Ducks to Face Five NCAA Tournament Teams This Week

THIS WEEK
Oregon will face five teams that made the 2024 NCAA Tournament this week at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Calif. The Ducks will see two former Pac-12 foes (California and Utah), two SEC teams (No. 5 Tennessee and No. 22 Missouri) as well as No. 25 San Diego State.

BY THE NUMBERS
6 - Oregon ranks in the NCAA's top 6 in hits, home runs, RBI, scoring and steals.
19 - Kai Luschar leads the NCAA with 19 stolen bases.
12 - Freshmen have hit 12 of Oregon's 19 homers this season and have 53 RBI.
9.68 - Oregon ranks third nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (9.68).
31 - Oregon has 31 more steals than the No. 2 team in the Big Ten - Purdue (26).

DUCKS WIN BACK-TO-BACK BIG TEN FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK HONORS
Emma Cox and Stefini Ma'ake were named Big Ten Freshman of the Week in back-to-back weeks to open the 2025 season. In Week 1, Cox hit .500 and helped Oregon score a record number of runs. The Ducks went 5-0 in Las Vegas and scored 73 runs – the most the program has ever scored over any five-game span. Cox was 9-for-18 at the plate with two doubles, two home runs and six RBI for a slugging percentage of .944. She had two home runs as part of a 4-for-4 performance Friday against Southern Utah. The neext week, Ma'ake was honored after hitting four home runs with 11 RBI as the Ducks went 5-1 at the Littlewood Classic. She hit .438 (7-of-16) for the weekend with a slugging percentage of 1.250. In the Ducks' two games on Feb. 15, Ma'ake hit three home runs and had seven RBI. In the first game, against Utah Valley, Ma'ake drove in four runs with one home run in the Ducks' 7-1 win. In the second game, against Grand Canyon, Ma'ake's solo shot in the fourth inning broke a scoreless tie and her two-run shot in the sixth doubled Oregon's lead to 4-0.

PITCHING SHINES IN THE DESERT
Oregon pitchers posted a 0.90 ERA in six games at the Littlewood Classic. The Ducks allowed just five earned runs in 16.0 innings. Taylour Spencer had a 0.00 ERA in 10.1 innings. Elise Sokolsky was at 0.43 with 17 strikeouts and only two walks in 16.1 innings. Lyndsey Grein has a 2.27 ERA and tied a career high with 12 strikeouts Feb. 16 versus Belmont.

KAI KEYS OFFENSE
When leadoff batter Kai Luschar reaches base in the first inning - either via base hit or walk - she has come around to score 75 percent of the time (6-of-8). The Ducks are 6-0 when Luschar scores a run in the first inning.

FRESHMEN IMPACT
Oregon's freshmen have accounted for more that half of the team's doubles home runs and RBI. Freshmen have hot 11-of-18 doubles (61.1 percent), 12-of-19 homers (63.2 percent) and 53-of-97 RBI (54.6 percent). Stefini Ma'ake leads the team in doubles (4), home runs (6) and RBI (21). Emma Cox has four doubles, three home runs and 12 RBI, Kaylynn Jones has three doubles and 12 RBI and Rylee McCoy has three homers and eight RBI.

.400 OUTFIELDERS
The three players who saw the most time in the outfield at the Littlewood Classic - Kai Luschar, Ayanna Shaw and Stefini Ma'ake - are all hitting over .400 for the season. Luschar leads the way at .452 with Ma'ake at .441 and Shaw at .414.