Even without head coach Melyssa Lombardi No. 14 Oregon breezes through first home weekend

Game 1: Oregon 9, San Diego 5

In their 2025 home opener, the Ducks pulled out a messy win over the San Diego Toreros, needing to come from behind after surrendering a five-run fifth inning. Elise Sokoslky got the start and cruised through her first four innings in the circle, allowing just a single base runner on an infield hit. But in the fifth, an error by first baseman Rylee McCoy was an omen of what was to come, as after Sokolsky struck out her third batter of the game, a single and a double plated the unearned run.

Following the double, Sokolsky was relieved by Grein, who quickly put herself in trouble with a passed ball that scored the runner from third. San Diego followed with two straight singles, a walk, and another single to bring home three more runs before Grein finally got the second out of the inning with a strikeout. A wild pitch would bring another run home, bringing the fifth-inning total to five before Grein got out of the frame with her second punch out.

"Those innings have a tendency to get out of a lot of control, and they can spiral," Marder said. "I was super proud of Lyndsey for taking control of the inning and shutting it down for us."

Oregon entered the fifth up 3-0 after a three-run first inning. The Ducks' speed made an immediate impact in the bottom of the first as Kai Luschar and Dezianna Patmon each forced misplays from the Torero infield, swiped second, and scored on McCoy's single to right before adding another run on a San Diego error.

"Our speed is killer," Kai's sister Kedre Luschar said. "We're always taking the extra bags."

Despite finding themselves trailing after surrendering their lead in the top of the fifth, the Ducks never counted themselves out and immediately got to work to regain the lead in the bottom of the inning. Oregon quickly put two in scoring position after Katie Flannery was hit by a pitch and Kaylynn Jones walked, setting up Patmon to bring home a run on a fielder's choice when Regan Legg — who pinch ran for Flannery — beat the throw to the plate from San Diego's shortstop. 

Patmon proceeded to swipe second, giving Oregon two in scoring position again before Stefini Ma'ake hit a grounder to the Torero second baseman that should've ended the inning. Luckily for the Ducks, San Diego's Alyssa Hernandez bobbled the ball before overthrowing her first baseman, leaving everybody safe and bringing home two more runs to give the Ducks the lead. 

"It was good to see this team get tested," Marder said. "It was an uncharacteristic inning for us for sure. I was really proud of them keeping their composure and staying calm, and not panicking."

A wild pitch and a single off the bat of Kedre Luschar would plate two more, bringing Oregon's fifth inning total to five runs and matching San Diego to exit with the same three-run lead it started with.

Flannery gave the Ducks an insurance run in the sixth, tripling under the glove of the San Diego right fielder before coming home to score on a wild pitch. Grein — who recovered nicely after allowing two runs in the fifth — locked things down from there, picking up one strikeout in the sixth and two in the seventh to shut down the Torero offense and secure the win.

Game 2: Oregon 9, Portland State 1

Friday's second game was all Ducks as they cruised behind a career-day from starter Taylour Spencer, who struck out a new-high eight Vikings across six innings, allowing just a single unearned run. Spencer was nails from the get-go, retiring the first six batters she saw before an error, a fielder's choice, and a triple down the left-field line scored a run for Portland State.

After stranding the runner to end the third, Spencer sat down the next six batters she faced before allowing a walk to lead off the sixth. That wouldn't phase her, as after a flyout to left, she struck out the next two batters swinging to cap off her masterful performance.

"She brings it," McCoy said of Spencer. "You want to make every play for her, you want all of the good plays and all of the normal plays. Playing behind pitchers that are just dawgs and do what they do, you need to be a dawg yourself and just get every out for them."

The Ducks again got their scoring started early as Patmon walked and eventually came around on a Paige Sinicki groundout in the first. Kedre Luschar led off the second with a double, advancing to third on the throw before scoring on Braiesey Rosa's sacrifice fly. Jones then walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch before Kai Luschar brought her home with an RBI groundout. Three pitches later, it was 4-0 Ducks after Patmon crushed Oregon's first Jane Sanders Stadium homer of the season halfway up the Bob in center field. 

"This lineup is so potent," Marder said. "There's so many different ways that we can win that if we just continue to go about our process and keep having quality at-bats, it's tough to keep this lineup out of it."

Flannery brought home Sinicki with a single up the middle in the third before, in the fourth, Rylee McCoy blasted her team-leading eighth home run of the season well over the left-field fence, extending the Oregon lead. Kedre Luschar brought home two more with a double to center, bringing the Ducks within one run of the mercy rule.

"I've hit a couple home runs so far this season," McCoy said after the game. "But that one was by far one of my favorite ones."

