As the Pac-10 softball race heads toward the final stretch of the season, No. 11 Washington (32-13, 9-6 Pac-10) knows how precious each win is.

The Huskies showed that very understanding over the weekend, going 2-1 against the Oregon schools to place themselves in a three-way tie for second place.

The UW's lone loss of the weekend came Friday against OSU (35-18, 7-8 Pac-10), a tough 2-0 decision typical of Pac-10 softball —it came down to pitching, pitching and more pitching.

Danielle Lawrie suffered the loss for the Huskies, making just one mistake — giving up a two-run home run in the second — while striking out 15 and allowing only five hits in the complete game effort.

Ta'Tyana McElroy went the distance for the Beavers to pick up the win, scattering four hits and striking out four to run her season record to 11-5.

"We've got to put things together and do it the right way all the time," coach Heather Tarr said. "We can't take days off. But it was nice to go out after that and take it to Oregon."

Saturday's win over Oregon (39-14, 4-11 Pac-10) saw the Dawgs return to their potent offensive ways, as the Huskies strung together eight hits to top struggling Oregon 6-4.

Oregon's Jenn Salling got the Ducks off to an early start, belting a solo home run in the first inning to give them a 1-0 lead. The Huskies responded as soon as they got into the dugout on a two-run double by Lauren Greer.

With Oregon leading 4-3 in the fifth, the Huskies went back to work. After two hits and a walk loaded the bases, Greer came through once more with a two-run single to put the Huskies back in front 5-4.

Charters provided the final margin by ripping an RBI double in the sixth inning to score Nicole Moojen. Lawrie, who came on in relief of starter Caitlin Noble in the fifth, allowed two runs in three innings of work while striking out eight to pick up the win.

Yesterday, the Huskies played by far their most complete game of the weekend. They put up four runs in the first inning, another four in the sixth and used a near-perfect outing in the circle from Lawrie to blank Oregon 8-0 in a mercy rule victory.

Lawrie retired the first 14 batters she faced, and Joanna Gail's bloop two-out single in the fifth was the only offense the Ducks could muster. Lawrie fanned 10, gave up just one hit and faced only one batter over the minimum to improve to 21-8 on the season.

"Danielle's worked through some things," Tarr said. "I think we're moving in the right direction as far as our pitching goes."

Already leading 4-0, Dena Tyson led off the bottom of the sixth for the Huskies with her 17th home run of the season, and Greer reached on an error. Two batters later, Lawrie doubled to score Greer. After Amanda Fleischman walked, Charters laced a double into left center to score Lawrie and Fleischman and invoke the mercy rule, giving the Huskies an 8-0 win and — more importantly — a season sweep of the Ducks.

Reach reporter Christian Caple at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.