Photo Gallery vs. Oregon
Photo Gallery vs. BYU

EUGENE, Ore.—No. 2 overall seed and host University of Oregon scored four times in the bottom of the fourth inning and held off a late comeback to defeat North Dakota State University 4-3 in the first game of the NCAA Eugene Regional on Friday, May 15, at Howe Field.

Krista Menke recorded her second shutout of the regional and 13th of the season as NDSU rebounded with a 7-0 win over BYU to advance to the championship game against Oregon (48-6) at 3 p.m. Central Saturday, May 16. The Bison are making their second NCAA regional championship game appearance in six trips to the tournament.

No. 24/25-ranked North Dakota State (45-10) quieted the home crowd in the first inning of game one when 4-foot-11 junior second baseman Cheyenne Garcia turned on a 2-2 pitch and drilled a line drive over the left center fence. It was the 14th home run of the season for Garcia, who is tied for the team lead with catcher Alyssa Reina.

Oregon, ranked No. 1/2 in the polls, struck for four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead.  Jenna Lilley singled in the first run, Hailey Decker had a RBI double and another run scored on a wild pitch. The deciding blow was a solo home run to center by Koral Costa, her 15th of the year.

Things quieted down for Oregon starter Cheridan Hawkins (29-3) until the top of the sixth inning. NDSU center fielder Alex Sobrero led off with a single. Shortstop Logan Moreland worked the count to 3-2 and then belted a shot over the pine tree well past the fence in right field. Moreland's seventh homer of the season trimmed the deficit to 4-3.

NDSU did get a baserunner aboard in the seventh. First baseman Jackie Stifter led off with a walk. Pinch-runner Joei Samper advanced to second on Martiza Lopez-Portillo's sacrifice bunt. Hawkins ended the game with two of her 11 strikeouts.

Menke (34-5) took the loss for NDSU. Menke struck out four, walked one and hit a batter. She benefitted from defense, as third baseman Amanda Grable, Garcia, Moreland and Stifter all turned in impressive efforts.

North Dakota State cranked up the offense against BYU (40-14). Garcia and Reina each finished with three hits including a pair of doubles to fuel the Bison 13-hit attack.
 
Back-to-back doubles by Garcia and Reina with two outs in the top of the first inning produced a 1-0 lead. Stifter reached on a walk, stole second and advanced to third on an error. Katie Shoultz beat out an infield single to push Stifter across the plate and increased the Bison margin to 2-0 in the second.
 
Grable smacked a two-run single to center to push the NDSU advantage to 4-0 in the third. The Bison tacked on single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings on a RBI singles from Reina, Jenna Isbel and Stifter.
 
Menke settled in following a lead-off single to Sydney Broderick in the second inning and retired 15 BYU batters in a row before the Cougars came up with a pair of hits in the seventh. Menke struck out nine and walked one. She also started a double play in the seventh, which was NDSU's seventh DP of the season.