After beating Baylor 7-4 in the first elimination game, No. 3-ranked Oregon softball beat No. 13-ranked LSU 4-1 on Saturday night to live another day at the Women’s College World Series.
The Ducks will face Oklahoma on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. PT in Oklahoma City in the semifinal. After getting the bats going early, backed by the pitching power of Megan Kleist, the Ducks eased their way into the final matchup of their bracket.
Kleist, who closed the first game of the day, started and finished off the Tigers with a strong performance which included a nine strikeouts and five hits.
The Ducks took charge in the first inning with a two-run home run from Gwen Svekis after Alexis Mack reached first on an infield single.
LSU responded with a solo home run from Shemiah Sanchez in the second but the third inning is where the Ducks began to pull away. Mack had a one-out triple and a Nikki Udria single scored Mack. However, Udria, Shannon Rhodes and Mia Camuso were all stranded after LSU changed pitchers, bringing in Carley Hoover to replace Allie Walljasper.
The Ducks added on the fourth run in the fifth inning after Camuso batted in Udria.
Jenna Lilley had a dominant day. From her 2-for-3 outing in game one of the day to her stellar defensive performance in the second game, the junior took charge in big-game situations.
Oregon would be eliminated with a loss to the Sooners tomorrow after losing game one of the WCWS. Oklahoma beat Baylor 6-3 and Washington 3-1.
The other bracket features Washington and No. 1 seed Florida.
Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow