Friday, April 17
Eugene, OR
6:00 PM
University of Oregon
33-9, 0
8
vs
4
Washington
34-10, 0
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| Oregon | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | X | 8 | 11 | 2 |
Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com
Ducks Down Previously Unbeaten UW
04/17/26 | Softball
Oregon rallied for five runs with two outs in the sixth inning Friday to hand Washington its first Big Ten loss, 8-4.
EUGENE, Ore. — On a night Oregon softball celebrated the 10th anniversary of Jane Sanders Stadium, the facility and its rabid fans provided a signature moment in its history Friday.
After the Big Ten's previously unbeaten first-place team Washington tied Friday's series opener against the Ducks in the top of the sixth inning, the home team rallied for five runs with two outs in the bottom half, capped by an Emma Cox grand slam for her second home run of the night. Defending conference champion Oregon (33-9, 14-2 Big Ten) won 8-4, moving within a game of the Huskies (34-10, 15-1) with two games left in their weekend series.
Jane Sanders Stadium will host both games, 3 p.m. starts both Saturday and Sunday. And Oregon's fans will be looking to see — and help create — the kind of magic they saw Friday.
"We could really feel their energy from the first pitch on," said UO senior Amari Harper, whose bases-loaded walk gave the Ducks a 4-3 lead before Cox stepped to the plate in the sixth. "So I think we kind of carried that into all seven innings, and I think it really helped us in those tight moments, putting pressure on the other team rather than us."
Cox posted her second career two-homer game and set a new career high with six RBIs. She also caught a seven-inning, 10-strikeout performance from UO pitcher Lyndsey Grein (22-4), who set the tone by striking out the side in the first inning.
"She's an absolute competitor, and what she does rubs off on everybody else," UO coach Melyssa Lombardi said. "She is so confident, and she gives us confidence as well."
The Ducks enter Saturday with a chance to tie the Huskies and Nebraska for first place in the Big Ten, and would be atop the conference standings with a weekend sweep. A year after winning a mid-April series at the Jane over UCLA that proved critical to Oregon's conference title, the chance for history to repeat is at hand.
"We try to stay in the present moment as much as we possibly can," Cox said. "So whatever happens last, whether it was good or bad, if we spend too much time thinking about it, it's going to take away from our next thing. So we're just trying to reset and then take the next right step."
How It Happened: Grein struck out the side while pitching around a two-out single in the top of the first, and her battery mate Cox made it 2-0 in the bottom of the inning. After Kaylynn Jones singled with one out, Cox blasted her sixth homer of the year for the first two of seven two-out RBIs by the Ducks in the game.
After being mobbed at the plate by her teammates, Cox shared a hug with Grein on the walk back to the dugout — the first of two they'd share in that situation over the course of the evening.
"I think her going out and (striking out the side) in the first inning is a huge, huge thing for us as a team, because she goes out and does her job really well, and then we are all ready to go hand it to them on offense," Cox said. "So I can't speak enough about her energy. She's a great table-setter."
The Huskies nearly put together their own two-out rally in the top of the second. A single and a stolen base put a runner in scoring position, but that runner was thrown out at the plate on another single when Elon Butler rifled in a throw from right field to Cox.
"We practice that all week," Cox said. "So when it was happening in the game, I was like, this is just going to work out, because we had been doing it all week in practice. I knew when I saw that ball go through the three-four hole, I was like, this is perfect. It's gonna happen just like it did in practice."
Grein struck out the side again in the third inning, needing just 10 pitches for her nine strikes. Katie Flannery led off the bottom of the inning with a single, Butler followed with a base hit and Harper brought home punch-runner Regan Legg on a one-out single for a 3-0 lead.
That remained the score heading into the sixth — after the Ducks left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth — and UW tied it with a one-out solo homer and a two-out, two-run double. Oregon's first two hitters of the sixth were then retired in order, bringing Flannery to the plate with two outs.
In an at-bat that proved to be the spark for Oregon's entire rally, Flannery fell behind 0-2, fouled off a pitch to stay alive, took a ball and then fouled off two more before driving a single up the middle. A strike away from being retired in order, the Ducks had life.
Butler jumped on the next pitch for another single, UW brought in a left-handed pitcher to face Jones and the sophomore worked a four-pitch walk. Harper then strode to the plate with the bases loaded, fell behind 1-2, worked the count full and eventually took ball four as the Jane Sanders crowd created a cacophony of chaos for the Washington pitcher.
