Oregon softball closes out senior day with comeback victory

EUGENE, Ore. — In their final game of the regular season, the No. 3 Oregon Ducks came from behind to take down the Michigan State Spartans 7-6 for their 19th Big Ten win of the season. With No. 8 UCLA's loss to Northwestern earlier on Sunday, the Ducks had already claimed the outright regular-season conference championship. Still, they were able to deliver a win in front of their home crowd at the Jane to cap off Senior Day on a high note.

"We're not done," Oregon head coach Melyssa Lombardi said after the game. "We are going out on our own terms."

Oregon (47-6, 19-3) fell behind early before exploding for a five-run third inning that they would never look back from. Freshman designated hitter Stefini Ma'ake broke the game open with her third-inning homer to take the lead, while senior center fielder Kedre Luschar added three RBIs of her own to lead the way for the Duck offense, and Elise Sokolsky gave her team five innings of relief — bringing her total to 15 ⅔ this weekend with 15 strikeouts against just four earned runs allowed.

"This weekend, it was required for Elise to show that she can show herself multiple times," Lombardi said. "It's important, we're going to need that down the stretch."

Oregon starter Lyndsey Grein worked cleanly through the first inning in what looked like a nice bounce back after taking her second loss of the season on Friday, surrendering four runs in just 1 ⅓ innings. She fanned the first batter she saw before freezing Spartan third baseman Hannah Hawley with a changeup for the third out.

Kai Luschar walked to lead things off for the Ducks before swiping her 100th bag of the season — joining Janie Takeda as the second player in program history to reach the century mark — but was stranded on third to end the inning.

Grein's perfect start wouldn't last long, running into second-inning trouble reminiscent of Friday night's loss. A single and a walk quickly gave Michigan State (16-28, 4-13) a pair of base runners before left fielder Kendall Smiley drove a double up the middle to bring a run across. Grein picked up her fourth strikeout for the second out of the inning, but Mik Anthony singled through the left side of the infield to make it 2-0 Michigan State. 

The bottom of Oregon's lineup stranded Ma'ake and Ayanna Shaw after a double and a walk in the second, before Grein returned to the circle for the top of the third. On her second pitch of the inning, Spartan center fielder Sydney Doloszycki attacked to send a solo shot out to left and extend the Spartan lead to three runs.

That would do it for Grein as Sokolsky entered in relief. After starting three days in a row against UCLA two weeks ago, Grein, who has already surpassed her previous career high by over 30 innings pitched, has now allowed multiple earned runs in four of her last five outings, during which time her ERA has climbed from 1.15 to 1.82.

"She's thrown a lot for us for sure, and you're getting to the end of the year," Lombardi said of her ace. "Bodies can feel it on our team, she can feel it, everybody else can feel it as well. What I love is that her recovery methods are really, really good. She has been lights out for us all year and will continue to be lights out for us."

After Sokolsky quickly retired the next three batters to work the Ducks out of the top of the third, Oregon's offense woke up in the bottom of the inning. The top of the Ducks' lineup loaded the bases for Kedre Luschar before an out had even been recorded. On the first pitch she saw, Luschar got aggressive, slapping it the other way into left field to bring two across with a single. 

An error on an Emma Cox fielder's choice brought another run home to tie the game, and on the first pitch to Ma'ake, she crushed a two-run homer 230 feet into the netting past the left field wall to put the Ducks ahead 5-3.

"Being aggressive is in my cylinders right there," Ma'ake said. "It's just them pitching to me instead of me getting myself out."

With two down in the fourth, Sokolsky hung a first pitch changeup to Michigan State right fielder Jenae Wash that she tagged for a solo shot to get a run back for the Spartans.

Sokolsky worked around a one-out single in the fifth with back-to-back strikeouts to escape the inning unscathed, dotting a fastball to Collette Allen for the third out. Cox took the first pitch of the bottom of the frame before jumping on the second for a solo shot — her sixth of the season — to make it 6-4 Ducks. 

In the bottom of the next inning, Sinicki walked before swiping her second bag of the game and advancing to third on Rylee McCoy's groundout. Just like the back in the third, Kedre Luschar stayed aggressive on the first pitch, lining it into open grass in right-center before it rolled to the wall for her fifth triple of the season to extend Oregon's lead to three.

"I feel like I'm pretty aggressive hitting-wise early in the count," Luschar said. "I wasn't getting what I wanted later on in the count, and I was taking that good first pitch, so I was like, 'If it's there, I'm swinging.' Because that's the best pitch I was getting."

Sokolsky returned to the circle for the seventh, looking to close out the win, but after just two pitches, Doloszycki got a hold of her second homer of the game. Sokolsky would pick up the next two outs, including her sixth strikeout, but another Spartan homer, this one off the bat of Allen, cut Oregon's lead to one.

It would only take Sokolsky one more pitch, as a groundout to Flannery at third ended the game.

Next week, the Ducks will travel to West Lafayette, Indiana, for the Big Ten Softball Tournament. With the top overall seed, Oregon will play its first game at 1:30 PM on Thursday against the winner of eighth-seeded Michigan and ninth-seeded Wisconsin. The semifinals will take place on Friday, and the Big Ten tournament champion will be crowned on Saturday.

"Today's win and today's energy, taking that into the start of the tournament, it's going to be big for us," Luschar said.

After the Ducks return from Indiana, the next step will be the NCAA Tournament selection show at 11 a.m. next Sunday.