CATHEDRAL CITY, Cal. — No. 25 Oregon (9-7) continued its out-of-conference schedule this weekend at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. The Ducks played five games from Thursday to Saturday, finishing the weekend 3-2 with wins over UCF, Notre Dame, and Long Beach State. They dropped games to No. 22 Baylor and Nebraska
Morgan Scott got the win against UCF, as the Ducks beat the Knights 4-3 in the first half of Thursday’s doubleheader. She tossed five innings of two-run ball, allowing five hits while striking out four and walking one, improving her record to 3-2 on the season. She was followed in the circle by Taylour Spencer and Stevie Hansen who combined to give up six hits over the last two innings but only allowed one more run, holding on to give the Ducks the win.
UCF put two runs on the board in the top of the first but Ariel Carlson was quick to answer for the Ducks. With two down in the bottom of the inning, Carlson singled into left field, stole second, and scored on Alyssa Daniell’s triple down the right-field line.
Hanna Delgado then pulled a homer over the right-field wall, her first of the season, to put the Ducks ahead 3-2 for a lead they would never relinquish. Vallery Wong drove home Ayanna Shaw with a sacrifice fly to add an insurance run in the third, which would later prove to be necessary when UCF added their third run in the fifth inning.
Kai Luschar was to only Duck to pick up multiple hits, going 2-for-4 against the Knights. She leads the team with 27 hits this year, with Thursday marking her sixth multi-hit game this season.
Oregon wasn’t able to keep their momentum going into the second half of Thursday’s doubleheader, falling 3-2 to the No. 22 Baylor Bears.
Elise Solosky got the start for the Ducks, managing a clean first inning before the Baylor offense jumped on her in the second. She walked the first batter on four pitches before getting the next batter to watch strike three go by for the first out of the inning. Baylor answered with a single and a wild pitch put runners on second and third.
Shannon Vivoda drove a single up the middle to score the runner from third, advancing to second on the throw to again put two in scoring position for the Bears. That would end Solosky’s day, with Hansen coming in for relief. She walked the next batter to load the bases before forcing a popup and getting McKenzie Wilson to swing through strike three to get out of the jam.
Oregon answered back in the fourth. A Delgado single led off the inning and Carlson moved her to second with a bunt. A throwing error on Daniell’s grounder to second then allowed Delgado to come around to tie the game.
Baylor went popup, single, popup, to start the fifth, giving Hansen two early outs, but a four-pitch walk and hit-by-pitch loaded the bases. Sydney Collazos drove a single into right field, bringing home two runners to put Baylor up 3-1 and force Hansen out of game. Spencer came in and struck out the next batter looking to end the inning.
Scott came in for Spencer after she gave up a pair of singles to start the sixth, and shut down the Bears’ offense, not allowing a single hit over her 1.2 innings. Oregon went down one-two-three in the bottom half of the frame, forcing themselves to need to make up two runs in the seventh to keep the game going.
Carlson flew out to center to start the seventh, giving Baylor their first out. Oregon then got a rally going, with Daniell singling through the left side of the infield and Wong finding the gap in left-center to put two in scoring position. KK Humphreys found grass in right field for a double, scoring Daniell from third, but went too far past second, getting tagged out for the second out of the inning.
Regan Legg, who had pinch run for Wong, represented the tying run at third base, and Melyssa Lombardi decided to go to her bench, calling on fifth-year senior, Emma Kauf to pinch hit. She battled for seven pitches to work a full count, but popped up to the pitcher on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, ending the rally and the game.
After a slow first two games, the offense came through during Oregon’s first game on Friday, putting up eight runs to beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Scott picked up another win in the circle, allowing two runs over five innings while striking out four before handing the ball to Spencer for two perfect innings.
Carlson again scored first for the Ducks in the second inning, singling up the middle, stealing second, and coming around to score on an RBI single by Kauf. Oregon loaded the bases but Delgado popped out to end the inning, keeping the Ducks to just one run.
In the third, Wong pulled a ball into left field for extra bases, but Notre Dame’s left fielder, Emily Tran was injured trying to field the ball, allowing Wong to come all the way around for an inside-the-park home run. Carlson then battled for nine pitches, fouling off six, before launching a home run well over the center field wall, giving the Ducks back-to-back homers, and a 3-0 lead.
The Ducks loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth, setting up Carlson to smack a double into left-center, clearing the bases to give Oregon a commanding 6-0 lead.
Notre Dame scored their first run on a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the fourth, but Delgado made sure the Ducks kept momentum on their side with a two-run double in the fifth. The Irish scored another run in the bottom of the frame, but that was it, as both teams were held scoreless over the last two innings.
Luschar secured another multi-hit game, reaching base three times, and was joined by Carlson, who went 3-for-4, driving in three runs and hitting her team-leading third home run.
Oregon’s bats kept rolling into the second half of Friday, as the Ducks beat the Long Beach State Dirtbags 11-4.
The Ducks struck in the top of the first inning thanks to a two-run homer from Wong, her third of the season, but found themselves trailing when Hansen gave up three runs on four hits without recording a single out in the second inning. She was replaced by Spencer who pitched the remaining six innings, only surrendering one run on three hits while picking up the win.
Oregon answered back in the top of the third, scoring four runs on four hits and an error, including Daniell’s third home run of the season that put the Ducks up 6-3.
In her next at-bat in the fifth inning, Daniel crushed the first pitch she saw over the left field fence, her fourth of the season to take the team lead, giving Oregon a four-run advantage.
Spencer gave up a run in the bottom of the fifth, but the Ducks answered back to put the game out of reach. After the first two batters got out, Paige Sinicki reached on a bunt single and stole second, Lushcar walked, and Delgado reached on an error, setting up Carlson to bring them all home on an opposite-field grand slam, putting the Ducks up seven and the game out of reach.
Carlson, Daniell, and Sinicki all recorded multi-hit games, and Carlson and Daniell tied each other with four home runs a piece on the season to lead the team.
Despite all the momentum the Oregon offense had going after Friday, they weren’t able to keep it going into their Saturday morning clash with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, being shut out in a 6-0 loss to end the weekend.
Nebraska scored two runs in the top of the first, including one unearned after an error from Luschar in left field. The Ducks loaded the bases in the bottom half of the frame, but Sinicki struck out swinging to end the inning before they could answer any of those runs.
Scott gave up a two-run homer in the third and was replaced by Spencer, ending her day after two innings and three earned runs. Spencer threw 2.1 innings before handing the ball to Hansen to finish the game, each of them allowing an earned run.
The Ducks left 10 runners on base, going 2-for-13 with runners on, and 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, continuing last weekend’s trend.
Oregon has struggled to win low-scoring games this year, as their pitching staff has kept things close but their offense hasn’t been able to keep up with their top opponents. This season when scoring three or fewer runs, the Ducks have a record of just 1-6, compared to a record of 8-1 when the offense has given the pitching staff four or more runs of support.
The Ducks come home for the first time next weekend as they’ll host the Jane Sanders classic. They’ll start their weekend at 3:30 on Thursday, with a doubleheader against Mount St. Mary’s and Maryland, before playing Maryland again at 6 PM on Friday and playing another doubleheader starting at 3:30 against No. 11 Florida State and Mount St. Mary’s.
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