The Oregon softball team defeated the Montana Grizzlies 9-1 on Sunday morning in Phoenix, Arizona to cap off a 5-0 weekend at the GCU Kickoff Classic.

Oregon’s offense, which has outscored their opponents by 27 through the first four games, went three up, three down in the top of the first after an impressive start by Montana pitcher Ashley Ward. 

Raegan Breedlove got the ball for the Ducks to mark only her second ever collegiate appearance. The freshman looked in control in the bottom of the first by sending down the Grizzlies in order after a leadoff single. 

The Ducks broke through in the top of the second inning. Allee Bunker led off the inning with a first-pitch single, which was followed up by a Mya Felder single on an 0-2 pitch. With runners on first and second, freshmen Alyssa Brito drew first blood with a single down the right-field line to score Bunker. Felder moved to third. 

With no outs and runners on the corners, freshman Deijah Pangilinan stepped up and did her job, scoring the run from third with a ground ball to short that made it 2-0 Ducks. 

Breedlove made quick work of the Grizzlies in the second, sending them down in order after an early inning error.

The Ducks broke the game wide open in the third. Haley Cruse led off the inning with a scorcher back up the middle for a single. Terra McGowan was then hit by the pitch, and both she and Cruse moved into scoring position after a wild pitch. 

Maddie Hopper came in the game to pinch-hit for Bunker, and on the second pitch, the senior lined a single back up the middle, scoring Cruse and McGowan to make it 4-0 Ducks. 

Brito walked, putting runners on first and second when Montana head coach Melanie Meuchel made a pitching change for freshman Anna Toon. 

Toon walked the next batter, Pangilinan, to set up bases loaded for Lexi Wagner. Wagner broke the game wide open with a blistering double to the left-field fence. Hopper, Brito and Pangilinan all scored to make it 7-0 Ducks. 

The Ducks would add one more in each of the fourth and fifth innings, with leadoff home runs by McGowan and Wagner, respectively. Wagner finished the day 2-3 with four RBI’s. 

Makenna Kliethermes took over for Breedlove in the fourth inning. Breedlove finished the day with three scoreless innings, two hits, four strikeouts, and her first ever collegiate win. 

Kliethermes made quick work of the Grizzlies in the fourth but ran into a little more trouble in the fifth. An error, walk and hit by pitch from Kliethermes loaded up the bases for the Grizzlies in what would be their only rally of the game.

Maygen McGarth singled to right center scoring the Grizzlies’ first run of the game, but Kliethermes would wiggle out of trouble with a strikeout and a fly out. 

The game was called after the fifth inning due to NCAA’s run rule, with the Ducks reigning victorious 9-1.

With the win, Oregon has begun the year on a five-game winning streak, and they’ll look to make it six when they take the field next on Feb. 20 against Fresno State in Fresno, CA.