The pitchers continue to dominate for Oregon.
A day after freshman Maggie Balint threw a complete game shutout, sophomore Megan Kleist and freshman Miranda Elish shined.
Both pitchers earned victories as the Ducks defeated Montana (1-0) and UNLV (4-2) to stay perfect in the Hawaii Bank Invitational. With the wins, No. 5 Oregon continued its unbeaten start to the season at 12-0.
Game 1: Oregon 1 — Montana 0
Elish was needed in the Ducks’ first game in the day. As Oregon’s bats went silent, it was Elish’s dominance in the pitcher’s circle that got the win for the Ducks.
Elish earned her second victory of the season when she threw 6.1 innings, giving up three hits with eight strikeouts. She was nearly un-hittable through the first five innings when she surrendered one hit while retiring 14 batters in a row. Fatigue seemed to set in as she gave up a hit in the sixth before pitching herself out of the jam.
Then in the seventh, with one out, Elish gave up a double. Oregon head coach Mike White didn’t hesitate as he took out Elish and replaced her with Balint. Balint retired the next two batters to earn the save.
Oregon got its only run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning when it put together a two-out rally. Gwen Svekis singled and advanced to second on a hit-by-pitch from the next batter. Mia Camuso followed with a single to left field, scoring Svekis.
Svekis led the Ducks with two hits while Nikki Udria and Danica Mercado each had a hit.
Game 2: Oregon 4 — UNLV 2
With Elish and Balint each picking up wins in Oregon’s previous two games, it was time for Kleist to do the same.
Kleist threw a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. With the victory, Kleist improved her record to 4-0 on the year.
The Ducks wasted no time in getting the offense going.
After Svekis doubled — following a Mercado single — to put runners in scoring position, Udria hit a fielders choice to the shortstop to score Mercado and give Oregon a 1-0 lead.
The Ducks scored their final three runs in the fourth inning when they began it with three consecutive singles. Camuso, Shannon Rhodes and Madi Bishop all recorded RBIss in the frame for the win.
UNLV made the game interesting in the sixth inning when Kleist surrendered a two-run blast.
Mercado, Svekis and Camuso each stayed hot as they all recorded two hits apiece.
Oregon returns to action tomorrow when it faces Montana at 12 p.m. and Hawaii at 4 p.m.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter @Ryan_Kostecka