EUGENE — Opportunity first came knocking for Alyssa Brito in the offseason.

The former top-40 recruit, but there wasn’t necessarily an obvious opening on Oregon’s infield for her to play immediately. Jasmine Sievers opting out of the season due to her pregnancy created an opening at shortstop, where Brito has taken over and gotten off to a red hot start.

“Coming in I knew I had to compete,” Brito said. “We’re at a collegiate level now that everybody is good. Coming in I didn’t really have any goals such as that, but I said to myself compete every day, give everything I’ve got every practice and every day. Competing constantly.”

Brito earned the starting job and leads the No. 8 Ducks (7-0) with a .389 average through their first two weekends, with two home runs and seven RBIs. Making those figures all the more impressive is Brito opened 0 for 6 with a couple of walks and is 7 for her last 12.

“She brings a great energy to our team and we have seen it in practice,” center fielder Haley Cruse said. “She is a superstar, and I know she’s going to continue to build off of that.”

Brito’s first clutch hits came in the comeback win over Grand Canyon, when she hit a two-run double to tie the game and a critical RBI single, both with two outs. She had a pair of solo home runs and an RBI triple during two wins last weekend at Fresno State, earning Brito Pac-12 freshman of the week honors, and been perfect in the field thus far.

“Alyssa has been excellent on defense,” Oregon coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “You can see her bat is starting to get a little hot as well.”

Both of Brito’s home runs last weekend were well beyond the fence, though her teammates haven’t been surprised by the power she’s displayed.

“She would hit 300-foot home runs at practice,” second baseman Allee Bunker said. “We’re like, ‘OK, she’s going to do big things for this team.’ Her fielding at short is incredible, as you can see the past couple of weekends.”

As Oregon prepares for its toughest games yet, with top-ranked UCLA twice and against Utah during a trip to Tempe, Ariz. on Sunday and Monday, Brito has become a major player for the Ducks.

The former three-time California all-state honoree has played with and against several of UCLA’s players before, so the heightened level of competition shouldn’t be daunting.

“I think my hard work and dedicating myself a lot to getting better every day has helped me over the years and I’ve tried to carry that into college and do the best that I can each game and put everything out there,” Brito said. “I want to go in there and be aggressive and also make that at-bat as tough as possible on the pitcher, that’s challenging them. Just try to pass the bat to my teammates and get something going.”