OSU softball rolls, starts ASU Classic with blowout win

The Oregon State softball team opened up its 2013 campaign with a 9-0 defeat of Stephen F. Austin Thursday in Tempe, Ariz.

The Beavers scored three runs in the first, three in the fourth and three in seventh en route to the victory.  
Senior pitcher Marina Demore, who started 19 games in the circle last season, pitched a complete game, 3-hitter, striking out five and walking one.

Offensively, freshman first baseman Natalie Hampton, the Beavers’ lone new starter, led the way with a 3-hit, 4-RBI performance in her collegiate debut. Hampton, who hit fifth in the order, hit the game’s lone home run.

Six Beavers accounted for OSU’s nine hits. Senior shortstop Elizabeth Santana, who led the Beavers with a .344 average last year, was 2-for-3 from the plate. Senior catcher Ally Kutz, senior left fielder Lea Cavestany, junior center fielder Hannah Bouska and pitcher Marina Demore all had one hit each.

Sophomore outfielder Dani Gilmore, who started all 59 games last season and was second on the team with a .322 average, was sick and did not play.

Today at 1:30 p.m., OSU faces the Oklahoma, the No. 2 team in the nation. The Sooners knocked OSU out of the postseason last year in regional round, defeating the Beavers 6-0 in Norman, Okla. The Sooners return all but one starter off last year’s team.

OSU then plays Creighton at 4:30 p.m. today and will play three more games over the weekend.

sports@dailybarometer.com