Sometimes, there will be a dominant showing from the pitching staff.

Other times, a one-woman show, or an opponent’s blunder pushes No. 19 Oregon (12-1) over the top.

Oregon’s (2-0) win over Utah (4-8) Friday afternoon at the Mary Nutter Classic was far from perfect. But with the way Lydnsey Grein is pitching of late, perfection is far from needed. 

The Utes joined in on the prevailing sentiment of frustration for teams facing Grein, who has now tossed 15 consecutive scoreless frames. 

Taylour Spencer retired the first six batters for the Ducks — two by strikeout — in the first two innings. The bullpen more than rewarded her efforts, as Grein (8-0) worked five scoreless innings in relief and fired 41 of her 66 pitches for strikes.

The only cushion Oregon would need was provided in the second and third innings when Rylee McCoy and Katie Flannery both blasted solo home runs. 

After adding the two early runs, the Ducks (0-8 with runners in scoring position) left runners on base in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, with Grein and a strong defensive effort helping thread a remarkably thin needle yet again. 

The Ducks backed their pitchers with several superb defensive plays, the biggest coming in the fourth inning as Emma Cox picked off a runner at first for the second day in a row. 

The two runs were more than enough against a Utes’ offense (two hits) that had no answer for the Oregon arms.

The Utes’ leadoff hitters added their team’s only pair of hits, but Utah struggled to offer any other offensive fight.

And for the surging Ducks — whose lone loss on the season came in extra innings — the late frames were once against closeout time. Grein faced just two batters over the minimum — one of whom reached by a seventh-inning error —  in another remarkable outing. 

Oregon will take on San Diego State in its second game of the day at 1 p.m.