The game began under stormy skies. It ended even more ominously for the home team.
Due to a game scheduled for Saturday being postponed due to rain, No. 8 Oregon softball was forced to wait 24 hours before eventually disposing of Washington 5-2 on Montlake.
A day removed from their starts, both starting pitchers — Elise Sokolsky for Oregon and former Duck Stevie Hansen for UW — returned to the circle on Sunday. It certainly wasn’t the start that everyone envisioned, but ultimately, No. 8 Oregon (28-2, 2-0 Big Ten) got back to doing what it had throughout this season: disposing of inferior opponents.
As has been the case of late, superb starting pitching parlayed with just enough offense was the Ducks’ winning recipe. The bottom six of Oregon’s lineup recorded just one hit, but the middle of the order paved the way to victory.
Oregon’s 93.3 winning percentage is nearly .70 points better than any other team in the Big Ten Conference.
The Ducks were led by a superb start from Sokolsky, who continues to establish herself as one of the best arms in the conference. Over 4.2 innings of two-run ball, she struck out four batters and allowed just four hits. She didn’t surrender a knock until the fourth inning when UW’s (20-9) Alexis Deboer led off with a single.
Katie Flannery and Rylee McCoy continued their hot start to the series by slapping back-to-back RBI doubles in the third to open the scoring. Both sluggers are now 8-14 in the Ducks’ two games of conference play.
The Ducks were just 1-7 leading off innings and struck out seven times, but it wouldn’t matter in a game they were never really in any danger of losing.
More runs came in the fifth when Flannery extended the Ducks’cushion with a two-run homer off Hansen.
UW’s two runs came in the fifth when Jadyn Glab plated both herself and Gabi Toney with a two-run homer. Lyndsey Grein (three strikeouts) then entered for Sokolsky and held UW hitless across her 2.1 innings of relief work.
Oregon stole its 100th bag of the season in game 28. The Ducks stole 90 bases in 51 games last season.
Game two of the doubleheader is set for 2:30 as the Ducks go for the rivalry sweep.
