Last weekend, Ducks softball came back to the Jane for the first time this season. Oregon hosted the Oregon Classic, which featured play from Stetson, Samford, and Idaho State. It was a weekend to regroup from some tough weekends on the road, and was mostly easygoing save for a battle against Idaho State that went to extra innings.
Friday
Game 1 vs. Stetson (Game 1)
The Ducks played their first game of the day against the Hatters, who were victorious in their morning match against Samford by the score
of 4-1.
Lyndsey Grein was dominant in her four innings of play, and kept Stetson from hitting, putting the Hatters down in order each inning.
Elon Butler had a fantastic weekend, and it was fitting that she began Oregon’s scoring in the first inning with a 2-RBI double and a steal of home base.
Butler was not finished there, as she added a second inning grand slam to put the Ducks up 7-0.
Oregon added runs in each of the four innings they were at bat, taking a 10-0 lead into the fifth inning. Rowan Thompson took the circle in the fifth, and Stetson picked up a meaningless home run, as the Ducks picked up a 10-1 run-rule victory in five innings.
Game 2 vs. Idaho State
The afternoon game against the Idaho State Bengals had all the excitement that the morning game lacked. Oregon rallied from behind to win in eight innings, 4-3.
Elise Sokolsky took the circle and lasted through 4.1 innings of play, but was not as sharp as Grein was earlier in the day.
Oregon’s bats were slow to get started against ISU’s Kasey Aguinaga. The Ducks left a runner on base in each of the first two innings. Sokolsky gave up a two-run homer in the top of the second inning and the Bengals had the initial lead, 2-0.
In the third inning, Elon Butler played target practice with Aguinaga and scored Oregon’s first run.
Oregon tied the game in the fourth inning, but in the fifth inning Sokolsky lost whatever control she had and Maddie Milhorn came to the circle with one out and runners on first and second. An ISU double scored and the Bengals regained the lead, 3-1, but Milhorn struck out the next two batters to limit the damage.
The Ducks did not score in the bottom of the fifth, and Grein came out to prevent any more bloodshed and try to get Oregon back in it. She did her job, preventing any hits for the rest of the game, while striking out six batters.
Oregon scored another run to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, and the sides went scoreless to put the game into extra innings. With Grein keeping the Bengals off the bases, it was up to the Oregon bats to do their job.
With a runner on second base because of extra innings, Elon Butler led off with a walkoff double and complete the Oregon rally to win the game.
Saturday
Game 1 vs. Stetson (Game 2)
The Hatters played closer in their second game against Oregon, but the game was not really in doubt as the Ducks cruised to a 4-1 win.
Taylour Spencer started in the circle, and outside of giving up a home run in the first inning she pitched well, lasting through five innings before Sokolsky took over.
Oregon’s bats took away some of the pressure from Spencer, and with a two-run fifth inning the Ducks had the game in hand. Sokolsky pitched the sixth and seventh innings and finished with the save.
Game 2 vs. Samford (Game 1)
Elise Sokolsky almost pitched a complete game shutout in Oregon’s first match against Samford, but when she ran into some problems in the fifth inning, Lindsey Grein came in for the final out, and Oregon won 8-0 in five innings.
The bats for the Ducks were quiet in the early innings, but a four-run fourth inning, capped by a Kaylynn Jones three-run homer, gave Oregon a 5-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Samford loaded the bases and then walked Jones to make it a 6-0 game. Elon Butler then followed with a walkoff, 2-RBI single to give the Ducks another run-rule win.
Sunday
Game 2 vs. Samford
Sunday was downright painful for the Bulldogs. It seemed to be going better for Samford with Maddie Milhorn starting for the Ducks. Milhorn immediately ran into problems and gave up a two-run homer to give Samford the lead, and Taylor Spencer came to the circle.
It would not be long before that lead was a fading wisp of a memory.
Rylee McCoy got on track in the bottom of the first inning with a three-run homer to left field.
Oregon added three more in the first, and we had a 6-2 ball game.
Samford would not score again. Spencer pitched for 2.2 innings and was relieved by Rowan Thompson when the Ducks were up 12-2. Taylor did not give up any hits, and set Thompson up nicely in Thompson’s second appearance of the season. Thompson pitched two innings, and faced 9 batters, giving up just two hits with no walks and one K.
Oregon only needed four innings to put up football numbers against the Bulldogs. A six-run fourth inning brought us to the easy 18-2 run-rule win in Sunday’s only game.
Nine batters scored RBIs for the Ducks. Rylee McCoy led the way, going 2-3 for three RBIs, and hopefully this will provide a much-needed confidence boost for the slumping sophomore.
Elon Butler had a crazy weekend, and has been Oregon’s most productive bat in the early season.
Oregon softball (13-6) heads up the road to take on OSU in Corvallis tomorrow. They return to The Jane for the Jane Sanders Classic this coming weekend, and will face Oregon State (again), Sacramento State, and Nevada. All games will be televised on Big Ten Plus.
