The Oregon Ducks (46-6, 18-3 Big Ten) defeated the Michigan State Spartans (16-28, 6-15 Big Ten) 14-0 to win the Big Ten regular-season title. It was the sixth Big Ten championship for the university in its first year in the conference.
At the top of the first inning, Elise Sokolsky retired the first three batters in order. She pitched 5 ⅔ innings with only one earned run in the 6-4 loss to the Spartans on Friday.
“We asked her today to come in and see if she could take care of business,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said of her starter. “I really like how efficient she was.”
Ducks leadoff hitter Kai Luschar drew a walk. The next batter, Paige Sinicki, dropped down a bunt and reached safely. Luschar’s speed and awareness allowed her to advance to third, where no one was covering the base. In the chaos, Sinicki advanced to second. Kedre Luschar then came up and hit a fly ball to left field. Michigan State’s Kendall Smiley made an impressive diving catch, but was not able to prevent Kai from coming in for the Ducks’ first run. On the second pitch of Rylee McCoy’s at bat, she hit a no-doubt home run to center field to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead heading into the second inning.
Kaelin Cash hit a single to start the top of the second inning. Cash was 3-for-3 in Friday’s game, and kept her perfect weekend going. Sokolsky struck out the next batter, Collette Allen, and got Macy Lee to ground into a double play to still have only faced the minimum of six through the first two frames.
The bottom of the second started with an Ayanna Shaw bunt single. A popout by Katie Flannery and a groundout by Kaylynn Jones brought up the top of the order. Kai Luschar laid down a bunt to continue the small ball theme for the Ducks, and put two runners on base for Sinicki. She brought her teammates home with a three-run bomb to give the Ducks a 6-0 lead.
“I knew she had thrown me two changes before,” Sinicki said. “I was like, ‘She's going to throw me a fastball, and I'm just going to take it over the fence.’”
Amid all the freshmen and transfers, Sinicki has been a constant, as Saturday was her 181st consecutive start at shortstop. She is known for her defense, but this year her offense has been similarly exceptional.
The Spartans were able to get runners on second and third in the top of the third, but Sokolsky escaped with no runs allowed. In the bottom of the inning, an Emma Cox single, Dezianna Patmon hit by pitch and Jones infield single brought up Kai Luschar with the bases loaded and two outs. She singled right back up the middle to bring in two runs and make the score 8-0 Ducks heading into the fourth.
Sokolsky continued her dominance to start the inning with two swinging strikeouts, bringing her tally to five. Allen then drew a walk before a groundout to Flannery ended the inning.
With one out in the bottom of the fourth, McCoy gave fans déjà vu. Another towering home run to center field, her 17th of the year, gave the Ducks a 9-0 lead. She already has the freshman record for single-season home runs, and her second one of the day tied her for the second-most in a season in program history.
“If you didn't know her and you were watching her play, you'd think that she was an older athlete on our team,” said Lombardi. “The fact that she's just a freshman is just amazing to see her do the things she's doing.”
A single by Stefini Ma’ake brought up Cox, who hit a fly ball to deep center field. Sydney Doloszycki tracked it all the way back, robbing a home run as she caught it with her glove over the wall. Patmon and Flannery walked to load the bases for Jones with two outs, who also walked to bring another run home. A diving play by second baseman Hannah Greer led to a controversial out call on Kai Luschar, which was overturned to bring an 11th run home for the Ducks. A walk by Sinicki resulted in the fourth run of the inning, and the fourth pitching change of the game. Kedre Luschar gave new hurler Ella Cunningham a rude welcome, with a two-RBI single that gave the Ducks a 14-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.
Kedre Luschar started the top of the fifth with a running catch, and Shaw emulated her for the second out. A single by pinch-hitter Jenae Wash was followed by a flyout to Kai Luschar for the final out, making the Ducks Big Ten regular-season champions. 142 pitches, 10 ⅔ innings and only one earned run in less than 24 hours for Sokolsky.
“You can't really think of how many pitches or how my body's feeling. That's not important,” Sokolsky said. “What's important is going out there and digging deep with my team.”
The team mobbed each other in the pitching circle, donning their championship hats and shirts, taking countless photos as they soaked in the accomplishment.
It was the first conference title for the Ducks under Lombardi. The team came into the year with questions about having so many freshmen and transfers expected to play big roles. Those players surpassed all expectations, with five Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards and a pitcher in Lindsey Grein who leads the NCAA in wins.
“This group, everything we've asked them to do, they've gone above and beyond,” Lombardi said. “Just seeing how hard they're working and seeing all the good things that are happening for them, I just wanted them to get the feel of what it feels like to win a conference championship.”