Freshman fans 10 to lift No. 5 Oregon past Hawaii, 8-2

Fifth-ranked Oregon put the pressure on early and never relented in an 8-2 win over the University of Hawaii softball team on Thursday in the opening game of the Bank of Hawaii Invitational.

Oregon third baseman Jenna Lilley’s triple on the second pitch of the game ignited a 12-hit attack that included two home runs, and freshman right-hander Maggie Balint struck out 10 in a complete-game victory at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

Leading 2-1 going into the third inning, the Ducks (10-0) strung together five consecutive hits and broke away with a three-run outburst and Balint held the Wahine (4-4) to four hits to improve to 6-0.

“She’s a good pitcher. She throws hard and we were defensive swinging,” said UH coach Bob Coolen, who remained at 997 career wins heading into today’s 6:30 p.m. matchup with UNLV.

Shortstop Nikki Udria went 3-for-4 with an RBI double in the third inning off of UH starter Brittany Hitchcock (3-2) and a leadoff home run in fifth to greet reliever Dana Thomsen.

Hitchcock gave up nine hits, struck out three and walked one in four innings in the loss. Thomsen gave up three hits, struck out three and walked two while finishing the game.

UH sophomore third baseman Nicole Lopez accounted for half of the Wahine hit total, including her second home run of the season. But the UH offense mustered little else against Balint, whose earned-run average actually rose to 1.14 in the win.

“I told my freshmen you can’t be intimidated,” Coolen said. “You’re going to face good pitching everywhere; this is where the big teams are; you have to learn how to play against them.”

After Oregon scored single runs in the first two innings, UH freshman Callee Heen’s looper down the right-field line hit the turf and rolled past diving right fielder Danica Mercado for a one-out triple. Bree Soma, another freshman, followed with a soft liner into shallow center to drive in Heen.

But Oregon pulled away in the third with Gwen Svekis and Udria hammering back-to-back RBI doubles.

“Brittany got a little too fine,” Coolen said, “like she was trying to do too much.”

Lopez led off the fourth with her home run to left and singled into right field in the sixth.

“I knew she was going to throw me inside because the whole time she kept coming in I wasn’t hitting it at all,” Lopez said of her first homer at RWSS this season. “She came inside, I saw it and got my hands out.”

But Oregon kept coming with Udria’s homer in the fifth and Mercado’s one-out blast to center in the sixth.