Ducks Win One for Their Teammate

Saturday, April 13

Tucson, AZ

3:00 PM

University of Oregon

24-14, 10-6

Arizona

27-13-1, 8-9

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Oregon	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	5	12	1
Arizona	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	11	0

04/13/24 | Softball

Box Score Oregon-Arizona Box Score

TUCSON, Ariz. – Playing for teammate Hanna Delgado who was injured in Friday night's game, No. 20 Oregon scored five times in the first two innings to defeat No. 25 Arizona, 5-2, Saturday at Hillenbrand Stadium.

"Every single person on our team, in our dugout, wanted to play for Hanna today and they did that," said coach Melyssa Lombardi. "I couldn't be more proud of their effort today."

Delgado crashed head first into the wall in the bottom of the fifth inning of Friday's game and was taken to Banner University Medical Center. After speaking to her teammates on the phone from the hospital Saturday morning, the team decided to play Saturday's game for Delgado, who will remain under observation at the hospital for the next few days, but is expected to make a full recovery.

"The last 24 hours have been very emotional, very scary," said senior Tehya Bird. "Obviously seeing a teammate go down like that is never good. The good news is that she's going to be OK, and that's all that matters now. That was on the forefront of our minds.

"Today we wanted to go out there and get this win for her just because we know she would give anything to be on this field with us," said Bird. "So we just went out there and played our hardest for her."

How it Happened: Oregon (24-14, 10-6) strung together three straight hits to jump in front in the top of the first. Kai Luschar led off with an infield single and went to second on a passed ball. Ariel Carlson followed with a single into right that moved Luschar along to third.

After Carlson stole her 14^th base of the season, Emma Kauf doubled into right field to score both runners, giving the Ducks a 2-0 edge.

Kauf then moved to third on the Wildcats' second passed ball of the inning and scored on Vallery Wong's sacrifice fly to right field and Oregon led 3-0 after a half inning.

The Ducks scored a pair of two-out runs in the top of the second. Bird singled and went to second on a wild pitch. She moved to third on a ground out. Luschar then tripled to score Bird with the Ducks' fourth run of the game. Carlson followed with a single up the middle to score Luschar and the Ducks had a 5-0 lead.

That was more than enough for pitchers Elise Sokolsky and Morgan Scott, who kept the Wildcats (27-13, 8-9) off-balance and made those five runs hold up.

"It was important to set the tone and see us score first and then see the performance Elise had on the mound," said Lombardi.

Sokolsky worked out of a jam in the bottom of the first. After a single and a wild pitch gave Arizona runners at second and third with none out, Sokolsky struck out Carlie Scupin, the Pac-12's RBI leader, and Allie Skaggs before Blaise Biringer grounded out sharply to Alyssa Daniell at first to end the inning.

The Wildcats scored two runs on three hits in the bottom of the second, but Sokolsky was able to limit the damage.

Arizona again loaded the bases with two out in the bottom the third, but Sokolsky stuck out Emily Schepp to escape the inning.

Sokolsky allowed a leadoff bunt single to open the bottom of the fourth, but retired the next three batters as the Ducks held on to their three-run lead.

After getting Scupin to pop out to start the bottom of the fifth, the next two runners reached and Lombardi went to Scott. She gave up a single to the first batter she faced to load the bases. But Skaggs was then forced out at home on a grounder to shortstop Paige Sinicki before pinch-hitter Kaiah Altmeyer flied out to Luschar in left to end the inning.

Scott allowed a two-out single in the sixth before closing out that frame with a 12-pitch battle with Scupin that resulted in a ground out to second base.

The Wildcats again got a runner on in the bottom of the seventh, but Scott got Schepp to fly out to Kedre Luschar, who started in place of Delgado, in right end the game.

Sokolsky gave up two runs on eight hits and struck out three in 4.1 innings to improve to 6-1 on the season.

Scott held Arizona scoreless on three hits over the final 2.2 innings to earn her third save in the last four games, and her fourth of the season overall.

"I think (Morgan) just understands how to do it," said Lombardi. "She understands the closing role and she comes in and gets it done."

Quotable
Starting pitcher Elise Sokolsky on the effect of Delgado's injury on the team
"There's something about something like this happening that can really either break a team or bring us together and I think this has really brought us together. We are all just rallying to compete for Hanna. We wanted to fight for her and we want fight to win like she'd want us to."

Kai Luschar

Notable: Carlson and Taryn Jenkins of Nevada are the only two players in the nation this season with 12 or more home runs and 14 or more stolen bases (Jenkins has 12 home runs and 16 stolen bases) … Carlson tied her career high with three hits … Carlson's RBI was her 44^th of the season. She trails Scupin by one for the Pac-12 lead … Scott's save was the 11^th of her Oregon career, which ties her for second on the UO career list with Jess Moore (2010-13) and Andrea Vidlund (2000-03) … Luschar went 2-for-4 a day after being held hitless for just the fourth time this season … Kauf was 2-for-3 on Saturday.

On Deck: Oregon and Arizona will play the deciding game of the series Sunday at noon (Pac-12 Arizona).

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