn’t flinch. She just stayed the course and trusted herself.”
In three games at the Fayetteville Regional — including two against No. 24 Oregon — Arkansas outscored its opponents by a combined score of 26-5 on its way to winning its third regional in four years.
As the No. 4 overall seed, the Razorbacks will host the winner of the Seattle Regional — which is down to No. 13 Washington and Texas — at Bogle Park next weekend with a trip to the Women’s College World Series on the line.
