Ducks Complete Midwest Sweep

Monday, April 28

South Bend, Ind.

2:00 PM

University of Oregon

45-5

Notre Dame

23-30-1

Oregon

Notre Dame

04/28/25 | Softball

Box Score Oregon-Notre Dame Box Score Photo Gallery

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Emma Cox homered and drove in four runs as No. 5 Oregon completed a 4-0 trip through the Hoosier State with a 10-1, five-inning win Monday at Notre Dame.

The Ducks (45-5) scored five runs in the first inning for the second straight day and Taylour Spencer threw four strong innings, backed by a tremendous catch by Kedre Luschar over the wall in center field that took a home run away from Notre Dame in the third inning.

"I saw her running and I was like, Kedre come on," said Spencer. "She caught that and I just was absolutely happy.

"I wanted to jump up and down but I couldn't. I had to keep myself kind of composed but when I got back to the dugout I gave her a big hug. Seeing those plays and knowing my team can make them means everything."

Oregon now turns its attention to a three-game series against Michigan State that starts Friday at 6 p.m. The Ducks head into the weekend with a one-game lead over No. 7 UCLA for first place in the Big Ten Conference. Oregon also holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Bruins.

How It Happened: The Ducks opened the game with a five-run first. Kai Luschar singled and stole second – her school record 49^th stolen base of the season. After Paige Sinicki was hit by a pitch, Kedre Luschar singled through the middle to drive in her sister and Sinicki scored on the play following an errant throw.

McCoy reached on a fielder's choice that saw Kedre Luschar safe at third. With two on, Cox drilled her fifth home run of the year to straightaway center field and for the second straight game, the Ducks held a 5-0 lead before the opposition had a chance to bat.

Notre Dame got a run back on a home run in the second, but the Ducks scored four times in the third and one in the fourth to pull away.

With one out in the third, Kaylynn Jones beat out an infield single. She caught the defense sleeping while the ball was still live and stole second before advancing to third on an error on the play at second. Braiesey Rosa reached on a fielder's choice that held Jones at third.

Katie Flannery then put down a squeeze bunt that scored Jones from third for a 6-1 lead. Ayanna Shaw's single through the right side brought Rosa home for a 7-1 advantage.

Flannery was out at home on Kai Luschar's grounder to third, but Flannery got into a run down that allowed Shaw to reach third while Kai Luschar pulled into second.

Sinicki then doubled into right to score both runners and the Ducks led 9-1 through three innings.

Oregon scored its 10^th run of the game in the fourth inning when Kedre Luschar doubled and came home on Cox's RBI single to right.

In the circle, Elise Sokolsky started and retired the Fighting Irish in order in the first before Spencer went the final four innings.

Spencer struck out five and allowed just the solo home run to improve to 4-2 on the season.

"'I'm honestly proud of myself and how I did and I'm definitely proud of how my team came out behind me," said Spencer. "We had a lot of great defensive plays. We scored so many runs. It gave me the reassurance to go out on the mound."

Notable: The Ducks' 45-5 overall record is tied with the 2014 and 2015 teams for the best record in program history. Both of those teams won the Pac-12 and advanced to the Women's College World Series … It was Cox's first home run since Feb. 28 against San Diego. She tied her career high with four RBI … Spencer picked up her first win since March 2 versus Loyola Chicago … Kai Luschar was 10-for-16 (.625) on the four-game road trip and reached base 14 times in 17 plate appearances … Shaw went 3-for-3 Monday to raise her batting average to .438 on the season … Sinicki made her 178^th straight start at shortstop.

Stolen Bases Watch
Having set both the individual and team single season stolen bases school records earlier in April, the Ducks and Kai Luschar are now climbing up the Big Ten Conference's single-season lists. Kai Luschar had one steal Monday, her 49 of the year. She's currently third, three steals out of second. Luschar also moved into solo possession of second on the UO career steals list with 97. She's five behind Janie Takeda (102/2012-15) for the school record. As a team, Oregon had three stolen bases Monday for 150 on the season, which ranks third in Big Ten history.

BIG TEN CONFERENCE
Season Stolen Bases - Individual
1. 59      Angie Marzetta, Washington          1993
2. 52      Natasha Watley, UCLA                     2001
3. 49      Kai Luschar, Oregon                        2025 – Oregon Single Season Record
4. 47      Tasha Reents, Iowa                          1996
5. 46      Susan Harrelson, Northwestern      1995

BIG TEN CONFERENCE
Season Stolen Bases - Team
1. 194    Washington         1997
2. 168    Washington         1998
3. 150    Oregon               2025 – UO Single Season Record
4. 144    Purdue               2010
5. 142    Northwestern      1995

OREGON CAREER STOLEN BASES - INDIVIDUAL
1.102     Janie Takeda        2012-15
2. 97      Kai Luschar          2022-25
3. 96      Sari Jane-Jenkins 2006-09

Quotable:
Sophomore Taylour Spencer on the team's start fast mentality
"We talked about we have four more games and when we start fast, we continue it through the entire game and we feel like we're an unstoppable team."

Up Next: Oregon hosts Michigan State for a three-game series that begins Friday at 6 p.m. at Jane Sanders Stadium (B1G+). Saturday's game has been moved to 2 p.m. for a Big Ten Network broadcast. Sunday's Senior Day game starts at 1 p.m. (Big Ten Network).