"She's a new pitcher — she's gonna be more nervous than I am, honestly," Harper said of her mentality in that at-bat. "So just take advantage of her nervousness and use it against her, and just know that I have the advantage and the upper hand in that situation. Be patient with picking my pitches and just let the game happen."
The Huskies went to the bullpen again before Cox stepped into the box. She took ball one and then blasted a grand slam high and deep down the third-base line — right past the Sanders family gathered on the concourse level along the left-field line, after being honored pregame for their contributions to the construction of The Jane.
"I was just grateful for the opportunity to be in that at-bat," Cox said. "And that was just a byproduct of four or five great at-bats before that. I mean, it started with Katie having a great two-strike battle, getting on base; Elon, then K-Dub, and then Amari having a great at-bat before me. I just feel like, when we pass the bat that well, it just always works out."
The Huskies scored an unearned run in the seventh to make it 8-4, before Butler ended the game with her second outstanding play in the outfield, a sliding catch in right. The Ducks celebrated their win with postgame autographs for their fans, and Harper said that would be about as long as they'd let themselves enjoy the win before turning their attention to Saturday.
"Nobody wants to lose," Harper said. "Knowing that they're going to come back even harder tomorrow, we have to be prepared to match that energy and be even higher. So yes, we're happy. We'll take the good with the good and fix the bad. But understand that tomorrow is a new day, and anything could happen. Just trying to reset that mindset on, it's a new game. Clean slate."
Notable: Cox hit two homers in a game for the second time in her career, and for the first time since Feb. 27, 2025, against Southern Utah. … Cox extended her hitting streak to a career-best seven games. … Grein had double-digit strikeouts for the second straight game and the fifth time this season.
Up next: The Ducks host the Huskies in game two of the series Saturday (3 p.m., B1G+).
After the Big Ten's previously unbeaten first-place team Washington tied Friday's series opener against the Ducks in the top of the sixth inning, the home team rallied for five runs with two outs in the bottom half, capped by an Emma Cox grand slam for her second home run of the night. Defending conference champion Oregon (33-9, 14-2 Big Ten) won 8-4, moving within a game of the Huskies (34-10, 15-1) with two games left in their weekend series.
Jane Sanders Stadium will host both games, 3 p.m. starts both Saturday and Sunday. And Oregon's fans will be looking to see — and help create — the kind of magic they saw Friday.
"We could really feel their energy from the first pitch on," said UO senior Amari Harper, whose bases-loaded walk gave the Ducks a 4-3 lead before Cox stepped to the plate in the sixth. "So I think we kind of carried that into all seven innings, and I think it really helped us in those tight moments, putting pressure on the other team rather than us."
Cox posted her second career two-homer game and set a new career high with six RBIs. She also caught a seven-inning, 10-strikeout performance from UO pitcher Lyndsey Grein (22-4), who set the tone by striking out the side in the first inning.
"She's an absolute competitor, and what she does rubs off on everybody else," UO coach Melyssa Lombardi said. "She is so confident, and she gives us confidence as well."
The Ducks enter Saturday with a chance to tie the Huskies and Nebraska for first place in the Big Ten, and would be atop the conference standings with a weekend sweep. A year after winning a mid-April series at the Jane over UCLA that proved critical to Oregon's conference title, the chance for history to repeat is at hand.
"We try to stay in the present moment as much as we possibly can," Cox said. "So whatever happens last, whether it was good or bad, if we spend too much time thinking about it, it's going to take away from our next thing. So we're just trying to reset and then take the next right step."
How It Happened: Grein struck out the side while pitching around a two-out single in the top of the first, and her battery mate Cox made it 2-0 in the bottom of the inning. After Kaylynn Jones singled with one out, Cox blasted her sixth homer of the year for the first two of seven two-out RBIs by the Ducks in the game.
After being mobbed at the plate by her teammates, Cox shared a hug with Grein on the walk back to the dugout — the first of two they'd share in that situation over the course of the evening.
"I think her going out and (striking out the side) in the first inning is a huge, huge thing for us as a team, because she goes out and does her job really well, and then we are all ready to go hand it to them on offense," Cox said. "So I can't speak enough about her energy. She's a great table-setter."
The Huskies nearly put together their own two-out rally in the top of the second. A single and a stolen base put a runner in scoring position, but that runner was thrown out at the plate on another single when Elon Butler rifled in a throw from right field to Cox.
