CLEARWATER, Fla. — Oregon softball kicked off its season this weekend at the NFCA Leadoff Classic with six games from Thursday to Sunday.
The Ducks came into the weekend as the No. 13 team in the country but started their season with a disappointing loss to the Indiana Hoosiers on Thursday before bouncing back to beat the Kansas Jayhawks and the Liberty Flames on Friday.
Coming off back-to-back wins against Kansas and Liberty, Oregon continued that momentum with an 8-0 win over Missouri State on Saturday morning. The Ducks followed that with a loss to No. 7 Clemson (3-2) later in the day and a win over Army (12-1) on Sunday.
After missing most of last season with an injury, redshirt sophomore, Elise Solosky was fantastic in her season debut. She tossed five scoreless innings, allowing only three hits while striking out three and walking none, recording her first win since February 18, 2023, against Loyola Marymount. Her terrific debut continued to show the dominance of this pitching staff, who allowed an average of only 2.33 runs per game across the weekend.
Solosky was followed in the circle by junior, Stevie Hansen, who bounced back from a rough first outing that saw her allow five runs in two innings in the season opener against Indiana. Hansen threw two shutout innings in relief, striking out four batters while only allowing one hit.
The offense got things started early against Missouri State, with Kai Luschar singling through the left side of the infield in the first at-bat of the game. Fifth-year transfer, Emma Kauf, followed up with a double to advance Luschar to third where she was driven home on a sacrifice fly from Ariel Carlson.
The Ducks added two more runs in the second and one in the fourth before a four-run seventh inning put the game out of reach. Despite Missouri State’s staff not allowing a single free pass, Oregon was able to get on base time after time, racking up 15 hits on the day. Luschar went 4-for-5 on the day, her first career four-hit game, coming around to score twice, while Kauf added three hits of her own. Carlson, Vallery Wong, and Tehya Bird each drove in two runs a piece, accounting for the majority of Oregon’s offensive production.
The real test of the weekend came on Saturday night against No. 7 Clemson. Oregon gave the ball to fifth-year senior, Morgan Scott, to make her fourth appearance and second start of the season. Scott threw an inning of relief against Indiana and Kansas before shutting down Liberty’s offense for five innings in her first start of the year.
Luschar again led the game off with a single and reached third after Kauf singled and Carlson grounded into a fielder’s choice. Alyssa Daniell then hit a sac fly to right field, bringing home Luschar to give the Ducks an early 1-0 lead.
Against Millie Thompson, who posted a 1.82 ERA in 92.1 innings for the Tigers last year, getting an early run was massive for the Ducks. McKenzie Clark got Clemson started in the bottom of the first, finding grass in right-center for a leadoff double. She then stole third, setting herself up to score on a sac fly by Alex Brown. While giving up a run in the first wasn’t the outcome Morgan Scott was hoping for, she was able to get Valerie Cagle, the best player in the country, to strike out swinging in her first at-bat, which was a positive that she could take from the inning.
KK Humphreys led off the top of the second with a double but was left stranded in scoring position when Vallery Wong lined out to right field, and Tehya Bird and Paige Sinicki grounded out to end the inning.
Scott kept the momentum she found at the end of the first inning going into the second, forcing a ground out, a line out, and a pop-up for an easy one-two-three inning.
Realizing that Scott was dialed in and that Oregon was up for the challenge, Clemson decided to move Cagle from first base to the circle. In addition to her prowess at the plate, Cagle was also one of the best pitchers in the country last season and had already tossed four scoreless innings across the Tigers' first three games. Cagle showed why she’s so elite in the third, getting Luschar and Carlson to go down swinging while forcing Kauf to ground out in between, completely shutting down the top of Oregon’s lineup.
Scott gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the third, but quickly got the next three batters out, including another strikeout. Alyssa Daniel started the fourth with a first-pitch single, and head coach, Melyssa Lombardi decided to pinch-run freshman, Ayanna Shaw for Daniel. Shaw stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, putting herself in position to be driven home by a KK Humphreys sac fly, putting the Ducks up 2-1.
Cagle got the better of Scott the second time around, singling to right field before advancing to third on a Julia Knowler double. Alia Logoleo then dropped down a perfect bunt, with Cagle racing to the plate to tie the game at 2-2. Clemson got another single to score the runner from third, putting runners on first and second before Scott got a flyout for the first out of the inning.
With two on and one out, Aby Viera ripped a hard hit into center field but Hanna Delgado played it perfectly, tracking down the fly ball to save what certainly would have been extra bases and multiple runs for Clemson. The runners were able to advance on the play, putting two in scoring position with two outs, but Scott was able to get out of the jam, forcing a groundout to first base to end the inning, keeping what could have been a massive inning for Clemson to only two runs.
Cagle got another one-two-three inning in the top of the fifth, striking out Paige Sinicki in the process, but Scott was right there to answer, negating a leadoff single by getting two Tigers to go down swinging to end the inning.
Cagle forced Kauf, Carlson, and Daniel to ground out for a quick top of the sixth, and Scott gave up a single to start the bottom of the frame, ending her night after five innings and three runs. The Ducks brought in freshman, Taylour Spencer to make her third appearance of the season. She quickly got a flyout and a double-play, keeping it a one-run game to give Oregon a chance to tie it in the top of the seventh.
Clemson kept their best player in the circle to close out the game, and she proved it was the right decision, getting two quick outs before Vallery Wong singled to put the tying run on first. Even with a runner on, Cagle was unfazed, striking out Tehya Bird to secure the win for the Tigers.
This game was just the perfect example of why Cagle is the best player in the country, as she was able to beat the Ducks almost single-handedly. She went 1-for-3 at the plate, scoring the game-tying run in the fourth, and shut down the Ducks’ offense for five innings of one-run ball, allowing only two hits while striking out five.
After the disappointing loss in such a close game, Oregon bounced back on Sunday morning by taking out their frustrations on a helpless Army team, demolishing them 12-1 to force a mercy rule after the fifth inning.
Stevie Hansen got the start, giving up a run on three hits in 2.1 innings, striking out four. She gave up more runs than she was hoping to this weekend, but her strikeout stuff was dominant the whole time, with 11 Ks in 6.1 innings. Last year she struck out 5.3 batters per seven innings, but has that number up to 12.2 so far this year.
Hansen handed the ball over to Spencer, who threw 2.2 scoreless innings to secure the win. So far in her freshman season, Spencer has thrown 10 innings while only allowing one run on five hits.
Oregon’s offense started slow, not scoring until the third inning, but put up a massive 9-run fifth inning to secure the win. They were led by a three-for-three day from Ariel Carlson, ripping three doubles while driving in four runs. The sister-duo of Kai and Kedre Luschar each added three hits of their own, contributing to the Ducks’ second 15-hit game of the weekend.
Oregon’s season continues when they head to San Diego for the Campbell/Cartier Classic on Friday, where they will face Texas A&M, Loyola Marymount, and San Diego State for a total of five games.
תגובות