Oregon Softball sweeps doubleheader with Illini

Oregon ran their season record to 28-3 with a sweep of a doubleheader at Jane Sanders Stadium Saturday, winning the opener 9-1 and the second game 14-0 in five innings.

Katie Flannery, Dezianna Patmon and Braisey Rosa blasted first inning home runs as part of a six-run rally to propel the Ducks to a win in the opener, a game started Friday night, suspended by rain and resumed Saturday morning in the third inning.

Lyndsey Grein pitched five innings of two-hit ball for the win. She's now 15-1 on the season, tops in the Big Ten with a 1.05 earned run average, also best in the conference. Opponents are batting .141 against her.

She was backed by some sparkling defense. Leftfielder and leadoff hitter Kai Luschar shined in the doubleheader with four hits, three stolen bases, two outstanding catches at the wall. She threw out a runner trying to stretch a single into a double in the nightcap.

The nightcap was a knockout with the Ducks erupting for two touchdowns, blasting the 13-14 Illini with 10 hits that included a double and a leadoff second-inning homer by 1B Rylee McCoy. In the circle, Elise Sokolsky started and pitched three scoreless innings, striking out three while not allowing a hit. Taylour Spencer pitched a scoreless inning and a third, then Staci Chambers closed it out with a foulout and a strikeout in the top of the fifth, the game called by run rule at that point.

Oregon struck for 8 runs in the home half of the first and six more in the second. Luschar led the offensive onslaught with three hits and a pair of stolen bases, while McCoy rapped three hits. Centerfielder Kedre Luschar drilled a double and a single.

At 4-1 in conference the Ducks are in fourth place behind undefeated Michigan, Northwestern and UCLA. They go for the series sweep Sunday at noon., then they're off until next Friday when they travel to New Jersey for a three-game weekend series at Rutgers.