Mississippi State University’s Alyssa Faircloth, to put it in simple terms, was Duck hunting. She flooded the zone with bullets and no-hit the potent Oregon lineup, which put no fight at the plate. 

No. 4 Oregon softball had a tough Game 2 against the No. 5 Mississippi State University Bulldogs. Mississippi State took the game between the two powerhouse schools 4-0 thanks to the incredible performance Faircloth put in. 

Elise Sokolsky took the ball for Game 2. She pitched a phenomenal 3.2 innings in Game 1 against Idaho State and finished with 5 strikeouts and no hits. Against Mississippi State, she did not fare well and was out of the game in the third. 

Gretta Grassel put the Bulldogs up by two in the first. After six straight balls from Sokolsky, in which Morgan Stiles drew a leadoff walk, Grassel put a ball into The Bob — her first career home run. 

Sokolsky finished the first with two strikeouts despite a two-out double down the line.

Faircloth was in the circle for the Bulldogs. She came into the game with 237 strikeouts and an era of 2.48 through 36 appearances and started her day with a shut down inning in the first. 

Faircloth had her whole arsenal working against the home side. She not only no-hit Oregon, but the at-bats the Ducks were putting together were not competitive in the slightest. The first at-bat of quality of the day was a Rylee McCoy strikeout late in the game, but she was the first batter to work the count full. 

Early on, the Bulldogs chomped at Sokolsky. But, following the praises Sokolsky sang for them last night, the defense kept the dogs chained. 

The stake in the ground didn’t hold long, though, and Mississippi State plated another run with a two out double in the top of the third. That run chased Sokolsky for freshman Maddie Milhorn.

Milhorn got hit hard, and it didn’t help that she fired a ball to the backstop to advance a runner into scoring position. She struggled with location, much as Sokolsky did in the first inning. 

It wasn’t hard to see why. The Bulldogs bats were patient and waited until they got what they wanted, and when they did, it was usually followed by a loud crack.

The hardest ball of the bat the Ducks had in the first four innings was a line drive to the center field warning track from Ma’ake. The Oregon bats continued to be stifled by Faircloth. 

Elon Butler put together the second best at-bat for Oregon with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. She fouled and battled against Faircloth, bringing the crowd at Jane Sanders Stadium back into the game. But it was all for naught as Butler swung at a pitch above the zone to end the inning.

The only bright spot for the Ducks was the defense. Butler dove and made a grab in right in the first, Katie Flannery handled rocket after rocket hit to her at third base and Taryn Ho at shortstop leapt to snag a line drive that was ticketed for the gap in left center. Though the Bulldogs were up 4-0, the defense had kept them from building upon that lead. 

The Ducks will be back at 7 p.m. for their second game of the day. They will take on the winner of the Idaho State University and Saint Mary’s College of California game that begins at 4:30 p.m. 

The game at 7pm will be broadcast via KWVA (radio) and does not yet have a TV broadcast.