No. 6 Oregon softball takes game one from No. 5 UCLA to claim first place in Big Ten

EUGENE, Ore. — Behind a dominant 5 ⅓ shutout innings from starter Lyndsey Grein and a pair of clutch homers from first baseman Rylee McCoy and center fielder Kedre Luschar, the No. 6 Oregon Ducks took game one of their three-game set with the No. 5 UCLA Bruins on Friday night.

UCLA starter Taylor Tinsley was perfect through the first 3 ⅔ innings of the contest before Rylee McCoy changed everything with one swing in the fourth. The homer that broke the game open was her 14th of the season, tying her with Jenn Salling's 2007 campaign for the most in a season by a Duck freshman.

Grein, who entered the night 0-1 with a 3.34 ERA in 8 ⅓ innings across two career appearances against the Bruins during her time at Virginia Tech, quieted their explosive offense to begin the game. In the top of the first, she retired the side in order with her first strikeout, a painted fastball to ring up Jessica Clements, and some help from Luschar in center field. But Tinsley matched her by sitting the Ducks (40-4, 13-1) down one-two-three in the bottom of the frame before the two starters would trade zeros in the second as Grein recorded her second, third, and fourth strikeouts while Tinsley tied up Oregon catcher Emma Cox for her first.

After Grein fanned the first two batters of the third, it looked like she would cruise to another one-two-three inning. But when the Bruin lineup flipped back to the top of the order, they reeled off back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases. This brought up UCLA first baseman Megan Grant, who entered Friday night's contest with a nation-leading 22 home runs. Despite striking out in less than three percent of her plate appearances this season, Grein fanned Grant to lead off the second, and with the bases loaded in the third, received a bit of luck as Grant got just under her 2-1 pitch, allowing Luscar to track back and make the catch at the warning track to leave the base loaded.

"She did a great job of just not trying to do too much and trusting her plan," Lombardi said of Grein. "Grant is an excellent hitter. She's probably one of the best hitters in the country, so to be able to keep the ball in the yard was huge for us."

While Grein carved through the Bruin lineup, she was matched step for step by Tinsley, who was perfect through the first three innings. When the Oregon lineup flipped back over, she got Kai Luschar to swing over the top of an off-speed strike three before her sister Kedre flew out to left to make it 11 Ducks up, 11 Ducks down.

When McCoy fell behind 0-2, it looked like Tinsley would continue her perfecto through four, but that's she left one over the middle of the plate for McCoy to get her barrel to, sending her 14th homer of the season 246 feet into the center field bleachers for Oregon's first hit of the day, breaking the scoreless tie to take the lead.

"Since day one, she's had really mature at-bats," Lombardi said of McCoy. "She doesn't get rattled, she stays with her plan, and with two strikes, got a good pitch to hit and hit it hard. So I just love what she's been doing all year, and to think that she's just a freshman, and just the mindset that she has at the plate, and the awareness, it's impressive."

After both posting zeros in the fifth, the Bruins (40-6, 12-2) looked to threaten early in the top of the sixth. Jordan Woolery led off the inning with a single, and after a wild pitch to Grant allowed the pinch runner to take second, Lombardi decided to intentionally walk her to put two on with no outs. A flyout to left gave Grein her first out of the inning, which would be her last of the night as Elise Sokolsky entered in relief. She fanned the first batter before freezing the second — both on her signature changeup — in a full count to exit the inning without allowing either runner to score.

"I think it just catches them off time," Sokolsky said of her devastating changeup. "They can know it's coming sometimes, but maybe the spin just throws them off. If I could stand in the box on my own changeup, I'd love to, just to see what it looks like."

Kaylynn Jones slapped a single into left field to lead off the sixth before taking second when Katie Flannery dropped down a sacrifice bunt. Lombardi decided to pinch-hit catcher Braiesey Rosa for her leadoff hitter Kai Luschar, but when she struck out, it brought up the Ducks' other Luschar sister, Kedre. After whiffing at strike one, she got all of the second pitch from Tinsley, sending it over the fence in left-center as Jones jogged home to make it 3-0 Ducks, pointing to the sky the second the ball left Luschar's bat, knowing it was gone all the way.

"That one felt pretty good," Luschar said of her sixth-inning homer. "Some of the other ones I wasn't too sure, but that one, I was sure." "I had a feeling she was gonna pitch me up, and me and Coach Ro[mero] had talked about my timing. She said, 'Trust your timing,' so I trusted my timing and I like those ones that are a little bit elevated."

Sokolsky came back out to the circle for the seventh, needing three more outs for her fourth save of the season. Back-to-back flyouts to Kai Luschar in left quickly left UCLA with only one more out to work with. As the order flipped back over, Clement tagged Sokolsky for a solo shot over the right field fence, but two pitches later, she would force a weak grounder to second that Jones handled and tossed over to McCoy for the final out.

"We feel great going into tomorrow," Sokolsky said. "We don't know how each game is gonna be won, but we know that we're gonna come out."

With Oregon now holding sole possession of first place in the Big Ten, the two teams will meet again at the Jane tomorrow as the series continues with game two's first pitch set for 4 PM.