Oregon was finally held scoreless in the fifth inning, but in the sixth, ended things in walk-off mercy-rule fashion as Flannery roped a single toward third that was too hot to handle, bringing home Presley Lawton to give the Ducks an eight-run lead for the win.

Game 3: Oregon 6, San Diego 0

In the weekend's second encounter with San Diego, Oregon looked much more comfortable, riding a dominant shutout performance from Lyndsey Grein. After surrendering Oregon's lead in the fifth inning of game one, Grein easily handled the Toreros her second time around. San Diego put just five runners on base as Grein's elite strikeout stuff fanned 11 batters in her first complete game in an Oregon uniform. Grein reached the 300 career strikeout mark in the second inning after punching out the side.

"We just thought she'd be a great matchup for San Diego," Marder said of Grein. "It was good to see her go the distance. Our pitchers have been doing a great job of coming in for relief and picking up innings, and we're gonna need to be able to do that, we're gonna have to be able to do that as we get into conference and into postseason. But I really wanted to see if she could go the distance today, and I was really proud of that."

The Ducks continued to capitalize on their strength in the batter's box, utilizing three solo home runs to power their offense. Sinicki was the first to strike, sending her fourth home run of the season out to left field in the second inning. Oregon's gold glove shortstop has looked like she's put it all together at the plate in her senior season, already just a single homer short of her career-high while posting a 1.137 on-base plus slugging.

After Flannery continued her hot weekend (6-for-13 with seven RBIs) with an RBI double to score Kedre Luschar a few batters later, McCoy added to the Oregon lead with a solo shot, this time out to center after sending her first homer at the Jane over the left-field fence the previous night. 

The Ducks added another run on a Flannery sacrifice fly in the fourth before Patmon went the opposite way for her second home run in as many games, extending Oregon's lead to five runs. Three batters later, Sinicki drove in the Ducks' sixth and final run with a double down the left-field line.

"Honestly, it's been easy," Patmon said of her transition to Oregon. "Knowing that I have so many people behind me in the lineup and everyone can do a job and get it done just takes the pressure off of you."

Working with a six-run lead, Grein would make quick work of the Toreros over the final two innings, adding three more strikeouts to bring her total to 11 while allowing just one baserunner — a leadoff single in the seventh that wouldn't advance past first. The win was already Grein's 11th of the season after she entered the weekend tied for the national lead.

"We have a great pitching staff, we have dominant, dominant defense, and they really showed that throughout the weekend," Marder said.

Game 4: Oregon 8, Loyola Chicago 0

In the second half of Saturday's doubleheader, the Ducks were once again led by a complete-game shutout from their starting pitcher, this time Elise Sokolsky. The win would only require six scoreless innings from her as Oregon once again won with a mercy-rule walk-off, this time coming in the form of a Patmon double.

After a single and a wild pitch put a runner on second in the top of the first, Sokolsky shut down the Loyola Chicago offense, not allowing another Rambler to advance past first base until the fifth inning. Sokolsky conceded just three hits and a single walk across six shutout frames, striking out six to nearly put her on a strikeout-per-inning pace this season (46 in 46 ⅓ innings). With her strikeout to end the first, Sokolsky became the second Duck to reach 300 for her career on Saturday.

"If I'm being honest, I didn't know it was coming up," Sokolsky said of her 300th career strikeout. "So it was just really cool being able to celebrate that with the team, especially because it was the third out of the inning, so I got to come in, and they were like, 'Elise, guess what,' and I'm like, 'Oh, okay, cool, awesome.'"

The Ducks used the long ball to spark their offense earlier against San Diego but played more small-ball against Loyola Chicago, only recording three extra-base hits — doubles from Patmon and Remmington Hewitt and a two-run homer from Ma'ake.

Oregon sent its entire lineup to the plate in the first inning, scoring its first run by playing chaos ball on the basepaths with Kai Luschar and Patmon before adding three more on a McCoy sacrifice fly and singles from Kedre Luschar and Flannery.

"What's so pivotal about our speed is that it can continue to get us in scoring position even if we're not driving the ball, or even if we're not getting a lot of baserunners on," Marder said.

The Ducks made it 5-0 in the third on yet another RBI single off the bat of Flannery before Ma'ake put the game away in the fifth, golfing a 1-0 off-speed offering over the fence in left-center for her first homer at the Jane. After a diving stop by Sinicki ended the top of the sixth on a fielder's choice, Hewitt roped her first double of the season down the left-field line before scoring on Patmon's walk-off double two batters later.

