Oregon wins, heads to College Softball World Series

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Lyndsey Grein struck out 10, surrendered three hits and ended the contest retiring 21 straight batters and Oregon overpowered Liberty to lead the 16th-seeded Ducks to a 13-1 win in the Eugene Super Regional Saturday to clinch a berth in the Women’s College World Series.

Oregon heads to the WCWS for the seventh time in school history and is making its first appearance in the WCWS since 2018.

Grein moved her record to 29-2 on the season. Oregon (53-8) sent 11 batters to the plate and scored seven runs to break it open.

Emma Cox's three run homer in the top of the fifth inning gave Oregon a 6-1 lead. Cox's homer came after Paige Sinicki started the fifth with a base hit then stole second. Dezianna Patmon walked and Ayanna Shaw entered to pinch run for her. Liberty then lifted starting pitcher Paige Bachman for reliever Elena Escobar to face Cox who homered on a 1-2 pitch.

In the top of the second, Sinicki hit a 2-2 pitch over the right-center field wall to knot the contest at 1. Later, with the bases loaded and two out, Kai Luschar hit a high chopper to short to drive in Patmon to make it 2-1. In the fourth, Katie Flannery doubled to right center scoring Kaylynn Jones for a 3-1 lead.

Liberty lead-off hitter Savannah Woodard hit her ninth home run of the season in the bottom of the first inning on 1-1 pitch to give the Flames their lone lead of the game.

Liberty became the seventh NCAA Super Regional participant in Conference USA history and first since UAB in 2013.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden was among the first to congratulate the team with this post on X:

Huge congrats to @OregonSB for winning its super regional tonight in Eugene and earning a trip to the Women’s College World Series. Looking forward to seeing the championship trophy back in Eugene at my alma mater. #GoDucks