Ducks set for tough test against No. 8 Florida State as part of Jane Sanders Classic

EUGENE, Ore. — Eight years ago, the No. 5 Oregon Ducks swept the No. 2 Florida State Seminoles in an emphatic statement to cap off the regular season. Oregon was near the end of a run under head coach Mike White — the winningest in program history — that saw them make five Women's College World Series appearances in seven seasons, and after sweeping one of the top teams in the nation looked like a legitimate national championship contender as it headed into the postseason. 

The Ducks would finish that 2017 season short of their ultimate goal, falling to the eventual champions Oklahoma in the WCWS, but put together one of the best seasons in program history, finishing with 54 wins to tie for their second-most all-time.

This weekend, Florida State makes its return to Jane Sanders Stadium for the first time since that fateful weekend, this time ranked as the No. 8 team in the country. While this is a different team than the one the Seminoles faced eight years ago, under new guidance from head coach Melyssa Lombardi, Oregon's attitude will be the same as they get a chance to test themselves against a top 10 team in the country and to prove, that just like in 2017, they should be taken seriously as one of the most dangerous teams that college softball has to offer.

"We proved ourselves a couple of weeks back," junior pitcher Elise Sokolsky said in regards to the Ducks' 5-0 showing at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. "So just to be able to go out and show people what we can do, it's really exciting."

This weekend's Jane Sanders Classic has been a year in the making, as Florida State was supposed to participate in last year's inaugural tournament before being scared away by inclement weather. The No. 12 Ducks (20-1) will get another shot at them this year, taking on the Seminoles twice this weekend, first at 6 PM on Friday before a rematch at 2:30 PM on Sunday.

"We never try to jump ahead," Lombardi said. "But this has been a weekend that's been circled on our calendar for a long time."

In addition to Florida State, Oregon will be renewing its in-state rivalry with the Oregon State Beavers. No longer a conference foe, the Ducks will get a chance to see their long-standing rivals three times this season, with the first coming at 3:30 PM on Saturday. Oregon will also make a pair of mid-week trips up to Corvallis for two games of Wednesday night softball in April.

The third team visiting the Ducks this weekend will be the Abilene Christian Wildcats, led by their new head coach and former Oregon assistant, Jo Koons. Koons, who spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons as a part of Lombardi's staff, has her team out to a 4-16 start in her first season at the helm, facing a brutal schedule that saw them play No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 1 Texas in back-to-back weekends. The Ducks will take on the Wildcats twice in the Jane Sanders Classic, first as the second-half of Sunday's doubleheader before closing out the weekend at 10:30 AM on Monday.

"It's gonna be different to see Jo on the other side," Lombardi said of her former assistant Koons. "But I'm so thrilled that she's here and for everything going on with her right now."

While the Ducks have only seen a handful of power conference opponents, they have handled themselves accordingly, blowing out lesser teams while holding a 4-1 record against the Power Four. Oregon continued in its ways last weekend, sweeping through San Diego, Portland State, and Loyola Chicago in the Oregon Classic, not even needing a full seven innings to secure three of its five wins by mercy rule.

"We talk about what we're doing, what we've done, and then moving forward, what's next," Lombardi said. "I think it's important to celebrate these small victories throughout the season; it's important, we've earned it, but then from there, to move on to the next. What's that whole next right thing to do? I think our group, all of us, have done a really good job at that."

Oregon dominated last weekend just as it has all season: as a team, pairing stellar performances in the circle with an explosive offense to outscore its opponents by a combined score of 41-7. The Ducks' three main hurlers, Lyndsey Grein, Taylour Spencer, and Sokolsky, were lights out, combining for a sparkling 0.90 ERA and 0.677 WHIP (Walks plus Hits per Innings Pitched) across 31 innings with 36 strikeouts to just six walks. 

"It's probably one of the most supportive staffs that I've been a part of; we all really want each other to succeed," Sokolsky said of Oregon's pitchers. "Just being able to have that sort of environment is what really pushes us to be able to go out there and perform the way that we do.

On offense, it was a combination of the usual suspects as well as some new faces dealing out damage. Rylee McCoy stayed hot, adding to her team lead with her ninth home run of the season, while Kai Luschar appeared to get things back on track in the weekend's final game, recording three hits for the first time since the season's opening weekend. But the star of the show was her sister Kedre, who hit .714 (10-for-14) to raise her batting average by nearly 100 points in just a single weekend.

"She's grown in so many ways," Kai Luschar said of her sister. "I mean mentally, physically, hitting, defense, all around, her throws. Everything that she does, she is extremely disciplined, and it's just so cool to be able to grow up with her. She's my best friend, so for her to finally get the success that she's worked for, it's indescribable."

Those 10 base hits included her second home run of the year, which, just like her first, went the opposite way out to left field. Before the season, both Lombardi and her sister Kai talked about the work Luschar did in the weight room this offseason, which has clearly paid off with the first two home runs of her college softball career.

The Ducks were without their leader, Lombardi, last weekend, who stepped away from the team to deal with a personal matter. Associate head coach Sam Marder substituted in her stead, leading Oregon to five wins to bring their streak to 15 straight. This weekend, Lombardi will return to the dugout to lead her team in the Jane Sanders Classic.