Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com
Ducks Active In Recovery Before Sunday Game
05/31/25 | Softball
The Oregon softball team had a day off from competition Saturday after two marathon nights at the Women's College World Series.
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oregon softball team arose Saturday still alive at the Women's College World Series, after two marathon nights to open the championship.
The Ducks followed Thursday's weather-delayed loss to UCLA with an elimination-game win over Ole Miss in 10 innings, which began late Friday and bled into the early hours of Saturday morning local time. They arose the next morning unsure of their next opponent, but knowing they have at least one more game to play this season, on Sunday (4 p.m. PT, ESPN2).
Saturday's schedule featured a brief practice and recovery session prior to lunch. The team then waited out the results of that afternoon's Oklahoma-Texas game, which would determine Oregon's opponent Sunday; the Longhorns won, relegating the Sooners to Sunday's elimination game against the Ducks.
"What I wanted for this group today was for them to really just take a second to exhale, and to just not be on a schedule all day long," said UO coach Melyssa Lombardi, who is making her 13th WCWS appearance as a coach. "We're prepared. We're ready. It's just a great day to exhale, take a breath, prepare a little bit, hang out, and then get ready for tomorrow."
There was still business to attend to. Hitters took swings under the guidance of associate head coach Sam Marder, and pitchers threw bullpens as Lombardi looked on. But as the Ducks have intermittently throughout this season, they also did an extended recovery session of yoga guided by athletic trainer Kate Pinkerton.
Prior to practice, the team stopped by Devon Park, the home stadium for the Women's College World Series. The point of their off-day visit: hit merchandise stands, to grab some swag commemorating the team's first WCWS appearance since 2018.
Yes, this is a business trip. But it's one the Ducks are taking time to enjoy as well.
"All year we've talked about the ability to celebrate the things that we're doing and enjoy what we're doing," Lombardi said. "And I think that's what you see right now — and that's what the world is seeing. They're watching us compete, and we're ahead and then we're behind and then it's tied, and they're not flinching. They're still smiling and enjoying every moment of it. That is something we've been talking about all year."
If there was any UO softball player meriting some recovery time Saturday, it was pitcher Lyndsey Grein, after her 144-pitch effort to beat the Rebels on Friday.
Grein started the game and pitched into the fifth inning, then re-entered during the sixth and went the rest of the way. She bounced back from allowing three runs in the seventh that forced extra innings but shutting out Ole Miss in the three extra frames.
Needless so say given the warrior mentality required to put together such a performance, Grein sounded on Saturday like she was ready to do it all again Sunday if necessary.
"I mean, whatever this team and this group requires to win," Grein said. "I'm more than willing to do whatever that role looks like, whether it's on the mound, in the dugout, in the bullpen — whatever that means, I'm there."
Grein's competitive spirit was a huge factor in her mental and physical endurance Saturday. So too, Lombardi said, was the training she's done all year under the program's strength and conditioning coach, Kaelin Jackson.
"From day one we have talked about how it all starts in the weight room," Lombardi said. "What we've done all fall, winter and even right now, what we are currently doing as a team as we're competing, is the reason why these guys are gutting it out. And if we have to go 10 innings, we'll go 10 innings. They've got the strength, they've got the endurance, and they've got the mindset to go along with it."
Saturday's practice concluded with a special visitor for the Ducks, program alum and Olympic medalist Janie Takeda Reed.
Decked out in Team USA gear after an appearance earlier in the day at the USA Softball Hall of Fame, Reed expressed the joy she and her fellow program alums have experienced watching this year's Oregon team compete. Reed and her husband, UO baseball alum Jake Reed, have been in attendance in OKC along with fellow softball alums Gwen Svekis, Lauren Lindvall, Alexa Peterson, Cherish Burks, Tehya Bird and Katelyn Howard.
Also Saturday, Reed presented a small gift of congratulations to UO senior Kai Luschar, who earlier this year broke Reed's UO career record for stolen bases. The two have been in regular contact in recent years, and Luschar's emotions overflowed at the gesture.
