Oregon Ducks Baseball Softball: Friday Recaps

Softball

The Oregon Ducks Softball team made its first cross country trip for conference play this week to take on the Scarlett Knights of Rutgers. Before the series began the Ducks were able to pay a visit to MLB network studios for the first week of the major league season.

If Friday’s game was any indication the bright lights of professional sport television would be the most daunting thing the Ducks would face on this trip.

The Ducks got things started early with a 4 run first inning thanks to some team small ball capped off by Stefini Ma’ake’s RBI Single

After Lyndsey Grein took care of business in the bottom half allowing no runs the Ducks bats came back in the second inning but this time with some power! Braiesey Rosa hit her first career grand slam and that would cap off an 8-run 2nd inning to make it 12-0 and make this game a laugher by the middle of the 2nd inning.

Again in the bottom 2nd inning Lyndsey Grein had no issue with Rutgers bats, striking out the side.

In the 3rd the Ducks kept piling on as Stefini Ma’ake would crush a 3-run bomb and Kaylynn Jones would hit an RBI double to make the game 16-0 after 3 innings. That’s right. All of this offence was AFTER 3 INNINGS!

Another easy inning for Lyndsey Grein in the bottom half and her day was done as this game was out of hand and the Ducks figured they might as well preserve her arm. Through 3 innings Lindsey struck out 7, allowed 0 hits, 1 walk, and 0 runs.

In the 4th inning Stefini Ma’ake kept swinging her hot bat, picking up her 5th RBI of the day on an RBI single and that made the game 17-0 … a score I would expect the Ducks to be up in the first half of a football game against Rutgers.

After Rutgers was able to scratch and claw its way to get a run in the bottom half of the 4th with Staci Chambers now in the game. (Ed. note: Chambers had missed most of the year after an injury right after the season-opening tournament in Las Vegas on Feb. 8, until a very brief appearance last week against Illinois. This was her first sustained appearance since that UNLV game.) The Ducks bench was able to score 4 more runs and Oregon hit the 20 run mark and the game would come to a merciful end with the Ducks picking up their 30th win of the season 20-1.

Please enjoy this Stefini Ma’ake post game interview.

The Ducks will look to pick up the 2 game series sweep against Rutgers tomorrow at noon.

Baseball

The Oregon Ducks baseball team made its first trip into proper Big Ten Country this week to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes. I don’t know about you but Ohio State is becoming one of those schools that I want Oregon to destroy in every sport they play and Friday was a great start for the Ducks doing just that this weekend.

The Ducks offense got started early when Dominic Hellman hit an RBI double that would score Mason Neville from 1st.

Grayson Grinsell would get off to a strong start on the mound allowing no runs in the first and then striking out two in the second for a 1-2-3 inning, followed up by another 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd.

In the 4th inning the Ducks would get a big power surge thanks to back to back homers from Anson Aroz and Maddox Molony.

After a display of power the Ducks would play a little small ball to get their 4th run of the game when when Ryan Cooney would bunt home Jeffrey Heard.

After another 1-2-3 inning for Grayson Grinsell in the bottom half of the 4th he would run into a bit of trouble in the 5th with runners on second and third. But Maddox Molony would show he is a true player on both sides of the ball making a beautiful bare handed grab and throw to get the runner at first and end the threat.

Facing another jam in the 7th inning with runners on the corners Grayson Grinsell would help himself out by getting the Buckeye batter to strike out looking and keep Ohio State off the board. That would be all for Grinsell on Friday as he pitched a masterpiece, going 7 innings and only allowing 3 hits and 1 walk for no runs while striking out 5.

The very next batter as the inning turned to the 8th would give the Ducks a big insurance run as Dominic Hellman would go yard to extend the Ducks lead to 5-0.

Jayson Reitz and Kellan Knox would finish the game for the Ducks. Together they formed a strong performance for the Bullpen allowing only 1 hit and no runs over the final 2 innings while striking out 3.

Mason Neville would hit a 2-run shot in the top of the 7th to make it 7-0 and really put this game out of reach for the Ducks and that would be the final score as the Ducks picked up the series opening win in Columbus.

Here is what Grayson had to say about his impressive outing after the game.

The Ducks are back in action on Saturday for a double header in Columbus to avoid inclement weather on Sunday. Hopefully the Ducks can pull of the series win and sweep!

Friday was a great day for the Ducks on the diamond hopefully they can keep it up Saturday, as always go Ducks!