There is no doubting the power the Oregon Ducks (14-0) have in their lineup.
With 18 homeruns on the season through 14 games, the Ducks have an offensive lineup that has seen eight of its nine regular starters hit a homerun so far.
That power was in full effect when No. 2 Oregon defeated Abilene Christian and No. 25 Tulsa on the second day of the Baylor Invitational in Waco, Texas. The team combined for 12 runs on 19 hits in the two games.
Game 1: Oregon 8 – Abilene Christian 0 (5 innings): The Ducks wasted no time in putting the offensive machine into works as Janie Takeda led off with with a double and was brought home on sacrifice fly by Jenna Lilley.
Oregon opened things up in the third inning when the first four batters reached base.
Lilley started the rally with a double and after Geri Ann Glasco was hit by a pitch, Gwen Svekis singled up the middle to score Lilley and make the score 2-0.
Jasmine Smithson-Willett was the next batter up and lined a double to left center to score Glasco and Svekis for the 4-0 lead. She would come around to score when Lauren Lindvall, pinch hitting for Nikki Udria, singled to bring home Smithson-Willett for the final run of the inning.
Takeda was once again the catalyst for the Ducks in the fourth inning when she singled to start the inning. Danica Mercado then hit a two-run blast, her third homerun of the season, to make the score 7-0. The Ducks would add another run later in the inning to put the run-rule in effect.
Glasco got the start in the pitcher’s circle and went four innings, surrendering just one hit with one strikeout before being replaced by Cheyenne Powell in the fifth inning. Powell threw a perfect fifth inning to complete the game.
Game 2: Oregon 4 – Tulsa 2: The game started as a pitcher’s duel as no runs were scored till the third inning.
Lilley was the anchor of the offense as she hit a bases-clearing double to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead, a lead they would never relinquish.
Tulsa scored consecutive runs in the fourth and fifth innings to cut Oregon’s lead to 3-2 before the Ducks added an insurance in the seventh.
Lilley was once again the beneficiary of a Takeda single as she singled up the middle to bring home Takeda for the final run of the game.
Oregon ace pitcher Cheridan Hawkins earned her fourth save of the season when she retired the final two batters of the game.
Hovinga got the start for Oregon and went four innings, giving up one run on four hits with one strikeout. Glasco came on in relief and threw 2.1, surrendering one run on two hits before Hawkins got the save.