"I can't even put it into words," Luschar said. "I just remember looking up to her, and then my freshman year, I told coach (Nikki) Ragin that my goal was to beat her record of 35 single-season stolen bases. And it just feels wrong that I beat her career record; like, that just feels so wrong to me. But I'm so grateful for her, and (the alumni) just give us so much strength and courage. They're incredible, and I love them so much."
Luschar is one of three Ducks who enter Sunday's game hitting above .400 in the NCAA Tournament.
Luschar is one of two seniors doing so, along with shortstop Paige Sinicki. Luschar leads the team in the tournament with a .485 average, and Sinicki is hitting .407.
And tucked in between the two veterans, second on the team in hitting in this tournament, is a freshman: second baseman Kaylynn Jones, who is hitting at a .467 clip entering Sunday.
The Ducks have played in emotionally charged environments at home in the NCAA Regional and Super Regional rounds. Friday, they played in front of the most fans ever to watch an Oregon softball game, 12,400. Whatever the circumstances, Jones has been unfazed.
"As a little girl, we always dreamed about getting to this moment," Jones said. "So I feel like it's just about embracing every piece of it, sticking to our process, and just going for it."
Another UO freshman was unfazed Friday after a moment that quickly went viral on social media.
There were two outs in the top of the ninth Friday when Grein delivered a pitch, which Cox caught before doubling over and reaching for her eyes. After a few moments to recover, she stayed in the game and finished it out.
"I thought it was dirt from my glove that must have hit me," Cox said Saturday. "And I was like, OK, whatever. And then the umpire was like, no, it was a bug that flew into it and then the ball hit you, or the bug hit you in the face."
None of that could approach the incredibly unlikely chain of events that actually had unfolded. As video replay graphically illustrated while going viral online, Grein kicked up a clump of dirt during her delivery that the pitch then struck on the way to the plate, sending a speck of the dirt straight into Cox's eye.
"I didn't believe it until I saw the video," Cox said.
The Ducks followed Thursday's weather-delayed loss to UCLA with an elimination-game win over Ole Miss in 10 innings, which began late Friday and bled into the early hours of Saturday morning local time. They arose the next morning unsure of their next opponent, but knowing they have at least one more game to play this season, on Sunday (4 p.m. PT, ESPN2).
Saturday's schedule featured a brief practice and recovery session prior to lunch. The team then waited out the results of that afternoon's Oklahoma-Texas game, which would determine Oregon's opponent Sunday; the Longhorns won, relegating the Sooners to Sunday's elimination game against the Ducks.
"What I wanted for this group today was for them to really just take a second to exhale, and to just not be on a schedule all day long," said UO coach Melyssa Lombardi, who is making her 13th WCWS appearance as a coach. "We're prepared. We're ready. It's just a great day to exhale, take a breath, prepare a little bit, hang out, and then get ready for tomorrow."
There was still business to attend to. Hitters took swings under the guidance of associate head coach Sam Marder, and pitchers threw bullpens as Lombardi looked on. But as the Ducks have intermittently throughout this season, they also did an extended recovery session of yoga guided by athletic trainer Kate Pinkerton.
Prior to practice, the team stopped by Devon Park, the home stadium for the Women's College World Series. The point of their off-day visit: hit merchandise stands, to grab some swag commemorating the team's first WCWS appearance since 2018.
Yes, this is a business trip. But it's one the Ducks are taking time to enjoy as well.
"All year we've talked about the ability to celebrate the things that we're doing and enjoy what we're doing," Lombardi said. "And I think that's what you see right now — and that's what the world is seeing. They're watching us compete, and we're ahead and then we're behind and then it's tied, and they're not flinching. They're still smiling and enjoying every moment of it. That is something we've been talking about all year."
If there was any UO softball player meriting some recovery time Saturday, it was pitcher Lyndsey Grein, after her 144-pitch effort to beat the Rebels on Friday.
