The 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship came to a close on Saturday with Georgia securing the women’s national title.

Sixteen finals took place and six Ducks competed at Hayward Field on Saturday.

The day began with Fresno State’s Cierra Jackson setting a meet record in the women’s discus with a 65.82-meter throw.

Later, the track events began with the women’s wheelchair 100 meters. American Paralympian Hannah Dederick clocked in at 16.50 to secure first place for Illinois in a preview of what’s to come at the Para National Championships coming to Hayward in August.

Oregon’s biggest chance to string together points came in the 1,500 meters, where Silan Ayyildiz, Klaudia Kazimierska and Mia Barnett all made the final.

The stacked field featured a physical race, with bumping and little room to make a move to the front of the group.

“I’m glad I’m representing my school and I’m healthy,” Ayyildiz said. “It’s just, the 1500 when it comes to the race, you have to fight.”

Ayyildiz tried to stay top three throughout, but the final 400 meters sped up, and she ended in fourth with a time of 4:09.75. Kazimierska finished just a spot behind her at 4:10.42.

“I wasn’t patient. I feel like I didn’t just run my best today,” Kazimierska said. “It was my last race out there at Hayward, so it’s just a very emotional moment for me.”

Sophie O’Sullivan recorded a personal best to come in first and give Washington a one-point lead over Georgia for the national title.

The Ducks catapulted into third place after the 100-meter hurdles. Junior Aaliyah McCormick picked up speed as the race went on to clock in at 12.81. She won the first and only event for Oregon at the outdoor championships in a race that had a did not start, did not finish and disqualified.

“Hurdles can be a very difficult race. You’re running and jumping at the same time, and that can be a little bit of an obstacle,” McCormick said. “I knew not to worry about anything else that is going around me, but to just stay close to my lane.”

Georgia and USC went back and forth for possession of first place in the team standings. Trojans’ senior Samirah Moody came in first in the 100 meters, with two teammates also finishing in the top eight. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, went one and two in the 400 meters.

Michigan’s Savannah Sutherland broke two-time 400-meter hurdles Olympic Gold Medalist Sydney McClaughlin-Levrone’s record in the event, clocking in at 52.46 seconds. It was 1.80 faster than second-place and Georgia picked up more points with Michelle Smith in third-place.

The Ducks fell to tenth at the conclusion of the weekend. Ryann Porter tallied one point with her eighth-place finish in the triple jump and Annika Williams picked up a did not start in the final event of the heptathlon.

Even though USC secured second and third place in the 200 meters, the Bulldogs gained the points they needed to take home the National Championship. The 73-point performance was capped off with a win in the 4×400-meter relay. USC came in second and Texas A&M rounded out the top three.

The collegiate track and field wrapped up on Saturday, but there’s still more to come at Hayward Field this summer. The Nike Outdoor Nationals and USATF U20 Outdoor Championships are up next, slated to run June 19 through 22.

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The 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships continued at Hayward Field on Thursday with the beginning of the women’s competition. Five field competitions held finals, as well as the women’s 10,000 meters and the conclusion of the men’s decathlon.

Programs started collecting points in the early afternoon with the conclusion of the women’s hammer throw. Georgia senior Stephanie Ratcliffe secured 10 points with a 71.37-meter mark, while Texas Tech senior Shelby Frank finished as the runner-up for the third time.

The Ducks put themselves in a good position to earn points on Saturday when Silan Ayyildiz, Mia Barnett and Klaudia Kazimierska all advanced to the women’s 1,500-meter final.

The first heat began with all competitors in one pack through the first three laps. Once the final 400 meters started, Ayyildiz fought for positioning toward the front. She battled past pushes from within the inner lane and came off the last turn to speed toward a third-place, 4:11.65 finish.

“It was so hard. I couldn’t get out. And the last 400, I was about to fall down,” Ayyildiz said. “Some girl just pushed me. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m just gonna keep going.’”

Ayyildiz’s senior teammates, Kazimierska and Barnett, both joined her in advancing to the final. Barnett came in second overall, recording a personal best of 4:09.61, while Kazimierska clocked in at 4:09.94.

“I think it’s relief to make it past this round because I know the three of us wanted to make it through, but there’s so many amazing girls in this field,” Barnett said. “It’s gonna be like any other race where I just have to compete really hard.”