"We practice that all week," Cox said. "So when it was happening in the game, I was like, this is just going to work out, because we had been doing it all week in practice. I knew when I saw that ball go through the three-four hole, I was like, this is perfect. It's gonna happen just like it did in practice."
Grein struck out the side again in the third inning, needing just 10 pitches for her nine strikes. Katie Flannery led off the bottom of the inning with a single, Butler followed with a base hit and Harper brought home punch-runner Regan Legg on a one-out single for a 3-0 lead.
That remained the score heading into the sixth — after the Ducks left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth — and UW tied it with a one-out solo homer and a two-out, two-run double. Oregon's first two hitters of the sixth were then retired in order, bringing Flannery to the plate with two outs.
In an at-bat that proved to be the spark for Oregon's entire rally, Flannery fell behind 0-2, fouled off a pitch to stay alive, took a ball and then fouled off two more before driving a single up the middle. A strike away from being retired in order, the Ducks had life.
Butler jumped on the next pitch for another single, UW brought in a left-handed pitcher to face Jones and the sophomore worked a four-pitch walk. Harper then strode to the plate with the bases loaded, fell behind 1-2, worked the count full and eventually took ball four as the Jane Sanders crowd created a cacophony of chaos for the Washington pitcher.
"She's a new pitcher — she's gonna be more nervous than I am, honestly," Harper said of her mentality in that at-bat. "So just take advantage of her nervousness and use it against her, and just know that I have the advantage and the upper hand in that situation. Be patient with picking my pitches and just let the game happen."
The Huskies went to the bullpen again before Cox stepped into the box. She took ball one and then blasted a grand slam high and deep down the third-base line — right past the Sanders family gathered on the concourse level along the left-field line, after being honored pregame for their contributions to the construction of The Jane.
"I was just grateful for the opportunity to be in that at-bat," Cox said. "And that was just a byproduct of four or five great at-bats before that. I mean, it started with Katie having a great two-strike battle, getting on base; Elon, then K-Dub, and then Amari having a great at-bat before me. I just feel like, when we pass the bat that well, it just always works out."
The Huskies scored an unearned run in the seventh to make it 8-4, before Butler ended the game with her second outstanding play in the outfield, a sliding catch in right. The Ducks celebrated their win with postgame autographs for their fans, and Harper said that would be about as long as they'd let themselves enjoy the win before turning their attention to Saturday.
"Nobody wants to lose," Harper said. "Knowing that they're going to come back even harder tomorrow, we have to be prepared to match that energy and be even higher. So yes, we're happy. We'll take the good with the good and fix the bad. But understand that tomorrow is a new day, and anything could happen. Just trying to reset that mindset on, it's a new game. Clean slate."
Notable: Cox hit two homers in a game for the second time in her career, and for the first time since Feb. 27, 2025, against Southern Utah. … Cox extended her hitting streak to a career-best seven games. … Grein had double-digit strikeouts for the second straight game and the fifth time this season.
Up next: The Ducks host the Huskies in game two of the series Saturday (3 p.m., B1G+).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Grein, Lyndsey (22-4)
L: Morgan Reimer (22-3)
Batting:
2B: Alexis DeBoer 1 ; Melody Acevedo 1
HR: Giselle Alvarez 1
RBI: Alexis DeBoer 1 ; Giselle Alvarez 1 ; Melody Acevedo 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Giselle Alvarez 1 ; Ava Carroll 1 ; Addie Craig 1 ; Jade Bubke 1
SB: Melody Acevedo 1
Batting:
HR: Cox, Emma 2
RBI: Harper, Amari 2 ; Cox, Emma 6
Base Running:
RUNS: Butler, Elon 1 ; Jones, Kaylynn 2 ; Harper, Amari 1 ; Cox, Emma 2 ; Flannery, Katie 1 ; Legg, Regan 1
HBP: Hewitt, Remmington 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
UTIL
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
RHP
/ SoftballUTIL
/ SoftballINF
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballMelyssa Lombardi | Postgame - Washington (Game 1)
Saturday, April 18
Amari Harper | Postgame - Washington (Game 1)
Saturday, April 18
Emma Cox | Postgame - Washington (Game 1)
Saturday, April 18
Lyndsey Grein: "We will play our hearts out."
Wednesday, April 15
