Oregon softball was blanked in the first two innings of Friday’s evening matchup set in College Park, Maryland. But the levee broke, and the flood waters washed the Terrapins away.

Going across the country is tough on any team, let alone a team who just had to work their way through a three game series against Iowa. The Ducks came in and punched Maryland in the mouth as they crossed the plate 11 times in just five innings.

No. 17 Oregon (30-9, 11-2 Big Ten) was back out on the road Friday evening to begin a three game set against the Maryland Terrapins (14-24, 1-15 Big Ten). This Maryland team is dead last in the Big Ten, and the Ducks, who just had an interesting series against Iowa, came in and demolished Maryland. Their run-rule win proved a nice start to a short road trip as the season begins to wind down.

The Ducks were poised to strike early with two on and no one out, but a double play and a fly ball ended that threat. In the second, Oregon loaded the bases with two outs and gave Elon Butler the chance to drive in the first Ducks runs. Another flyout ended that threat.

Grein (4 IP, 2 H, 8 K) took the circle to start the series after she finished the Iowa series taking the win in each game. The senior was a rock in the circle again. She had an incredible stretch of 8 straight retired, with six of those outs coming via the K.

Again, the Ducks were on the road and the runs weren’t coming in the same ferocity that they were at home. 

But the second time through the lineup changed that. Emma Cox, who played hero in the second game of the series against Iowa with a walk-off sacrifice fly, delivered the first runs for Oregon in the third. With runners  on first and third, Cox launched an opposite field three run blast to set the Ducks up on the scoreboard.

Over the next two at-bats, Ayanna Shaw tripled and Taryn Ho rocketed a ball that wasn’t brought in at third base, going for a Ho single, to plate Shaw. 

The runs were coming in droves for the Ducks as they slapped the Terps pitchers around. Some great baserunning reads from Ho capped off a five-run third frame. The freshman shortstop advanced to second on a wild pitch, to third on a fly ball to center and scored on a wild pitch.

Another bases-loaded inning for the Ducks came from two walks to Butler and Kaylynn Jones and a bunt single from Amari Harper. A walk to Cox drove in Butler, a sac fly from Shaw drove in Jones and Ho singled and brought in pinch-runner Presley Lawton.

Another great baserunning play from Ho allowed the runner from third, Regan Legg, who was running for Cox, to score. Ho got in a run-down, and Legg broke for home and the throw was late. 

By the end of the inning, the Ducks had sent nine total batters to the plate in the fourth and scratched across four runs to lead the game 9-0. Barring two runs for the Terps, the Ducks could have another run-rule victory in their hands. 

The Maryland batters were swinging wet pool noodles in the box. Grein was not going to allow those two runs to come acros, she had retired eight in a row through the bottom of the fourth and was giving the Terps nothing to work with. Even when they got their first hit since the second batter in the game, Grein slammed the door. 

Harper launched a three-run shot to the pullside to give the Ducks a lot of breathing room in the bottom of the fifth. Maddie Milhorn came in for Grein and promptly kept the Terps off the board as Oregon walked out of Game 1 with a double digit, 11-0 run-rule win to begin the series. 

The Ducks will be back tomorrow at 11 a.m. PST for Game 2. The game will be broadcast via Big Ten Plus (video) and KWVA (radio).