SAN DIEGO – No. 17 Oregon’s pitching staff threw a pair of shutouts Saturday at the Campbell/Cartier Classic.
Elise Sokolsky and Taylour Spencer combined to blank LMU 8-0 in six innings before Morgan Scott was brilliant in a two-hit, 2-0 victory over host San Diego State.
The Ducks’ team earned run average dropped to 1.56 as the pitching corps is walking less than one batter per game (0.80).
“Elise, Taylour and Morgan – they were all shoving today,” said catcher Vallery Wong. “It was nice to see them in their prime, fired up and it was awesome.”
Oregon 8, LMU 0
How it Happened: Sokolsky went four strong innings to improve to 2-0 on the season. She kept the Lions (2-6) scoreless on three hits. Sokolsky struck out five and walked one. She retired the first two batters she faced in all four innings. Spencer pitched the final two innings of the shutout.
On offense, Oregon (6-4) used a two-out rally to jump in front in the bottom of the second inning. KK Humphreys worked a full count before singling up the middle. Wong followed and hit a 2-2 pitch into the bleachers in left field for her first home run of the season.
An inning later, Alyssa Daniell made it 3-0 when she drove a ball out to deep center field for her second home run of the season.
“My home run and Alyssa’s – I think the whole offense really just sparked today,” said Wong. “I think we were trusting each other and trusting that everybody could get it done and that just helped us play a lot more freely.”
After pinch-runner Regan Legg scored on a wild pitch in the fourth inning that made it 4-0, the Ducks ended the game via the run rule with a four-run sixth inning.
Humphreys led the frame off with a bunt single. She stole second and then came around to score on Wong’s single through the right side.
Tehya Bird walked and Paige Sinicki loaded the bases on a bunt single. Kai Luschar forced out her sister Kedre Luschar, who pinch-ran for Wong, at the plate but the bases remained loaded for Hanna Delgado, who walked to force in a run. Ariel Carlson drew a full-count walk that forced in another run and made the score 7-0.
Emma Kauf then ended it with a single through the right side that scored Kai Luschar.
Oregon’s No. 4 through No. 9 hitters went 11-for-18 against the Lions with two home runs and five RBI.
Wong was 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI. Kauf, Humphreys, Bird and Sinicki also had two-hit games against LMU.
Oregon 2, San Diego State 0
How it Happened: Scott came through with one of the most impressive games of her career, facing just one batter over the minimum.
“It was huge,” Scott said of her performance. “I know this team has my back just as much as I have their back so it’s nice to come out with the ‘W’.”
SDSU’s Bella Espinoza led the game off with a single, but was doubled up at first when Sinicki snared a line drive off the bat of Mac Barbara and then threw to Daniell for the out.
Scott got two of the three batters she faced in the third inning to strikeout swinging.
She retired 12 batters in a row before Jade Ignacio doubled to left field in the fifth inning on the only ball SDSU (4-5) hit hard off of Scott all night. She got the next two batters out to end the inning and ended the game by retiring the last eight batters she faced.
Scott did not walk any batter and threw only 79 pitches Saturday night in improving to 2-2 on the season.
Oregon scored the only two runs of the game in the top of the fourth inning.
Delgado led off with a single and was safe at second on an errant throw on a ball off the bat of Carlson. Kauf brought Delgado home on a single up the middle before Daniell doubled to the gap to plate Kauf.
Quotable
Catcher Vallery Wong
“I think our main priority today was just to control what we could control and have quality at-bats and I think our team did a really good with that. We wanted to just see ball, hit ball.”
Noteworthy: It was the first seven inning, complete game shutout by a Duck pitcher since Scott went the distance last March against UCLA (3-0) … It was the second time this season that Oregon has recorded back-to-back shutouts … Kai Luschar has reached base in all 10 games this season and has scored a run in eight of those 10 games … Kai Luschar swiped her team-leading seventh base of the season against LMU … Humphreys had a stolen base against the Lions which made her a perfect 23-for-23 in stolen bases in her Oregon career … Kauf went 3-for-7 with two RBIs on Saturday.
On Deck: Oregon wraps up the Campbell/Cartier Classic Sunday against undefeated Texas A&M (10 a.m.).
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