Senior infielder Sarah Queen holding her form after swinging at a pitch against Oregon on Friday afternoon. The Cougars shut down the Flyers 7-0, but they fell to the Ducks 4-2 in the second game of the day. | Kathryn Lenihan/The Cougar
The Cougars split the two games on the first day of the Houston Classic, storming past the Dayton Flyers 7-0 but falling short against No. 21 Oregon Ducks 4-2 on Friday.
At the bottom of the first inning, senior infielder Kelli Montgomery blasted a three-run home run to put the Cougars up 3-0.
Junior infielder Charese Wyatt quickly added a solo run to increase Houston’s advantage to four, and closed out the second inning.
Sophomore catcher Kati Ray Brown later fired away a solo home run to increase the Cougars lead to five.
Junior infielder Rock Benavides had a two-RBI single later in the game to make it 7-0 in Houston’s favor.
The Flyers remained scoreless throughout the game as freshman pitcher Megan Lee pitched all seven innings and got six strikeouts.
Houston shutout Dayton 7-0.
In the second game of the day, the Cougars were not able to shut down the Ducks’ offense.
Oregon jumped out to an early 1-0 lead off a sacrifice fly out that brought senior outfielder Haley Cruse.
At the bottom of the third, Wyatt doubled to bring in a run, which knotted the score at one.
After a wild pitch from the Ducks, Wyatt was able to steal home to give the Cougars a one-run lead.
In the fifth inning, Oregon launched a two-run home run to jump ahead of Houston 3-2.
The Ducks added run in the sixth.
The Cougars failed to generate any offense in the seventh and fell 4-2.
Houston is now 5-2 on the season.
The Cougars return to action for the second day of the Houston Classic on Saturday and will play Oregon again and also take on Oregon State.
