Lyndsey Grein bounces back to deliver gem in run-rule win to open NCAA Tournament play

EUGENE, Ore. — Behind a much-needed bounce-back start from ace Lyndsey Grein, the 16th-seeded Oregon Ducks steamrolled the Weber State Wildcats in their first game of the Eugene Regional, winning 8-0 in just five innings. Grein, who had struggled over the past three weekends, was absolutely dominant, striking out nine as just four Wildcats reached base in a complete game shutout.

"We had a hard week of practice, and Coach prepared us," Grein said. "We've been ready all season for postseason, but especially this week, we were fully prepared to step on the field and dominate."

She picked up a pair of swinging strikeouts to work around a one-out single in a scoreless top of the first, showing a return to the form that made her one of the 10 finalists for USA Softball's National Player of the Year award.

In the bottom of the frame, Kai Luschar and Paige Sinicki were quickly retired to lead things off for the Ducks, but on the first pitch to Rylee McCoy, the freshman first baseman launched her 18th home run of the season into the center field bleachers to give the Ducks (48-7) an early lead. She now sits just one away from Ann Marie Topps' single-season program of 19 long balls back in 2007.

"I wanted to start fast for my team," McCoy said. "Lyndsey started really fast, and I wanted to have that same thing for the offense."

Grein kept carving through the Wildcat lineup when she returned to the circle in the second, striking out the side to bring her total to five through her first two frames. She continued to work efficiently after the Ducks were retired one-two-three in the bottom of the second, with a scoreless top of the third that included her sixth and seventh strikeouts. In total, she needed just 84 pitches to get through five innings, landing nearly 70 percent of them for strikes.

With two down at the bottom of the frame, Luschar drew a four-pitch walk to give Oregon its first base runner since McCoy's homer. She proceeded to swipe second, the 103rd steal of her career to pass Janie Takeda for the most in program history, but was stranded as Sinicki grounded out to end the inning.

After another one-two-three inning from Grein in the circle, McCoy walked to lead off the bottom of the fourth before Kedre Luschar slapped a single the other way to put two on with no outs. Emma Cox popped up to bring Stefini Ma'ake to the plate, who worked ahead in the count 3-1 before driving a double into the right-center gap to bring two runs across. 

"It took us a little bit offensively to get going," head coach Melyssa Lombardi said. "We were just timing-wise, a little early and putting a lot of balls on the ground. What I love is the in-game adjustment that they made. They got on time, and once they started to get on time, they started lifting the ball, driving the ball, and passing the bat."

Two pitches later, Dezianna Patmon crushed a two-run homer the opposite way over the right field wall, quickly ballooning the Oregon lead to 5-0. The Ducks then loaded the bases as Weber State (28-31) made its second pitching change of the inning before McCoy finally grounded out to short in her second at-bat of the inning.

Weber State put its first runner on second base in the top of the fifth when catcher Eva Richardson doubled off the wall in right field before a four-pitch walk from Grein put Kiaira Smith on first. With a runner in scoring position for the first time, Grein answered with back-to-back punchouts to escape the inning.

"I looked around at my team, and was like, 'No way am I going to allow that to happen again," Grein said of the fifth. "Especially to have a walk come up after that, like no way. My teammates scored me some runs, there's no way I'm gonna give that up. That really lit a fire under my butt and got me rolling."

Kedre Luschar led off the bottom of the frame with a double before Cox singled to put runners on the corners. The Ducks then pulled off a double-steal with Cox's pinch runner Presley Lawton drawing the throw down to second to allow Luschar to score before Patmon followed two batters later with a double to right-center, plating another run for her third RBI of the day.

"Every day is just another day for us to be able to play together," Patmon said. "Knowing that your teammates are there behind you, it takes a lot of stress and pressure off of you."

Now within one run of the mercy rule, Kaylynn Jones grounded out to move Patmon over to third before Braiesey Rosa pinch hit for Katie Flannery, drawing a four-pitch walk to put runners on the corners. On the next pitch, Kai Luschar grounded to short, beating out the throw as Patmon raced home to push Oregon's lead to eight for the win.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE DUCKS?

With Stanford taking down Binghamton 9-2 earlier on Friday, the Ducks will take on the Cardinal in their next game of the tournament at 1 PM on Saturday. The winner will advance to Sunday's regional championship, while the loser will take on the winner of Weber State and Binghamton for a chance to stay alive for another day.

"We're gonna face a tough Stanford team tomorrow," Lombardi said. "It's about us being hyper-focused, still understanding how to start fast and stay fast throughout the game."