The Oregon women invaded Seattle over the weekend and took two of three to run their season record to 26-3, winning the matinee but splitting the nightcap on a chilly Sunday in the depression capital of America.
In the first one Katie Flannery blasted a two-run homer over the left field fence in the fifth inning to propel the Ducks to the win. She also rapped an RBI double in the third. Pitching ace Lyndsey Grein came on the sixth with two outs and hurled two and one-third innings of shutout ball for her first save of the year, setting down seven batters in order and striking out three. For the season she's 14-1 with a sparkling 1.03 ERA, tops in the Big Ten. She's k'd 110 batters in 81.1 innings. Nolan Ryan, sit down.
She suffered her first loss of the year in the second leg of the doubleheader as the Ducks fell 4-3, just their third loss of the year, dropping them to 2-1 in the start of conference play.
The Webfoots seemed to run out of gas a little bit in the gray and gloom, allowing a single run in the first, second and fifth innings to trail 3-0. They rallied for three runs in their half of the sixth with designated player Stefini Ma'ake drilling a two-out, three-run double to tie the game, but in the Husky half of the inning the dastardly Dawgs touched Grein for another run on a two-out single by pinch hitter Charity Sevaaetasi.
Next up for the Ducks is a single game Monday a 3 p.m. PDT at Seattle University. They return to Jane Sanders Stadium Friday for a three-game conference series with Illinois, first pitch schedule for 6 p.m., available on ESPN+ or KWVA radio, 88.1 FM in Eugene.