Grein started the game and pitched into the fifth inning, then re-entered during the sixth and went the rest of the way. She bounced back from allowing three runs in the seventh that forced extra innings but shutting out Ole Miss in the three extra frames.
Needless so say given the warrior mentality required to put together such a performance, Grein sounded on Saturday like she was ready to do it all again Sunday if necessary.
"I mean, whatever this team and this group requires to win," Grein said. "I'm more than willing to do whatever that role looks like, whether it's on the mound, in the dugout, in the bullpen — whatever that means, I'm there."
Grein's competitive spirit was a huge factor in her mental and physical endurance Saturday. So too, Lombardi said, was the training she's done all year under the program's strength and conditioning coach, Kaelin Jackson.
"From day one we have talked about how it all starts in the weight room," Lombardi said. "What we've done all fall, winter and even right now, what we are currently doing as a team as we're competing, is the reason why these guys are gutting it out. And if we have to go 10 innings, we'll go 10 innings. They've got the strength, they've got the endurance, and they've got the mindset to go along with it."
Saturday's practice concluded with a special visitor for the Ducks, program alum and Olympic medalist Janie Takeda Reed.
Decked out in Team USA gear after an appearance earlier in the day at the USA Softball Hall of Fame, Reed expressed the joy she and her fellow program alums have experienced watching this year's Oregon team compete. Reed and her husband, UO baseball alum Jake Reed, have been in attendance in OKC along with fellow softball alums Gwen Svekis, Lauren Lindvall, Alexa Peterson, Cherish Burks, Tehya Bird and Katelyn Howard.
Also Saturday, Reed presented a small gift of congratulations to UO senior Kai Luschar, who earlier this year broke Reed's UO career record for stolen bases. The two have been in regular contact in recent years, and Luschar's emotions overflowed at the gesture.
"I can't even put it into words," Luschar said. "I just remember looking up to her, and then my freshman year, I told coach (Nikki) Ragin that my goal was to beat her record of 35 single-season stolen bases. And it just feels wrong that I beat her career record; like, that just feels so wrong to me. But I'm so grateful for her, and (the alumni) just give us so much strength and courage. They're incredible, and I love them so much."
Luschar is one of three Ducks who enter Sunday's game hitting above .400 in the NCAA Tournament.
Luschar is one of two seniors doing so, along with shortstop Paige Sinicki. Luschar leads the team in the tournament with a .485 average, and Sinicki is hitting .407.
And tucked in between the two veterans, second on the team in hitting in this tournament, is a freshman: second baseman Kaylynn Jones, who is hitting at a .467 clip entering Sunday.
The Ducks have played in emotionally charged environments at home in the NCAA Regional and Super Regional rounds. Friday, they played in front of the most fans ever to watch an Oregon softball game, 12,400. Whatever the circumstances, Jones has been unfazed.
"As a little girl, we always dreamed about getting to this moment," Jones said. "So I feel like it's just about embracing every piece of it, sticking to our process, and just going for it."
Another UO freshman was unfazed Friday after a moment that quickly went viral on social media.
There were two outs in the top of the ninth Friday when Grein delivered a pitch, which Cox caught before doubling over and reaching for her eyes. After a few moments to recover, she stayed in the game and finished it out.
"I thought it was dirt from my glove that must have hit me," Cox said Saturday. "And I was like, OK, whatever. And then the umpire was like, no, it was a bug that flew into it and then the ball hit you, or the bug hit you in the face."
This Oregon softball pitcher hitting a clump of dirt in mid-air with a pitch gave us one of the coolest replay angles you'll ever see ??
— MLB (@MLB) May 31, 2025
(?? : @ESPN) pic.twitter.com/1UNFYLLOts
None of that could approach the incredibly unlikely chain of events that actually had unfolded. As video replay graphically illustrated while going viral online, Grein kicked up a clump of dirt during her delivery that the pitch then struck on the way to the plate, sending a speck of the dirt straight into Cox's eye.
"I didn't believe it until I saw the video," Cox said.
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