No. 19 Oregon softball makes statement at Mary Nutter Classic, with five wins, three over ranked teams

CATHEDRAL CITY, Cal. — Despite their 10-1 start, the No. 19 Oregon Ducks found themselves largely overlooked due to a relatively weak strength of schedule entering this week's Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. It will be hard to overlook them now.

The Ducks went a perfect 5-0, with all five wins coming over teams who were NCAA Tournament participants a season ago. Oregon upset No. 7 Tennessee in an extra-inning thriller for its first ranked win of the season before taking down No. 22 Missouri and No. 23 San Diego State.

Game 1: Oregon 5, Cal 4

The Ducks found themselves trailing just one batter into the first game of the weekend after Cal's Lagi Quirogo sent a home run over the fence in left-center to lead off the game. Kaylee Pond followed with a single before advancing to third and coming home to score on a sacrifice fly, putting the Bears up 2-0 early.

Oregon wouldn't take long to respond though, as in the bottom of the first, Emma Cox drove home Dezianna Patmon with a double before Rylee McCoy continued her hot start to the season with a two-run homer, giving her sole possession of second on the team with four on the season. McCoy made her first career start last weekend and hit .500 with a pair of homers after entering the starting lineup.

After a scoreless second, the Bears caused more trouble for Duck starter Elise Sokolsky in the third, singling three times to tie the game and ending Sokolsky's day after just 2 ⅔ innings pitched. She was replaced by Taylour Spencer who worked out of the jam. Spencer would concede her first run of the season in the fourth before giving way to Lyndsey Grein, who shut things down with 3 ⅓ scoreless innings.

In the bottom of the third, Stefini Ma'ake and Cox each singled to give Oregon a pair of base runners before Paige Sinicki ripped a ball down the left-field line for a two-run triple. The Ducks took a 5-3 lead that they would never relinquish thanks to Grein, who didn't allow a single until there were two outs in the seventh, at which point one more popup to Kai Luschar in left sealed the win for Oregon.

Game 2: Oregon 1, Tennessee 0

In an epic battle in the circle, the Ducks pulled off a thrilling extra-inning upset over the No. 7 team in the country, their first ranked opponent of the season. Elise Sokolsky and Lyndsey Grein were absolute nails in the circle, holding the Lady Volunteers scoreless across eight innings while allowing just three hits, including none from Grein as she closed out the final 3 ⅓ innings for the second time on Thursday.

Tennessee threatened early with two outs in the first inning after a Sokolsky walk and a Katie Flannery error at third before Sokolsky forced a grounder back to the circle to work out of the jam. That would be the Vols' last base runner until the fourth as Sokolsky sat down eight straight before allowing a single that she would quickly erase with her second strikeout to end the inning.

On offense, Oregon couldn't get anything going as Tennessee's Karlyn Pickens dominated the Ducks in the circle. Pickens utilized her nasty movement running both ways to continuously get the Ducks' batters to whiff, striking out 13 across 7 ⅓ innings. Oregon finally managed a base runner with two outs in the third when freshman Elyse Kresho — making her first career start in centerfield — drew a four-pitch walk before being gunned down by Tennessee's backstop Sophia Nugent to end the inning.

Pickens continued to dominate after the walk, facing the minimum through the first six innings of the game. Tennessee's next chance to score came in the fifth after a pair of two-out singles put runners on first and second and ended Sokolsky's start after 4 ⅔ scoreless innings. Grein entered in relief, walking the next batter to load the bases before blowing a fastball by left fielder Gabby Leach to end the inning and strand all three runners.

Patmon led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to right field that came out of Alannah Leach's glove as she dove to make the catch. After giving the Ducks their first base hit of the game, Patmon moved up to third after a passed ball and a wild pitch before being stranded as Flannery popped up to shallow center before Pickens fanned Kresho and Kai Luschar.

Luschar struck out for the first time this season in the first inning and finished the game 0-for-3 with three K's. It was just the second three-strikeout game of her career and the first since April 2022 when she played against UCLA as a freshman.

After Grein worked around the ghost runner placed on second in the top of the eighth, Sinicki dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move the Ducks' ghost runner Kedre Luschar over to third. Tennessee decided to intentionally walk the next two batters, Patmon and Flannery, bringing up Braiesey Rosa for the pinch-hit walk-off opportunity.

Rosa wouldn't even have to lift the bat off her shoulder as a passed ball got by Nugent, allowing Luschar to race home for the winning run, sealing the upset victory for Oregon.

"I had a feeling that's how I was gonna score was gonna be a passed ball," Luschar said. "But I was ready for anything."