Oregon junior Aaliyah McCormick blazed past the rest of her heat in the 100-meter hurdles. She recorded a time of 12.76 seconds to clinch a first-place finish and secure a spot in Saturday’s final.

In the pole vault final, Ducks junior Emily Fitzsimmons was one of the final seven athletes competing. She vaulted a new personal best of 4.44 meters, finishing in sixth. Rutgers’ Chloe Timberg finished in second, while Washington’s Hanna and Amanda Moll took first and third.

“I feel like rejuvenating the pole vault history that [Oregon] once had is really special,” Fitzsimmons said. “Being a part of that is a very unique opportunity.”

Louisville, Stanford and Baylor secured the top three spots in the women’s long jump. Cardinals senior Synclair Savage’s personal best of 6.72 meters tied her program with Georgia with 10 points.

“I was like, ‘I gotta make this moment memorable, like I know I can,’” Savage said. “Ultimately, just digging the deepest I think I’ve ever dug before, and just knowing and putting it all out there on the line was basically what I went into the last jump with.”

Meanwhile, two of the top three competitors in the javelin set personal bests. Missouri’s Valentina Barrios Born Jr. threw 62 meters, and freshman Manuela Rotundo added to Georgia’s total with a second-place throw. 

The Bulldogs lead the women’s competition with 26 points heading into Saturday’s finals, but Illinois isn’t far behind with 16.5 points. The Illini added points in the shot put with Abria Smith’s second-place throw.

Thursday’s track events concluded with the 10,000-meter final. Oregon freshman Diana Cherotich stayed in the leading pack for the first half of the competition but dropped out after 5,600 meters.

New Mexico freshman Pamela Kosgei set a meet record in the 10,000, clocking in at 31:17.82.

The 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships will continue on Friday. The women’s heptathlon will begin and the men’s track and field events will conclude with a national champion set to be crowned Friday night.

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Oregon senior Kai Luschar could only watch as her collegiate career hung on by a thread. She stood a few feet away from Katie Flannery, shouting words of encouragement.

Flannery battled to stay alive against the 2-2 count, fouling back a pair of pitches. The Ducks played until the final pitch all season long, but finally, the ninth pitch of the at-bat caught Flannery swinging.

No. 16 Oregon (54-10, 19-3 Big Ten) saw its season come to an end in a 4-1 loss to No. 2 Oklahoma (52-8, 17-7 SEC) on Sunday.

The Ducks entered hot off a walk-off win against Ole Miss on Friday that kept their season alive after a loss to UCLA in the Women’s College World Series opener. The Sooners, meanwhile, fell 4-2 to No. 6 Texas on Saturday.

It was far from an ideal start for Oregon. The Sooners sent the Ducks batters down in order at the top of the first. Then, the first two batters at the top of Oklahoma’s lineup singled to put runners on the corners.

Oregon assistant coach and former Sooner, Sydney Romero, visited Elise Sokolsky in the circle. Sokolsky and the Ducks responded by recording outs against three of the next four Oklahoma batters, keeping the game scoreless.

Senior outfielder Dezianna Patmon has shown up for Oregon in the biggest moments all postseason, and Sunday was no different. Without any hits for the Ducks through five batters, Patmon sent the 0-1 pitch over the center field wall for the first advantage of the game. It appeared to be a good omen, as Oregon entered the game 42-0 on the season when homering.

The lead was short-lived, however, with Isabela Emerling homering to left field to tie the game.

The Sooners pulled ahead in a disastrous bottom of the third inning for Oregon. Lyndsey Grein entered in relief for Sokolsky. She immediately struck out a batter, but lost all momentum after a two-RBI homer by Cydney Sanders. Grein ended up with 39 total pitches in the inning alone, and her Ducks found themselves in a 3-1 hole.

Grein calmed down by recording a 1-2-3 fourth inning, but Sanders once again homered on a full count to put Oklahoma up three.

Oregon struggled to get anything going offensively. Senior shortstop Paige Sinicki stole second to put a runner in scoring position in the sixth with Patmon up to bat. This time, relief pitcher Sam Landry struck her out swinging to put the Sooners three outs away from the semifinals.

