OKLAHOMA CITY — As Oregon’s team bus made its way across the north end of college softball’s hometown, on the way to USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium on Saturday morning, the Ducks were arrayed in their usual seating arrangement.

Up front were coaches and administrators. Behind them, equipment managers, athletic trainers and other staff. Then, the underclassmen, most of them quietly shielded behind bulky headphones. And way in the back, the team’s veterans, a more boisterous group including Danica Mercado, Nikki Udria, Jenna Lilley and, generally most conspicuous of all, junior catcher Gwen Svekis.

The Ducks were about halfway to the stadium for their do-or-die matchup with Baylor — the first of two potential must-win games for Oregon on Saturday — when Svekis began to sing, as she’s prone to do. She started in on Gloria Gaynor’s best-known hit, and before long she was leading a chorus of voices signing the well-known refrain: “I Will Survive.”

Survive the Ducks did Saturday, beating first Baylor and then Louisiana State on Saturday night, 4-1, to reach the Women’s College World Series semifinals Sunday. Oregon will need to beat defending national champion Oklahoma twice to reach the championship series that starts Monday. But the Ducks proved Saturday they’re fighters, and survivors.

Megan Kleist followed up her clutch three-out save in the win over the Bears earlier in the day by striking out nine in a complete-game victory over LSU. Lilley (below left) led a sparkling defensive performance across the infield, Alexis Mack was disruptive on the basepaths in a three-hit night and Svekis blasted a two-run homer in the first inning for a lead that Oregon (54-7) never surrendered.

“Right now I think we’re playing pretty well,” head coach Mike White said. “Hitting is contagious, and I feel like that’s what’s happening right now. That’s the mark of a good team — a team that’s got each other’s backs.”

Kleist (21-4) had her fellow pitchers’ backs in Saturday’s opener against Baylor, getting out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation with the Ducks up three in the seventh. She parlayed that into a dominant outing against LSU, allowing only a second-inning home run and striking out nine, two off her season-high.

A week after a career-best outing to beat Kentucky in Super Regionals, Kleist rebounded from her loss Thursday to Washington with two unforgettable performances Saturday.

“I was just really trying to vibe off how we ended the last game,” said Kleist, who struck out two straight after LSU put runners at the corners with one out in the fourth. “Just carrying that energy … and attacking, doing what I did the first game. That’s what I did and it worked out.”

After using two strikeouts to pitch around an infield single in the first inning, Kleist was staked to an early lead by Svekis’ homer that followed Mack’s one-out single. Having reimagined their offense around manufacturing runs following the graduation of the 2016 team’s primary power hitters, the Ducks didn’t have a home run this postseason until Svekis’ blast.

“It was really exciting,” Svekis said. “On this stage, 10,000 people watching — it’s what you dream of from the time you’re a little girl.”

The home run also gave the Ducks early offense in both games Saturday, after they failed to capitalize on early opportunities against Washington in the first round. Against LSU on Saturday night, Mack singled and took third on an error in the third, then scored on a single by Udria for a 3-1 lead. Mia Camuso provided her fifth RBI of the day with a single to drive in Udria for the game’s final run in the fifth.

Kleist and Oregon’s defense did the rest. Whether it was Camuso stretching at first to field a throw from Lilley in the second inning, Lauren Lindvall making a quick transition at second base for a ground out to end the third, or Lilley fielding a bunt and firing to second to get the lead runner in the fifth, the UO defense was stellar throughout.

“We’ve been playing every inning today like it’s the seventh,” Lilley said. “Our season is on the line — we all know it — so we play like it. We play every single pitch with everything we’ve got, not letting down, not giving in.”

Against Washington on Thursday, the Ducks played as though the pressure of the Women’s College World Series got to them. It was a different story Saturday, as Oregon played with a nothing-to-lose attitude, when in fact the team had everything to lose in both games.

The tone for the day was set on that bus ride, when Svekis began singing to herself and her teammates quickly joined in.

“I think that just shows how much fun we’ve been having this year,” Svekis said. “How much we enjoy each other, how much we want to fight for each other. I want to play with this team as long as I can. Little moments like that, we have an energy that takes over, and it definitely carried over to the game.”

– Via goducks.com