EUGENE, Ore. — Kai Luschar had three hits and an RBI, Dezianna Patmon hit a walk-off RBI single in the eighth inning and Oregon beat Liberty 3-2 in Game 1 at the best-of-three Eugene Super Regional on Friday night.
No. 16 seed Oregon (52-8) can clinch a berth in the Women's College World Series with a win in Game 2 on Saturday.
Staci Chambers (3-0) pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless one-hit relief for the Ducks.
Kendre Luschar led off the eighth with a single, stole second base and then advanced to third when Stefini Ma'ake flied out. Paige Sinicki walked and stole second to set up Patmon's second consecutive walk-off, after her three-run home run against Stanford lifted the Ducks in the clinching game at the Eugene Regional.
Elena Escobar (25-4) pitched a complete game for Liberty (50-14), allowing three runs — one earned — on seven hits with five walks over 7 1/3 innings.
KK Madrey singled and then Paige Doerr followed with an RBI single to cut Liberty's deficit to 2-1 in the fourth.
Doerr led off the sixth with a single and scored on a two-out single by Alexia Carrasquillo — on the eighth pitch of the at-bat — to make it 2-2.
Ayanna Shaw reached on an error with one out in the third and Kai Luschar followed with an RBI triple. Ma'ake added a two-out RBI single that made it 2-0.
