Two-Out Lightning Strikes Again as Ducks Down Dawgs, 5-4

Saturday, April 18

Eugene, OR

3:00 PM

University of Oregon

34-9, 0

Washington

34-11, 0

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

Photo by: Kallie Hansel-Tennes/GoDucks.com

Two-Out Lightning Strikes Again as Ducks Down Dawgs, 5-4

04/18/26 | Softball

Box Score #13 Oregon 5, #23 Washington 4 Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

EUGENE, Ore. — Emma Cox homered – again – Elon Butler ended a game in dramatic fashion for the second straight day and Amari Harper's two-out home run off the top of the scoreboard lifted No. 13 Oregon past No. 23 Washington, 5-4, Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd at Jane Sanders Stadium.

It was a battle of the long ball. Each team went yard three times and it was Harper's blast in the bottom of the fifth inning that proved to be the difference. Like she did on Friday, Katie Flannery sparked Oregon's late rally with a single. Two outs later, Harper drilled the first pitch she saw from the Huskies' Morgan Reimer off the top of the scoreboard in right field.

"Any rivalry game, it doesn't matter if you're an in-state team or if it's just competitive like this with UW, it's awesome," said Harper, who is playing in the Oregon-Washington rivalry for the first time. "It's fun to be a part of. I think it's something that really brings our community and our fans together, which helps our team rally with each other."

With the Ducks holding a 5-4 lead in the top of the seventh, Washington got a runner on first with two outs. Ava Carroll then singled to shallow right field and as pinch runner Jing Gardner rounded second, Butler came up firing to Flannery, who got the tag down on Gardner just before she reached third base for the final out. Butler ended Friday's game with a diving catch on a blooper into shallow right field. She also threw out a runner in the series opener.

"I've talked to them about how what you do in practice is going to show up in the game," said coach Melyssa Lombardi. "And I don't know how many balls that we've hit to right field, to Elon, that kind of that shallow base hit, and knowing the runner is going to advance.

"We've worked on that so many times, and just watching her do it over and over, under the gun and not even flinching, it's awesome to get the last out of the game like that," said Lombardi. "What a play."

That made a winner out of Elise Sokolsky, who returned to the circle for the first time since suffering an injury in the first inning March 23 at Indiana. Sokolsky threw 4.2 innings in relief and allowed two runs on six hits, walked none and struck out two to improve to 5-2 on the season.

With the win, the Ducks (34-9) moved into a tie for third with Washington (34-11) in the Big Ten Conference at 15-2, a game back of first-place Nebraska (16-1) and a half game behind UCLA (16-2).

The game was played in front of more than 100 softball alumni and their families as the Ducks celebrated 60 years of Oregon softball on Saturday. Among the many stars of years past in attendance were two of the greatest pitchers in program history – All-Americans Cheridan Hawkins and Jess Moore – as well as Olympic medalist Janie Takeda, Gwen Svekis, Allee Bunker, Katie Wiese, Courtney Ceo – who were also All-Americans – and many more.

"I think one of our big team things, as we say, before, beside, behind, and it's just acknowledging the people that have come before us and the people that are going to come after us as well," said Sokolsky. "To see the people who came before us is really cool and being able to connect it to what we're talking about, day in, day out, is great."

How It Happened: After Washington's Kaycie Burdick led the game off with a home run, the Ducks hit back-to-back homers in the bottom of the inning.

Kaylynn Jones was aboard after getting hit by a pitch when Cox sent a moonshot out of the park that measured at 248 feet. It was her third home run of the series.

Stefini Ma'ake followed with a rocket to left that left the park at an estimated 81 miles per hour. The Ducks led 3-1 on Ma'ake's sixth home run of the season.

Washington fought back with solo home runs in the third and fourth innings to tie the game at 3-3 before Harper put the Ducks in front for good in the bottom of the fifth with her career-best 12^th home run of 2026.

The Huskies pulled to within a run, 5-4, on a pair of doubles from Gabi Toney and Jade Bubke in the top of the sixth. But Cox picked Bubke off second to end the inning.

"Yeah, it's awesome," said Sokolsky of her catcher's fifth pick off of the season. "I want to say I'm surprised, but I'm not. I see this every day at practice. She's just that good. She's continued to work at it this year, and then executing it in games, it's fantastic."

Notable: It was Oregon's 17^th come-from-behind win of the season … The Ducks have won 14 consecutive Big Ten series dating back to last season … The sold-out crowd of 2,517 was a season high … Addison Amaral went 2-for-3 … Cox has thrown out 11 base runners this season (six caught stealing, five picked off) … Cox extended her hotting streak to a career-best eight games.

Quotable
Head Coach Melyssa Lombardi on Elise Sokolsky's return to the lineup and doing so in front of a home crowd...
"Really exciting. We've been waiting. She's been waiting, and just to see her come back and to be able to do it at the Jane in front of all of our fans, and just watch her absolutely compete."

Head Coach Melyssa Lombardi on the sold-out crowd at Jane Sanders Stadium...
"The fans were the reason why I came to Oregon. Just watching this crowd roar when they played "Shout," I was like, 'Wow.' I think this is the loudest I've ever heard this group. They were just in it every pitch. It's so important to have our fans because they make a difference."

Outfielder Amari Harper on hitting a career-high 12 home runs…
"Yeah, I think for me, power comes from picking good pitches and timing. If I continue to do that, I think I'll really surprise myself, but I'm trying not to think too much about it. If I control those two things, the ball will go where I want it to go ... Yeah, that's my career high. I'm excited. It's crazy."

Pitcher Elise Sokolsky on returning to the circle after missing 10 games…
"It was so exciting. Just being back on the field with my girls. That's really what I was looking forward to the most, just being able to connect with them out there again."

Up Next: Oregon and Washington close out the series Sunday at 3 p.m. The game will be on Big Ten Network.