No. 16 Oregon softball bounces back with win over Weber State, will face Stanford in regional final

EUGENE, Ore. — After suffering the largest defeat in head coach Melyssa Lombardi's seven seasons leading the Ducks at the hands of Stanford earlier in the afternoon, 16th-seeded Oregon rebounded on Saturday night to defeat Weber State 9-1, keeping its season alive for at least another day. The Ducks have earned themselves a rematch with the Cardinal in Sunday's regional final, needing to beat them twice to advance to next weekend's super regionals.

"These guys have been responding all year long," Lombardi said of her team. "We did not like how we got after it in the first game, so to really just reset, and then get right after the second game, that's what we've been doing all year."

With Oregon designated as the road team, Kai Luschar walked to lead things off before swiping second and coming home to score when her sister Kedre poked a single into left field. Lyndsey Grein got the ball in the circle for the Ducks in the bottom of the inning, but the Wildcats got after her quickly.

With one down, Taegan Smith and Sadie Kirk launched back-to-back doubles — the second of which nearly cleared the fence in center — to tie the game at a run apiece. A wild pitch and a walk would put runners on the corners, but Grein picked up a pair of strikeouts to escape the inning.

After Dezianna Patmon popped up to lead off the second, Kaylynn Jones slapped a single into left field before Katie Flannery crushed the first pitch she saw into the center field bleachers to put Oregon back ahead. The homer was her ninth of the season and first since April 4 against Michigan.

Elise Sokolsky replaced Grein in the circle to begin the bottom of the second, walking the first batter she faced on four pitches before resetting to retire the next three Wildcats in order and end the inning.

Back-to-back singles off the bats of Emma Cox and Stefini Ma'ake put two on with one out for the Ducks before a controversial, full-count strike three was called against Patmon for the second out of the third. Jones followed up with another single to left to load the bases for Flannery, but she would pop up to center, leaving three stranded to end the inning.

Sokolsky came back out for the bottom of the frame, but struggled to find the strike zone, walking two batters before a flyout to Patmon in foul territory down the right field line helped her out of the inning. She held the Wildcats scoreless across her six frames, but just barely landed half of her offerings for strikes, a rarity for someone who zoned her pitches at a top-20 rate in the nation this season.

"We're at the point where it's survive and advance, so it doesn't really matter what it has to look like," Sokolsky said. "It just needs to get the job done."

Kai Luschar walked and stole second to lead off the fourth before Paige Sinicki roped a ball down the left-field line, tucking it just fair for a double to bring Luschar across and make it 4-1 Ducks. Three pitches later, McCoy followed with a line drive of her own to the corner in left to plate Sinicki with a double before Kedre Luschar skied her sixth homer of the season into the center field bleachers to push Oregon's lead to six.

After picking up her third strikeout of the night for the second out with a runner on first in the bottom of the frame, Sokolsky walked her fourth batter of the game to put two on, the most free passes she's allowed since walking five Stanford batters over a year ago. One pitch later, though, Flannery snared a line drive to end the inning.

"I can't focus on, 'Oh, shoot, I have this many walks," Sokolsky said. "I've got to just keep going on. I know my teammates got my back."

Kai Luschar beat out an infield single to reach base for the fourth time on Saturday night to lead off the fifth. With two outs, her sister Kedre drove her team-leading 16th double of the season to the gap in left-center, bringing Kai home to make it 8-1 Ducks.

"I can kind of just look at her and she's like a comfort to me," Kedre Luschar said of her sister after driving her home twice on Saturday night. "I think it's cool that it just so happens that she's on base a lot and I'm up to bat, so it's pretty cool to have that opportunity."

Sokolsky worked her first one-two-three inning of the night in the bottom of the fifth before Patmon and Jones each singled to give the Ducks two on with one out in the sixth, but Flannery and Kai Luschar would fly out to end the inning. Patmon's single made it so that every Oregon starter recorded a hit on Saturday night.

Sokolsky tied a career-high with her fifth walk in the sixth but continued to hold the Wildcats off the board, forcing a groundout to Sinicki to escape the inning. She led off the top of the next frame with a triple off the wall in center before pushing Oregon's lead to eight as McCoy grounded out to short.

Sokolsky returned to the circle to close things down in the bottom of the seventh, sitting Weber State down one-two-three to secure the win for the Ducks.

Oregon will get another crack at Stanford on Sunday in the regional final. With the weekend's double-elimination format, the Ducks will need to beat the Cardinal twice to advance. First pitch will come at 3:30 PM from Jane Sanders Stadium, with the second game set for 6 PM if necessary.

"I know this group's going to want to answer back," Lombardi said.