On Wednesday afternoon, Kelly Field saw an all-too-familiar matchup of the ages between the Oregon State and Oregon softball teams, resulting in a Beavers loss 5-3.

The Beavers captured a lead early and slowly let it slip away in the final innings, falling by two runs to the Ducks.

This loss marks the final home game of the longest series of home games in the season for the Beavers.

Starting pitcher for OSU, senior Ellie Garcia, stayed in the entire game compared to the four different pitchers brought in for Oregon. Garcia put forth an unfamiliar performance, throwing four walks to two strikeouts. 

“She (Garcia) was throwing well, she was throwing great. They got what, like 4/5 hits off of her? It’s just the defense didn’t take care of the ball,” head coach Laura Berg said.

The Beavers pitching staff leads the conference in strikeouts. Despite this, Oregon State kept a lead for a majority of the game and only allowed five hits through the whole game. 

The Beavers’ first hit came from sophomore Tristian Thompson, hitting a zooming ground ball down to center field. They then loaded the bases, which led to the first run of the game being driven in by a line drive from senior Lici Campbell. 

The Beavers drove in one more run before the end of the first, while the Ducks made their first, and rather early, pitching change.

The Beavers were leading 2-0, and then saw two scoreless innings pass.

The Ducks finally got on the board at the top of the fourth. After managing to load the bases, sophomore Katie Flannery hit a ground ball straight to the shortstop. Sophomore Jaeya Butler, who bobbled the ball, allowed one runner to advance to home while the throw was then made to third. 

The remaining runners would then be stranded, however, the lead was cut to a single run for Oregon State.

The Beavers responded to try to make the inning theirs. 

Freshman Ella Dardis started strong with a triple to center field, followed by a tipped ball that barely stayed fair for sophomore Jada Lewis to get her to first. 

Dardis was then advanced home by an error from the Oregon third baseman, letting a grounder into left field. The Ducks once again brought in a new pitcher in hopes of ending the inning.

The bases became loaded again with a hit by pitch taken by senior Samantha Gutierrez. Gutierrez responded by screaming in excitement to her teammates while she walked to first. However, the Oregon pitching change would prove to be a good one, with a strikeout stranding the three runners.

Oregon then used its time in the fifth inning to get the first three runners on base. The third batter up, freshman Emma Cox, hit a line drive over the pitcher’s head that advanced a runner home. 

The fifth inning brought Garcia’s first strikeout of the game to get them to two outs on defense. The Beaver kept their single-run lead thanks to a catch made against the wall by Lewis to advance the inning. Lewis leads the team in batting average, sporting a .392 at the plate.

The hitting duo of Dardis and Lewis both became two for three batting on the day in the bottom of the sixth, with them leading off This gave a chance for the Beavers to extend their lead. 

The early momentum came to a stop, leaving them stranded and leaving the Ducks in contention.

“I feel great all around. I feel we’ve hit the ball really well. I mean, number five team in the country, and they had to use all four pitchers, so I think it was a good job offensively,” Berg said.

The top of the seventh brought forth the pressure on the Oregon State defense. 

Three batters, by outrunning a throw a first, a hit by pitch and a walk loaded the bases. With no outs, Cox stepped to the plate and hit a line drive to bring two runners home and take the lead for themselves by one.

This lead would then be further extended by a sacrifice fly. OSU was able to limit any further damage with another stakeout and a fly ball.

The score was turned 5-3 in favor of the Ducks. In the final seventh inning, the Beavers were able to get the tying runs on base, but then struck out twice to complete an Oregon comeback effort.

With the home series now ended, OSU softball now travels to take on the University of San Diego. The game will take place April 18 at 3 p.m.