Charles Fischer Administrator No. 1 Share Posted March 15 Grein Shuts Out UW, 9-0, to Open Big Ten Play SEATTLE – Katie Flannery homered twice and drove in five runs to back a dominant pitching performance by Lyndsey Grein as No. 8 Oregon opened Big Ten play with a 9-0, six-inning defeat of Washington in front of 1,462 Friday at Husky Softball Stadium. “I think it's important that we can handle the road,” said coach Melyssa Lombardi, whose Ducks shut out Washington in Seattle for the first time since 2011 . “This is a tough venue to play at.” Grein struck out 11 – one shy of her career high – and allowed only two hits. She has not allowed a run in her last four starts. Rylee McCoy hit her team-leading 10th home run of the season. “It's awesome for us,” said Flannery. “We're seeing everybody work, and all cylinders were working for us today. “Lyndsey was amazing. Our hitting was great and our defense had their backs. Seeing all of that, especially in an away game, is awesome.” How It Happened: The Ducks (25-2, 1-0) scored in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings. Kedre Luschar’s double in the second inning that extended her hitting streak to 14 games helped give the Ducks a 1-0 lead. McCoy led the inning off with a single before Luschar’s double chased McCoy around to third. She scored on Stefini Ma’ake’s sacrifice fly. The Ducks added three more runs in the top of the third. With Kai Luschar on base, Katie Flannery drove a pitch out to right center. Her fifth homer of the season made it 3-0. McCoy kept the inning going with a double – her second hit of the game – and scored on Kedre Luschar’s single into center for a 4-0 advantage. “Rylee was taking good swings at the plate,” said Lombardi. “I feel like Rylee is continuing on with what she's been doing all year.” The Huskies (20-8, 0-1) threatened in the bottom of the third with two on and two out. But Grein struck out Alexis DeBoer, D1 Softball’s reigning player of the week, on a swinging strike three. “Our mindset is start fast, stay fast, finish fast so I kind of take a similar approach pitching,” said Grein. “Just get the first out and build off of that and work for my defense.” Oregon hit back-to-back home runs to make it 7-0 in the top of the fifth. Paige Sinicki led the inning off with a single before Flannery deposited her second home run of the game over left field on a hop into Lake Washington. McCoy followed with a drive out to center field. Grein walked a pair of batters with one out in the fifth, but stuck out Ava Carroll and got DeBoer to fly out to left to end the inning. The Ducks put the run rule in effect with a pair of bases loaded walks in the sixth inning. Flannery walked on a 3-1 pitch that forced in Ayanna Shaw for her fifth RBI of the game. McCoy, the next batter, walked on four straight pitches to force in Kaylynn Jones with the Ducks’ ninth run of the game. McCoy and Kai Luschar both had three hits on Friday, while Flannery and Kedre Luschar had two hits. Notable: The Ducks’ 25-2 start matches the program’s best 27-game record since going 27-2 to open the 2021 season … Kedre Luschar’s 14-game hitting streak is the longest by a Duck since Allee Bunker hit in 18 straight in 2022 … Kai Luschar stole one base to increase her season total to 31. That’s tied for seventh with Janie Takeda for seventh on the UO single-season list … It was Flannery’s first career two-homer game … Sinicki made her 156th consecutive game at shortstop … Rosa extended her hitting streak to a career-best seven games with a sixth inning single. Quotable: Infielder Katie Flannery on the performance of starting pitcher Lyndsey Grein “Every time she takes the mound, I'm just in awe. She's a different person and I just love playing behind her.” Up Next: Oregon plays Washington on the Big Ten Network Saturday at noon. 2 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
