Oregon softball captures 6th Duck team title in 1st year of Big Ten

Melyssa Lombardi's Ducks buried Michigan State 14-0 in Jane Sanders Stadium Saturday afternoon to capture the school's 6th team title of the year.

In their first year in the historic conference Oregon has won championships in women's cross country, football, women's indoor track and field, women's golf, men's indoor track and field and now softball.

Rylee McCoy crushed two home runs in the run-rule victory, her 16th and 17th, extending her program season record for home runs by a freshman.

With one game to go in the regular schedule the Oregon women reached 18-3, 46-6 overall. They rank No. 3 in the nation in the ESPN/USA Softball poll.

The series concludes today with a 1 p.m. PDT game in Jane Sanders Stadium, the Ducks going for a series win after losing 6-4 Friday night.

UCLA remains a game behind the Ducks at 19-4 and can tie for the title with a win over Northwestern and an Oregon loss, but the Lady Webfoots hold a tiebreaker after winning their season series with the women from Westwood.

Still, the Ducks want to achieve a clear crown and 20 league wins. In Saturday's game they struck for three runs in the first, three runs in the second, two in the third and six in the fourth to send the Spartans back to the hotel in four and a half innings.

McCoy's hitting .410 this season with 52 RBI,

Paige Sinicki mashed a three-run homer in the second, her seventh of the year. She drove in four runs total. Leadoff hitter Kai Luschar was 3-3 at the plate, scored three times with three RBI and a stolen base. She leads the Big Ten with 51.

Kedre Luschar cracked a pair of singles including a two-run single in the fourth to cap the scoring. She brought her sister home in the first with a sacrifice fly, three RBI in all.

She's fourth in the conference in batting, hitting at a .466 clip, second on the team in RBI with 48.

Elise Sokolsky reached 14-2 on the season, pitching a complete-game shutout, allowing three hits and striking out five.

The game today wraps up the regular season for UO with the Big Ten Tournament scheduled to begin Thursday at Purdue. It's televised on the Big Ten Network, as is the series-concluding game beginning at 1 p.m. PDT Sunday.

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