Oregon softball won both its second straight victory against a ranked team and its second straight victory over a former Pac-12 rival.
Kedre Luschar drove in two runs and was one of four players with multiple hits for the No. 19 Ducks in their 7-2 victory over No. 23 San Diego State on Friday afternoon at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. Lyndsey Grein struck out six batters and gave up just one hit in 5.0 shutout innings in a 2-0 victory against Utah.
In the second inning against Utah, Oregon took the lead thanks to a single home run from Katie Flannery, and in the third, Rylee McCoy added another.
Grein got a line out and consecutive strikeouts to escape the inning unscathed after replacing Taylour Spencer in the bottom of the third with runners on second and third and no outs.
Grein (8-0) only need 66 pitches in relief as the Utes failed to get a runner past first base for the remainder of the game, despite the Ducks leaving nine on base.
Luschar sparked a five-run second inning against SDSU with a bunt single that scored McCoy (3 for 4). Kaylynn Jones drove in another run, Paige Sinicki followed with an RBI single, an error scored another, and a double steal ended the inning.
Shannon Cunningham’s RBI double in the bottom of the inning gave San Diego State a run back.
Dezi Patmon (2 for 3) blasted a solo home run in the sixth to make it 7-1 after Luschar added an RBI single in the fifth. In the bottom of the sixth, SDSU scored thanks to an error.
Elise Sokolsky (3-0) struck out six batters in 5.1 innings while giving up two runs on four hits and two walks. Grein pitched 1.2 innings of relief, giving up two hits and striking out two.
Over 2.1 IP, Cece Cellura gave up five runs on eight hits for SDSU.
Oregon (14-1) will play No. 22 Missouri at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday to wrap up its stay in Cathedral City, California.
