A first inning with two home runs helped Oregon softball get the 9-4 win against Loyola Marymount University on Saturday.
The Ducks started the Campbell/Cartier Classic in San Diego with wins against Utah Valley and UC Riverside. The game against LMU was the first of their doubleheader.
Oregon catcher Terra McGowan led the Ducks against LMU with a career high of five RBIs and went 3-for-4 at the plate.
LMU started off the scoring with a run from Izzy Jamgotchian, but Oregon took the lead in the bottom of the first inning. McGowan hit her first home run of the season, scoring Paige Sinicki. KK Humphreys hit the second home run of the inning for the Ducks.
After giving up three hits to start the second inning, Oregon head coach Melyssa Lombardi made her first pitching change of the afternoon. Raegan Breedlove came on the mound for Morgan Scott. Breedlove got two consecutive outs to retire the inning for LMU.
Oregon had the bases loaded in the bottom of the second. McGowan had two RBIs in the inning and Karissa Ornelas also scored on a wild pitch.
Breedlove got all three batters out in the third inning. Ornelas got her first RBI and hit of the season for the Ducks. McGowan was at bat with the bases loaded once again. She had her fifth RBI in a play nearly identical to the one that gave Oregon a 5-1 lead in the second inning.
The fourth inning was not as kind to Breedlove. After giving up back-to-back walks and allowing an LMU score, Oregon made another pitching change. Elise Sokolsky came on the mound with runners on second and third. Both runners scored on a double from Avery Francis before Sokolsky was able to get two additional outs to end LMU’s inning. Ariel Carlson hit a homer to give Oregon four consecutive innings with a run.
Both teams went down in order in the fifth. Oregon made its fourth and final pitching change with Stevie Hansen coming in for Sokolsky.
Hansen had four strikeouts having only pitched a little over one inning for the Ducks. With a five-run lead, Oregon elected not to hit in the seventh inning.
Oregon will play San Diego State at 4 p.m. for the second game of the doubleheader before finishing the Campbell/Cartier Classic against UC Riverside at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