Landry tallied two of her six strikeouts in the seventh. It ended the Ducks’ best postseason finish since 2018. The Sooners will continue their quest for five-straight national championships when they face No. 12 Texas Tech on Monday at 4 p.m. in the WCWS semifinal.

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The opportunity was there for the Ducks to take the first game of the Women’s College World Series and advance to Saturday.

Oregon tied the game 2-2 in the top of the seventh to give itself a chance. The Ducks walked off opponents twice already in the 2025 postseason, but this time, they learned what it feels like to be on the other side of it. The Bruins’ Jessica Clements took the 0-1 pitch and belted it to left center as UCLA ran off victorious into the late night.

No. 9 UCLA (53-9, 17-5 Big Ten) took on No. 16 Oregon (55-11, 19-3 Big Ten) for the fourth time this season and escaped with a 4-2 walk-off win. The Ducks won the Big Ten series 2-1 when they played in Eugene at the end of April.

Oregon’s first WCWS game in the Melyssa Lombardi coaching era got off to a choppy beginning. The game didn’t start until after 9:30 p.m. in Oklahoma City after a weather delay, and the first inning was halted for several minutes due to an issue with the lights at Devon Park.

The Ducks failed to record a hit in the first two innings as UCLA pitcher Kaitlyn Terry tallied four strikeouts in that span. Luckily for Oregon, starting pitcher Lyndsey Grein held the Bruins to just one hit heading into the third.

It only took one hit for the Ducks to generate some momentum. Kaylynn Jones narrowly beat the throw to first base to lead off the third inning. She advanced to second and then third on a sac bunt and a ground out. 

Oregon’s RBI leader this season, Kedre Luschar, knocked in the first run of the game with a single through the right side. Luschar followed her score at the bottom of the inning with a defensive play. She made a big catch on a deep Bruins shot to center field that sent UCLA down in order.

The Bruins responded by securing three straight groundouts against the Ducks in the top of the fourth. Then, with two outs and two strikes, Alexis Ramirez blasted a two-run homer to left field and gifted UCLA its first lead.

Oregon struggled to find offense outside of Jones, who started 2-for-2. To make matters worse, Grein and the defense allowed the Bruins to reach base on consecutive at-bats in the bottom of the sixth. Elise Sokolsky relieved Grein in the sixth, with her team still within one run.

The Ducks immediately recorded the out at first after Sokolsky entered, but the runners advanced to second and third. Sokolsky struck out the next batter before Oregon’s infield caught Jordan Woolery stealing. Ducks catcher Emma Cox threw over to Katie Flannery at third, who tagged Woolery for the third out.

Oregon could still tie or take the lead in the seventh.

Senior shortstop Paige Sinicki doubled the 1-1 pitch down the left field line to lead the Ducks’ rally. UCLA challenged whether or not it was fair, but the umpires upheld the call. Sinicki pumped her fist as Dezianna Patmon stepped up to the plate.

Patmon earned Oregon walkoff victories in the Eugene Regional final and in the first game of the Super Regional. This time, the Bruins got her out at first, but Sinicki advanced to third on the sac bunt.

Cox reached first on a fielder’s choice, and the Ducks’ chances of a victory appeared to have diminished when the umpires called Sinicki out at home. Lombardi challenged the play, and a lengthy review overturned the out. Sinicki tied the game on an obstruction error by the catcher.

Terry and UCLA prevented Oregon from taking the lead, however, by getting the next two outs.

The Bruins have a lineup just as capable of making the most of the late-game opportunities as the Ducks are. The lineup flipped back to Clements at the top of the order, and she homered despite Sokolsky being only one out away from extending the game.

The Ducks will play Ole Miss on Friday. The Rebels fell to No. 12 Texas Tech 1-0 on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. PDT. The winner will advance to play the loser of the Bruins versus the Raiders on Sunday, while the loser’s season comes to an end.

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The entire Jane Sanders crowd stood on its feet, progressively clapping faster and faster as Lyndsey Grein set, up in the count two strikes.

Her pitch found the back of Emma Cox’s glove for the third out of the seventh inning. The Lion’s Den erupted in cheers. The Ducks are headed to Oklahoma City. 