Game 5: Oregon 9, Loyola Chicago 1

The Ducks started slow in their final game of the weekend, being held scoreless across the first three innings before exploding in the fourth and fifth to secure their third mercy-rule win of the weekend. Oregon put runners on in the first three innings but couldn't capitalize, stranding Kai Luschar at third in the first and Sinicki at third in the second.

While Oregon's offense couldn't get anything going early, the Duck defense limited the Loyola Chicago offense to just a single run, keeping them in the game while they waited for their bats to come through. Freshman Rowan Thompson got the nod to start for the first time in her collegiate career but quickly put a pair of runners on base with back-to-back walks on just nine pitches. Marder decided to go to her bullpen early, calling on Spencer for relief.

With two in scoring position, Spencer worked out of the first inning jam with an infield popup and a pair of grounders to keep a zero on the scoreboard. In the second, Loyola Chicago's Alli Pawlowicz tagged Spencer for a solo shot to left to take the lead, but that would be the only hit the Ramblers would manage off of her as she cruised through the rest of the final four frames.

"I was frustrated," Spencer said of conceding just her second home run of the season. "But after that pitch, I just said, 'The next time she comes up to bat I'm gonna strike her out,' and I did."

"She's an ultimate competitor," Marder said of Spencer. "She's somebody that continues to get stronger as the game goes on, and she just never backs away from a challenge. It's one of the things I love about Taylour, so it's no surprise to me that after giving that [home run] up, that she comes back, and she's even stronger than before that because that's just the type of player she is."

Following the homer, Spencer sat the next 10 batters down in order before finally conceding a walk in the top of the fifth. That wouldn't end up mattering though as she got some help from her backstop Rosa, who gunned down the runner trying to steal second to end the inning.

That wouldn't be Rosa's only highlight as in the bottom of the frame, she roped a double down the left-field line for her first career hit as a Duck. Rosa found herself in the starting lineup this weekend after filling in for Emma Cox, who took a foul tip to the chest in the first inning of game one and was not seen throughout the rest of the tournament. Marder said on Friday that Cox is still being evaluated and the coaching staff will have more answers on her availability as they move forward.

"I'm so happy for her," Marder said of Rosa. "She's such a great woman and wants so badly to do well. It's just amazing for her, and I hope that it continues to spark more at-bats as she comes with really good results. Sometimes you just need one to kind of break through and then take a deep breath after that, so I think that's gonna be really good for her."

Oregon's offense finally broke through in the fourth, loading the bases with an error, a hit-by-pitch, and a Kedre Luschar bunt single before Flannery grounded to third, and an error allowed two runs to come across. Noticing that no one was covering home in the chaos, Luschar raced to the plate to make it 3-1 Ducks.

"Our mentality is just to hit the ball through the line, help the defense, and just try to celebrate those small wins," Ma'ake said. "And a bunch of the girls executing the bunts down, it really helped out the team a lot and then just moving the runners each at-bat."

"We were just chipping away and chipping away," Marder said. "I think for [Loyola Chicago] it was their second turn, so third time through the lineup for us and just making adjustments. I think that's what our offense does a good job of is communicating, talking, and just having some other plans."

Things got explosive in what would prove to be the fifth and final inning, as Patmon led off with a solo shot just inside the left-field foul pole, her third of the weekend and sixth of the season. Back-to-back singles from Ma'ake and Sinicki put two more runners on before Kedre Lushar sent her second homer of the season the opposite way to left-center to extend Oregon's lead to six runs. Luschar hit her first career home run in the season opener, an opposite-field grand slam that strongly resembled her second on Sunday.

"Kedre had one of the best weekends I've seen a player have," Marder said of Luschar. "I hope that she gets recognized for that because she was the MVP of our tournament for sure."

After Rosa's double made it 8-1, Kai Luschar followed with a single to left that brought home Jones and pushed the lead to eight runs, securing Oregon's third mercy-rule walk-off win of the weekend.

The Ducks have now won 15 games in a row, their longest winning streak since 2021 — the last time they reached 20 wins in just 21 games.

Next weekend, the Ducks are back at Jane Sanders Stadium to host their second straight tournament. Oregon will play a total of five games between Friday and Monday, including a ranked showdown with No. 8 Florida State and an in-state rivalry renewal with the Oregon State Beavers. 

The Ducks will play their first game of the Jane Sanders Classic against Florida State at 6 PM on Friday before taking on Oregon State at 3:30 PM on Saturday. Oregon will then play a Sunday doubleheader against Florida State and Abilene Christian starting at 2:30 PM and wrap up the weekend with Abilene Christian again at 10:30 on Monday morning.