Game 3: Oregon 2, Utah 0

After picking up two wins on Friday, tossing 6 ⅔ scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and only one hit, Grein continued her dominance on Saturday, picking up her Big Ten-leading eighth win of the season after five scoreless innings in relief. Spencer got the start in the circle for Oregon, shutting out the Utah offense for the first two innings before giving way to Grein.

Together, Oregon's two pitchers combined to allow just two hits and a single walk as the Ducks completed their fourth shutout of the season, tied for the second-most in the Big Ten.

The Ducks left the bases loaded in the first inning after McCoy popped up and Patmon went down swinging. They wouldn't be held scoreless for long though, as in the second inning Flannery launched her second homer of the season over the center field fence, her first since Oregon's first game of the season.

She added a walk to her stat line in the sixth and has been one of the Ducks' most disciplined players at the plate this season, leading the team with a 21 percent walk rate that has helped her maintain a .465 on-base percentage despite just a .281 batting average this season.

Oregon's only other run came an inning later in the third when McCoy crushed her fifth home run of the season. While she's tied with Ma'ake for the team lead, McCoy didn't receive consistent playing time until the second week of the season and leads the Ducks by homering in 20 percent of her at-bats this season.

Game 4: Oregon 7, San Diego State 2

Oregon's offense gave Sokolsky an early cushion with a five-run second inning but she wouldn't need it, holding the Aztecs to just two runs across 5 ⅓ innings while striking out six. San Diego State scored on an RBI double in the second but wouldn't threaten again until the sixth when Sokolsky surrendered a single before a wild pitch moved the runner into scoring position and ended her start.

Lombardi called on Grein to relieve Sokolsky and just a few pitches later, the Aztecs' Angie Yellen swiped third and came home to score after Cox missed her throw attempting to gun down the runner. Grein worked her way out of the inning with a strikeout before locking down the seventh to secure the win.

"I think we just feed off of each other really well," Sokolsky said. "So it's easy to go out there and do what you have to do when you have to pass the ball. To have someone like [Grein] back you up, it's pretty sick."

The Ducks were sat down in order in the first inning before exploding in the second, tagging the Aztec starter Cece Cellura for five runs on six hits and an error. McCoy led off the inning with a double, eventually coming home to score when Kedre Luschar dropped down a perfect bunt single. A Sinicki single combined with an Aztec error scored two more and put her on third where she was able to score on a Kaylynn Jones groundout. Kai Luschar followed by smacking her second double of the season into the left-center gap before scoring the Ducks' fifth and final run of the inning when Patmon bunted for a single and intentionally got herself into a rundown between first and second that distracted San Diego State's defense and allowed Luschar to score. 

Oregon added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings when Kedre Luschar brought Regan Legg home with her second RBI single of the day and Patmon clubbed her third homer of the season.

Game 5: Oregon 11, Missouri 3

Behind an explosive offensive performance, the Ducks cruised to their fifth win of the weekend, finishing the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic 5-0 and extending their winning streak to double digits.

After a quiet first inning, Ma'ake reached on an error to lead off the second before Cox drove her fourth home run of the season out to left. Three batters later after a pair of groundouts, Flannery added a solo shot of her own, her second in as many days. 

The Ducks' offense continued to stay hot in the third, this time rallying for five two-out runs. After Kai Luschar and Patmon led off the frame with a groundout and a strikeout, McCoy and Ma'ake went back-to-back, McCoy first out to center followed by Ma'ake out to left. Cox and Sinicki then each walked before coming home to score on singles from Kedre Luschar and Flannery. 

Sokolsky got the start in the circle and cruised through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. After striking out her fifth batter to lead off the inning, Missouri put two on with a single and a walk before shortstop Kara Daly brought everybody home with a three-run shot over the left field fence. That would end Sokolsky's day after 2 ⅓ innings as Lombardi called on Grein for relief duties. She answered with consecutive strikeouts to end the third.

The Ducks added three more runs for some insurance in the top of the seventh when McCoy sent her second homer of the game over the left-field fence. The long ball was her seventh of the season, tying her with her fellow freshman Ma'ake for the team lead.

Grein put a pair on in the top of the seventh with a leadoff single and a walk before striking out her fourth batter to secure the win for the Ducks. Grein dominated all weekend long for Oregon, tossing 18 shutout innings with 24 strikeouts and just five hits allowed.

Next up, Oregon returns home to Jane Sanders Stadium for the first time this season, hosting the first of two straight tournaments in its home ballpark. The Ducks begin the Oregon Classic at 3:30 PM on Friday with a doubleheader against San Diego and Portland State. Saturday will bring a rematch with San Diego at the same time before the Ducks take on Loyola Chicago at 6 PM and wrap up the weekend with the Ramblers again at 1 PM on Sunday.