No. 16 Oregon (53-8, 19-3 Big Ten) advanced to its first Women’s College World Series since 2018 following its 13-1 victory over Liberty (50-15, 23-3 CUSA) on Saturday.

“I think of all the other versions before Version 7 that pushed hard for us to get to where we needed to, and this would not be possible without any of our versions,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “Just to see us early on to get punched in the face a couple times and have to just get up and keep fighting and keep fighting and keep believing in what we’re doing, and then just passing along the torch every year.”

The Ducks walked off the Flames 3-2 in eight innings on Friday, thanks to another heroic moment by Dezianna Patmon in this NCAA Tournament. It put Oregon in a prime position to punch its ticket to Oklahoma City on Saturday, especially with one of Liberty’s best arms, Elena Escobar, pitching the full game.

Kai Luschar started the game by stealing second base. The Flames’ coaching staff challenged that she left early, which they did twice on Friday. For the first time in the Super Regional, Luschar’s steal was upheld, tying the Big Ten season record.

The drama continued when Liberty used their second challenge at the top of the first. This time, the challenge was that Lushcar was caught stealing third. The call was overturned and the Jane Sander crowd exploded in boos.

The reversed call sent it to the bottom of the first, where Grein started in the circle for the fifth time in six tournament games. Leadoff hitter Savannah Woodard blasted the 1-1 pitch out of right field to take an early lead. Rachel Roupe kept things rolling with a single, but Grein responded by striking out the next three batters swinging.

Grein finished with 10 strikeouts in seven innings. She retired 19-straight batters after giving up the first two hits.

“Securing last night, having the bullpen staff that we do have, it just makes it so free to pitch,” Grein said. “Then on top of that, you added an outstanding defense and outstanding offense. My job is really the easy part compared to what these guys do.”

Ducks shortstop Paige Sinicki hit a solo shot of her own to the right of The Bob in center field to lead off the second. A walk, a single and another walk loaded the bases to send it to the top of the order and force a pitching change.

Luschar singled to shortstop as Patmon reached home. The Flames’ throw to first wasn’t in time, and Oregon had its first lead of the day.

The Ducks took a multiple-run advantage in the fourth with back-to-back doubles that scored the third run of the game for Oregon.

Cox stepped up to the plate in the fifth with runners on first and second and a major opportunity. Cox knew the ball was gone as soon as it left her bat, lifting her arms in the air as she recorded the three-RBI homer.

Oregon found the bases loaded again at the top of the seventh. Freshman Kaylynn Jones and Luschar both knocked in a run, then Kedre Luschar sent two more home. Stefini Ma’ake walked to reload the bases.

Sinicki nearly sent another shot out of the stadium, but hit it over the Liberty right fielder’s glove to secure a three-RBI triple. Sinicki is part of the Ducks’ senior class, which played their final game at the Jane on Saturday.

“We’ve talked all year about our young athletes and what they’ve done, but to me, the way that they are all performing is because of the leadership that they are under,” Lombardi said. “This group has held it to a high standard from day one, and have taught them how to become upperclassmen this year.”

Version 7’s journey continues, as Oregon heads to Oklahoma City next for the WCWS, which begins on May 29.

“There is no ceiling,” Grein said about the team. “There will never be a ceiling for this group. I think we can accomplish whatever we put our minds to.”

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Oregon fans packed Jane Sanders Stadium shoulder to shoulder, with little standing room available at the top of the bleachers. “Let’s Go Ducks” chants filled the crowd as the Ducks found themselves in a walk-off scenario for the second game in a row.

Dezianna Patmon sent the softball down the middle and, just as she had done last Sunday, delivered a victory.

No. 16 Oregon (52-8, 19-3 Big Ten) took down Liberty (50-14, 23-3 CUSA) 3-2 in eight innings to put the Ducks one win away from a Women’s College World Series berth.

“We had some things early on that didn’t go our way, and it didn’t matter. We just kept fighting and fighting,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “We talk a lot that we don’t always know exactly how we’re going to win or what the game is going to look like, but we know that we’re going to find a way.”

Eugene secured a Super Regional after the Flames upset No. 1 Texas A&M. The Ducks walked off Stanford last Sunday, 10-7 in the Regional final.

