The No. 24 Oregon Ducks softball team unleashed a scoring downpour this weekend in sunny San Diego, racking up 42 runs in a five-game sweep at the 32nd Cartier/Campbell Classic at SDSU Softball Stadium. The Ducks (8-2) closed out back-to-back doubleheader wins on Friday and Saturday with a 12-5 rout of UC Riverside on Sunday morning to give Oregon its seventh consecutive win of the season.
In Friday’s game against Utah Valley, pitcher Stevie Hansen‘s six-inning no-hitter set up Oregon’s 9-0 victory over the Wolverines. In the nightcap, the Ducks’ leading hitter Allee Bunker grabbed her second home run of the season to drop UC Riverside, 6-1.
On Saturday, Terra McGowan went 3 for 4 with a two-run home run and five RBIs, and KK Humphreys had a solo home run in Oregon’s 9-4 win over the Lions. In Game 2, Kedre Luschar, McGowan, Bunker and Humphreys all drove in runs to defeat host San Diego State, 6-4.
Oregon defeated LMU and SDSU – both 2022 NCAA Tournament teams – on Saturday and has now won six games a row.
Hear reaction from Coach @MelyssaLombardi ⬇#GoDucks | #Version5 pic.twitter.com/h0JjN3QdJU
— Oregon Softball (@OregonSB) February 19, 2023
In the tournament finale against UC Riverside, McGowan had three hits, including a home run, Tehya Birdalso had three hits and Bunker went 2 for 4 with a double and a triple in the Ducks’ highest-scoring performance this season. From the circle, Hansen held the Highlanders to two hits with seven strikeouts over four innings.
So far this season, the Ducks hold a .326 team batting average with 90 hits, 62 runs scored, 51 RBIs and 10 home runs. Oregon also holds a .496 slugging percentage (number of bases achieved at every at-bat) and is 15-of-19 in stolen base attempts. The Ducks’ ace Hansen leads the team with 37 strikeouts and hasn’t surrendered a home run so far this year. Last season, Hansen was ranked second among freshmen in the Pac-12 with 126 strikeouts, according to UO athletics.
Oregon head coach Melyssa Lombardi begins her fifth year at the helm in Eugene after leading the Ducks to their second straight NCAA Regional Final last year. Oregon is currently fourth in the Pac-12 standings behind Arizona State (8-2), California (9-2), Washington (9-1) and UCLA (12-0).
Up Next: The Ducks prepare for a tough five-game slate at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, California. Oregon will face several highly-ranked opponents over the three-day classic, including No. 14 Northwestern, No. 23 Missouri and No. 3 Florida (10-0).
Jordan is a lifelong Duck fan currently living in San Diego. Jordan graduated from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, after serving a prestigious fellowship with the Washington State House of Representatives. Upon graduation, he worked as an English language teaching assistant for the Spanish Ministry of Education’s Ambassadorial Program in Monforte de Lemos, Spain. Jordan has worked as a journalist, writer, and editor in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and California, covering a wide range of topics, including sports, local politics, and crime. He is VERY excited to be writing about his beloved Oregon Ducks.
