STANFORD, Cal. — The No. 21 Oregon Ducks dropped their last-ever regular season Pac-12 series to the No. 7 Stanford Cardinal this weekend. Stanford won the first two games 7-3 on Friday and 3-1 on Saturday before a dominant complete-game shutout from Elise Sokolsky powered the Ducks to a 1-0 win on Sunday to prevent the sweep.
Morgan Scott got the start for the Ducks (28-18, 13-10) in game one, but her day wouldn't last long as the Cardinal (42-12, 17-7) quickly jumped on her for five runs on seven hits in only 2.2 innings.
After a quiet first inning from both teams that saw Kai Luschar for the Ducks and Ava Gall for the Cardinal left stranded on base, the offenses woke up in the second inning, each tallying three runs to keep the game tied.
Katie Flannery started the scoring for the Ducks, launching a solo shot over the left-field fence for her third home run of the season to lead off the inning. She was followed by singles from Vallery Wong, KK Humphreys, and Paige Sinicki, who scored another run before consecutive hit-by-pitches brought Sinicki home to give Oregon a 3-0 lead.
Stanford didn't let the Oregon lead last long, starting off the bottom of the frame with a pair of singles before bringing home two runs on a double by River Mahler. Another single would bring her around to score to tie the game before Scott was finally able to get out of the inning with a foul pop-up and a grounder to short.
Following a quick top of the third for Oregon's offense, the Cardinal tagged Scott for two solo shots, ending her day as she was relieved by Stevie Hansen.
The Ducks had an opportunity to add a run in the fourth with Tehya Bird reaching third with two outs but couldn't bring her home as Emma Kauf grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
The Cardinal answered with a two-run shot off Taryn Kern's bat, giving them a commanding 7-3 lead that they wouldn't relinquish.
Oregon only put two more runners on across the final three frames on a Flannery double in the fifth and a Luschar single in the sixth but couldn't bring either of them home as Regan Krause locked things down out of the pen for Stanford. After entering in the third, Krause allowed just one base runner per inning across the final five frames, striking out two Ducks in the process.
Things didn't improve in the second game, as Oregon's offense was again shut down by the Cardinal pitching staff, this time managing just one run on four hits.
That run was the highlight of the game for the Ducks, as Ariel Carlson's first-inning homer made her the first player in program history to swat 15 homers and swipe 15 bags in the same season. She's now tied for the Pac-12 lead with 15 homers this season and ranks fifth in the conference with 17 steals.
After a scoreless bottom of the first for Stanford, the Ducks loaded the bases in the top of the second after a pair of singles, a fielder's choice, and a hit-by-pitch, but they couldn't bring any more runs home to extend their lead. Luschar bounced a ball to Kern at second, who stepped on the base to end the inning.
Stanford added another run in the sixth, a solo homer by Kaelan Coch, to give them a 3-1 lead.
The Ducks put runners on base in the third and fourth but couldn't do anything with them. That would come back to bite them when Stanford brought the best pitcher in the nation in for the fifth, effectively ending Oregon's day at the plate.
NiJaree Canady — who leads the nation with a 0.53 ERA and 243 strikeouts in 158.2 innings this season — waltzed through the Oregon lineup for the final three innings, striking out five while only allowing one hit, picking up her fifth save of the year.
Oregon finally picked up a win on Sunday, riding a dominant shutout performance from Elise Sokolsky to a 1-0 victory. Sokolsky absolutely shut down the Cardinal offense, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out six.
The Ducks' bats didn't do much of their own as Krause and Canady limited them to just two hits on the day while striking out eight batters, but it wouldn't matter as one run was all they needed, thanks to Sokolsky.
After Lushcar grounded out to lead off the game, a pair of singles from Carlson and Kauf gave the Ducks runners on the corners with only one out. Kauf attempted to swipe second but was gunned down by the Cardinal catcher, Aly Kaneshiro. In the confusion though, Carlson was able to sneak home to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead that they held onto for the win.
Sokolsky allowed a single to the second batter of the game before retiring the next 13 hitters in a row. Her stuff was dominant from the start, picking up a pair of swinging strikeouts in the first before picking up another in the third and sitting down Kern looking to end the inning.
She allowed a two-out single in the bottom of the fifth but quickly got out of the frame with a pop-up to center. Kaitlyn Lim drew a full-count walk to lead off the sixth for the Cardinal, but Sokolsky answered by sitting down Kern again — this time swinging — and getting some help from Alyssa Daniell at first, who snared a line drive before stepping on the bag to double up Lim and end the inning.
Sokolsky picked up her sixth strikeout to begin the final inning and only needed seven more pitches to end the game after forcing a grounder to short and a pop-up to left.
Stanford is one of the best pitching teams in the country. It entered the weekend ranked seventh with a 1.72 team ERA, and it showed. They excelled especially when it mattered most, holding the Ducks to just a .100 batting average with runners in scoring position and a .087 average with two outs.
These problems in the clutch have hampered the Ducks all season, as their averages of .302, .286, and .299 with runners on base, runners in scoring position, and two-outs have dropped to .202, .145, and .217, respectively, in their 18 losses this year.
If not for a heroic performance in the circle by Sokolsky, Oregon's final regular season series in the Pac-12 could have ended much worse than it did this weekend.
The final Pac-12 Softball Tournament kicks off on Wednesday night with a 7 PM contest between Oregon State and Arizona State to determine who gets the pleasure of losing to the top-seeded UCLA Bruins on Thursday.
The Ducks open things up at 10 AM on Thursday against the Utah Utes. Oregon won two out of three against Utah on the road in mid-March, which was highlighted by a season-best 20-run performance in game one of that series. If they can beat the Utes, they'll take on the winner of Stanford and Cal at 4:30 on Friday afternoon.