The Jane Sanders crowd erupted in applause as Lyndsey Grein’s first pitch of the weekend was called a strike. The sold-out stadium fed life into Oregon’s performance on the diamond from start to finish.

“​​​You know what you’re gonna get when you’re in a Super Regional and no matter where you go, you’re gonna get a big crowd,” Liberty left fielder Paige Doerr said. “It’s a big deal, and so you’re ready.” 

Grein and the Ducks ran into early trouble after Rachel Roupe doubled, then later advanced to third on a wild pitch. The Oregon defense tallied the third out, however, when Katie Flannery tagged Roupe between third and home on a steal attempt. 

The stadium thought the Ducks took the first lead of the game in the bottom of the first when Paige Sinicki bunted to bring Kai Luschar home from third. The umpires overturned the run after review, saying Luschar left the base prematurely.

Elise Sokolsky relieved Grein inside the circle in the third inning with two runners on. Oregon recorded a double play from third to first and a ground out to escape the half inning with a scoreless tie.

The Ducks finally broke the deadlock in the bottom of the third. Luschar tripled to right center, and Ayanna Shaw came home from first to ignite the crowd in cheers. Stefini Ma’ake drove in Luschar with a single that put Oregon up a pair of runs heading into the fourth.

It didn’t take much time for the Flames to cut into the deficit. Doerr pulled them within one in the top of the fourth with an RBI double. Sokolsky and the Ducks prevented them from doing any more damage with consecutive outs.

But a Sokolsky wild pitch, a passed ball and an intentional walk put runners in the corners in the fifth. Sokolsky responded with her first strikeout of the game. The Jane rumbled as back-to-back flyouts kept the lead in Oregon’s favor.

Without much going for the Ducks offensively, they couldn’t prevent Liberty from knotting up the score much longer. Pinch-hitter Alexia Carrasquillo singled past Flannery at third to knock in the tying run.

Staci Chambers, who closed Oregon’s victory against the Cardinal on Sunday, replaced Sokolsky in the sixth. Chambers swiftly sent the next six batters down in order after entering the circle.

“I’m trying to get caught up in each singular pitch and trying to win every pitch,” Chambers said. “It’s a joy when you compete that way. And I love playing with these girls, and I want to keep doing it.”

For the second time in the NCAA Tournament, the Ducks faced a tied scoreline and a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the seventh.

But for the second time in this game, Liberty challenged a call that would’ve advanced Luschar. The umpires said once again that she left early and it was the third out, sending it to extra innings.

“We’re gonna look back on film and see what’s going on,” Luschar said. “It’ll be fixed tomorrow.”

The Flames misreported the pinch runner in the top of the eighth, a crucial mistake that sent Oregon up to bat again.

Patmon singled up the middle with Kedre Luschar on third and Sinicki on second. The Ducks’ dugout rushed to home plate in celebration, as the fans roared.

“Every win is important, especially in the postseason, and we’re just trying to play together as long as we can,” Patmon said. “So I’m trying to just do my job and keep us in it.”

Oregon and Liberty are set to play again on Saturday at 4 p.m. If the Flames win that game, the two will play a decisive third game on Sunday, with time TBD. If not, the Ducks can pack their bags for Oklahoma City.

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Oregon softball has talked all season about taking strain from each other and playing for each other. With an injury to its RBI leader and an early deficit, everyone needed to step up to keep the season rolling.

Senior Dezianna Patmon was the one who stepped up to the plate in the biggest moment. In the bottom of the seventh, the Ducks had runners on the corners and a chance to host a Super Regional. “The Lion’s Den” exploded in cheers as soon as the pitch to Patmon bent over the left field wall.

No. 16-seeded Oregon (51-7, 19-3 Big Ten) walked it off in a 10-7 win against Stanford (50-13, 16-8 ACC) on Sunday night. The host team came off a 15-5 victory over the Cardinal earlier in the day to force a decisive Eugene Regional final.

“We had some miscues today in both games that could have took us out of it, and it didn’t. These guys were so on a mission to get what they want,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “To watch them come together as a team and just compete on every pitch was amazing. To me, that was the last little piece that I’ve been waiting on for this team.”

