National College Softball Editor Justin McLeod is on the road covering the college softball season, and on Thursday night, his travels took him to Greensboro, North Carolina, where the Oregon Ducks faced off against the hosting UNC Greensboro Spartans.
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For the first six innings, UNC Greensboro looked like world-beaters. Hosting the Oregon Ducks for a single game in Greensboro before both teams were set to participate in a weekend tournament in Chapel Hill, Thursday night’s affair had a little bit of everything.
After scoring two in the bottom of the second inning on a Grace Loftin two-run shot, the Spartans held that same lead until the sixth inning. That’s when Oregon shortstop Paige Sinicki lofted a home run over the fence to cut the lead in half.
UNCG’s resolve was impressively on display for most of the night, and when they answered in the bottom of the 6th with a solo shot of their own, this one off the bat of 9-hole hitter Brooklynn Maxwell, it was a really excellent job of not cowering under a top-level opponent.
In the 7th inning, though, with Oregon down to their last at-bats, the wheels came off a bit for UNCG. A two-run smack off the bat of KK Humphreys ate up the UNCG infielder and two runs scored to tie the ballgame.
Everybody wants to play extra innings on a weekend-opening Thursday night game, right
