After the chaos of a home-opening game, one that culminated with a comeback win, No. 14 Oregon softball’s (17-1, 12 wins in a row) performance in the nightcap felt more like a routine work shift.
“It’s good for us to get tested in that way,” associate head coach Sam Marner said of the first game of the day.
There was no drama in the nightcap, but behind a strong performance from starter Taylour Spencer — and home runs from Dez Patmon and Rylee McCoy — there was plenty of substance in the Ducks’ 9-1 run-rule win over Portland State (4-13).
The Ducks gave Spencer some early support by manufacturing one run in the first on a Paige Sinicki groundout. Then three more runs came in the second after Braiesey Rosa hit a sac-fly and Patmon hit a long two-run home run.
“She brings it,” McCoy said of Spencer. “Playing behind pitchers who are just dawgs, you need to be a dawg yourself and just do what you do.”
“She’s a stud,” Marner said of Spencer. “This staff, they could call their own game themselves…. For Taylour to go out and go the distance, it made my job easy.”
Still, it wasn’t until the fourth that the Ducks took full control of the contest.
McCoy continued the torrid start to her collegiate career with a solo homer to left. Then, Kedre Luschar’s double to center drove in two more and put the game far out of reach.
“It was awesome,” McCoy said. “I’ve hit a couple home runs this season, but that was by far my favorite.”
“We’re always talking about our process,” Luschar said. “Individually and as a team, we’ve been digging into that, and so far it’s been good.”
The homer was McCoy’s eighth of the season — a number that would have been good for third-best on the Ducks just a year ago.
The big lead allowed Spencer to throw 84 mostly stress-free pitches, allowing just three baserunners.
It allowed the Ducks to substitute freely, helping get players off their feet amid a stretch of five games in three days and giving players game experience at different positions.
But most importantly, Oregon was able to flex its depth on Friday — one of many advantages for the powerhouse Ducks, who once again made winning look easy to continue their fast start to the early season.
Head coach Melyssa Lombardi is away from the team due to a family emergency.
“On this team family is always first,” Marner said “One thing I’ll say about coach: she does a great job empowering her staff.”
Freshman catcher Emma Cox is being evaluated after suffering an injury off a foul ball in the first inning of game one. Marner said there would be more of an update in the coming days. Rosa caught the majority of the innings behind the plate.