Stanford had the bases loaded in the top of the first. Lyndsey Grein got up in the count 1-2, one strike away from sending it to the bottom of the inning.

Joie Economides battled back to run the count full. She belted the payoff pitch over the left field wall to earn the grand slam, giving the Ducks a tall mountain to climb in the first inning.

The Ducks left runners on the corners after the four-run top of the inning. Matters got worse for Oregon in the second when Rylee McCoy, who just tied the Oregon single-season home run record in the previous game, got blasted in the face by a line drive to first base.

Jane Sanders was so silent that you could hear a pin drop as McCoy spent several minutes surrounded by Oregon staff. Remmington Hewitt replaced her at first base, and the Ducks were able to send it to the bottom of the second inning without any more runs allowed.

“I’ve never seen a team come together more than we did in that moment, because she has meant so much to us this whole season,” catcher Emma Cox said. “We wanted to do it even more for her than anything else.”

The Oregon players huddled up to regroup after the McCoy injury. The Ducks refused to let the beginning of the game rattle them. The nine hitter, Katie Flannery, belted a homer with two runners on to pull the Ducks back within one.

Economides earned back those three runs for the Cardinal with her second homer of the game to put her RBI total up to seven in the top of the third. Staci Chambers entered in relief of Grein and retired the remaining Stanford batters.

Shortstop Paige Sinicki walked at the bottom of the inning, before Cox homered to trail 7-5.

Despite the untraditional defensive lineup — with Stefini Ma’ake later coming in at first, Ayanna Shaw in right field and Chambers pitching — Oregon kept the Cardinal out of the scoring column for the rest of the game.

“I have had multiple outings throughout this season, where the team has put me on their back,” Chambers said. “So being able to flip the switch and just do what I can for them.”

Kedre Luschar came home to score in the fifth off a wild pitch and an obstruction error by third base. The Ducks had an opportunity to go up with two on base and one out, but they came up short in the inning following a Stanford double play.

Patmon nearly hit the ball over the right field wall, but instead tripled in the sixth. Kai Luschar drove in the tying run with a single to pitcher, and no play was made at home.

Chambers’ night came to an end after 4.1 innings pitched. She didn’t allow any runs, but the Cardinal had the potential leading run on third. The throw from third to first was in time to give the Ducks a chance to walk it off.

Sinicki singled through the right side. She stole second and advanced to third off an errant throw to put Oregon only a few feet away from a Super Regional berth. An intentional Cox walk brought up Patmon.

Patmon’s walk-off kept the Ducks’ season alive and extended their streak of wins when recording a homer to 41 straight.

“This is why you come to Oregon to have big moments like this. I wasn’t hanging up the cleats today,” Patmon said. “I know that we talked about that as seniors. We were not done. This was not the end of Version 7’s journey.”

Oregon will host the Super Regionals against Liberty on May 22-25 after Texas A&M fell to the Flames 6-5 on Sunday.

“We were competing to play at the Jane again. We have the best stadium,” Patmon said. “I stand on that. Jane-sanity is real, and our fans are crazy, and I love them.”

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Oregon needed to score early and often to put itself in a position to play at least one more game this season. With two runners on base, freshman Rylee McCoy hit a bomb over the left field wall.

McCoy helped the Ducks keep their season alive with a five-run second inning. No. 16-seeded Oregon (50-7, 19-3 Big Ten) defeated Stanford (50-12, 16-8 ACC) 15-5 in the first game of Sunday’s Eugene Regional final.

The Cardinal demolished the Ducks 14-1 on Saturday to put themselves in the driver’s seat. Oregon took care of business against Weber State to advance to the final day of the Eugene Regional, but entered Sunday needing to win both games to move on to the Super Regional.

Kai Luschar led off the game with a hit-by-pitch to reach first. After Kedre Luschar flew out to center field, McCoy and Stefini Ma’ake drew walks.

The Jane Sanders crowd chanted “Let’s go Ducks” as Paige Sinicki stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded. Stanford pitcher Kylie Chung pitched her eighth-straight ball, and Sinicki drew another walk, this time scoring Kai Luschar.

Dezianna Patmon later singled to shortstop to bring home McCoy, but Oregon couldn’t do more damage and left the bases loaded.

