Washington softball falls 5-4 to No. 17 Oregon Ducks

The Washington Huskies suffered their first Big Ten series defeat of the season after a 5-4 loss to the No. 17 Oregon Ducks on the road in Eugene on Saturday afternoon.

Coach Heather Tarr's team had a chance to tie things up in the seventh inning, but Washington's scoring chance, and the game, came to an abrupt end after pinch runner Jing Gardner was cut down by right fielder Elon Butler trying to go from first to third with two outs on a single from left fielder Ava Carroll.

The Huskies were able to rack up 12 hits on the day, but couldn't come through in the clutch. Center fielder Kaycie Burdick, catcher Jadyn Glab, and first baseman Alexis DeBoer all hit solo home runs in the contest, but their arch-rivals were with them stride-for-stride.

Oregon jumped out to an early lead in the first inning behind a two-run blast from catcher Emma Cox, her third homer of the series, and a solo shot from first baseman Stefini Ma'ake. Then, in the fifth, left fielder Amari Harper hit what turned out to be the game-winning two-run home run as sophomore Morgan Reimer suffered her fifth loss of the season.

Washington's ace let up 5 runs on 6 hits with 5 strikeouts over 6 innings of work. Elise Sokolsky earned the win for the Ducks out of the bullpen and improved to 5-2 on the year after allowing 2 runs on 6 hits with a pair of strikeouts.

With the loss, the Huskies dropped to 34-11 on the year and 15-2 in Big Ten Play. They'll look to avoid being swept at 3:00 p.m. PT on Sunday.

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Huskies fall 5-4 on road to No. 17 Oregon Ducks