The Oregon softball team (35-3, 9-1 Big Ten) swept the Michigan Wolverines (27-12, 6-4 Big Ten) in a doubleheader at Jane Sanders Stadium when what looked like a pitcher’s duel turned into an offensive explosion.

The Ducks plated seven runs in the fourth inning to take control of a dominant win.

“We just had all the energy,” Kendre Luschar said. “We were our normal selves. That’s what we do. We’re energy.”

Lyndsey Grein pitched the entire game for Oregon and allowed no earned runs, three hits and recorded five strikeouts.

The Oregon offense threatened in the first inning with a pair of hits and a fielder’s choice ground ball to put runners on the corners with two outs, but could not capitalize.

The game remained scoreless until the third when the Ducks had action again, beginning with a Kai Luschar single. Paige Sinicki then reached on a fielder’s choice before stealing second. Then Rilee McCoy walked and Remmington Hewitt singled to load the bases. This time, they did come through with a two-RBI single from Dezianna Patmon for the first runs of the game. Oregon threatened to do more when Stefini Ma’ake re-loaded the bases with a walk, but settled for just the two runs.

Michigan responded in the fourth with a run on a pair of singles, a stolen base and a throwing error by catcher Braiesey Rosa, but Oregon picked up right where it left off in the bottom half. A walk to Kaylynn Jones, a single by Luschar, a sacrifice bunt by Trinity Holden, and a walk for McCoy loaded the bases. 

“Coach made a great call,” Holden said. “She called bunt for both of them. The first one, obviously I didn’t get it down, but it was just one of those things where I was like, ‘no way’, you know, I didn’t get it down, but it didn’t matter, so I moved on to the next one and said, ‘watch this.’”

A pair of RBI singles by Kedre Luschar and Patmon made it 5-1 Ducks. That was followed by back-to-back home runs from Ma’ake and Rosa to make it 9-1.

“It was just sitting one pitch and finding it,” Ma’ake said. “She never threw it to me the other time so I was like, ‘okay, this has gotta be the one’, so I was like, ‘okay, I’m just gonna sit back and bang it.’”

Michigan did not score again and the game was called after the top of the fifth inning. The Ducks return to Jane Sanders Stadium this Monday when they host Loyola Marymount University. First pitch is set for 12:00 PM.