Lyndsey Grein started inside the circle for the third time this weekend. She appeared rattled in the first inning, with the Cardinal scoring two runs off of wild pitches. Grein and the Ducks still managed to escape the inning tied.

Kedre Luschar regained the Oregon advantage with a hard hit ball to right field that scored Katie Flannery and advanced Kai Luschar to third.

McCoy put the Ducks ahead by four with her decisive homer, which tied the single-season program record with 19.

Stanford made a pitching change, bringing in Zoe Prystajko. Ma’ake kept the offense rolling with a single and advanced to second on a fielding error. Catcher Emma Cox flew out to center field, but Ma’ake advanced from third to home for the fifth run of the inning.

The Cardinal cut the deficit down to four with a solo shot by Allie Clements, but didn’t generate more runs. Kedre Luschar made a diving catch by the left-center wall to end the inning.

Grein’s afternoon ended in the fourth after allowing runners to reach second and third with no outs. Elise Sokolsky entered in relief, despite the Ducks likely needing both of their pitchers in the second game.

Sokolsky recorded the strikeout to end the fifth, but not before Stanford tacked on a pair of runs, including another Clements RBI.

Kedre Luschar continued her big weekend by homering just to the left of The Bob in center field with Regan Legg and Kai Luschar on base. Sinicki nearly hit it out again, but recorded her second triple of the weekend to score another run. She came home on a wild pitch to put Oregon one away from the run-rule.

The Ducks didn’t pull eight runs ahead until the sixth when Ma’ake drew a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded. Sinicki’s walk scored run number 14 and McCoy scored on a wild pitch. Sokolsky and Oregon sent the Cardinal down in order to finish the game after six innings.

The Ducks and the Cardinal are set to face off again Sunday evening, approximately 35 minutes after this game ended. The winner will clinch a spot in the Super Regionals.

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The third game of Saturday’s Eugene Regional was a win or your season’s over scenario.

Oregon showed it wasn’t ready to put the season in the rearview mirror just yet. With a runner on second and two runs already scored in the fourth inning, Kedre Luschar belted a shot out to center field. It landed in the stands, and suddenly, the Ducks had a comfortable lead.

No. 16-seeded Oregon (49-7, 19-3 Big Ten) left little room for doubt in its 9-1 victory over Weber State University (29-32, 8-7 Big Sky) on Saturday night.

The Ducks and Wildcats faced off on Friday in their first matchups of the Eugene Regional. Oregon ended up taking that game in an 8-0 run-rule win.

The Ducks batted first on Saturday, with Weber State being the home side for this matchup. Oregon’s offense got off to a much quicker start than it did in its 14-1 loss against Stanford on Saturday afternoon.

“We did not like how we got after it the first game,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “To really just reset, and then get right after it in the second game, that’s what we’ve been doing all year.”

Two of the first three Ducks in the order reached via the walk in the top of the first. Kedre Luschar brought home her sister Kai Luschar with a single down the left side. 

The Wildcats responded at the bottom of the first with back-to-back doubles, one of which drove in the tying run.

Starting pitcher Lyndsey Grein came out of a circle visit looking rejuvenated. She struck out two of the next three batters, jumping in excitement after a third strike slapped the back of Emma Cox’s glove to end the inning.

The momentum carried into the second, as a Kaylynn Jones single brought up Katie Flannery.

A fan at the top of Jane Sanders Stadium shouted, “Let’s go, Katie,”  before she took the first pitch. Seconds later, Flannery blasted a homer into The Bob to regain the Oregon advantage.

Grein’s time in the circle was short-lived, with potentially two more games coming on Sunday. Elise Sokolsky took the ball from her at the bottom of the second and quieted the Wildcats’ offense. She finished with four punchouts and allowed only one hit in six innings.

“I was just trying to take strain from my teammates,” Sokolsky said. “We’ve been talking about it all year. I’m just trying to go out, I’m gonna play for them, so that was my biggest thing .”

Ducks left fielder Kai Luschar drew a walk to lead off the fourth following a scoreless third inning. After she stole second, Paige Sinicki doubled down the left field line to score another run. Freshman Rylee McCoy drove in Sinicki with a nearly identical play.

Then came Kedre Luschar’s two-run shot to center field, her first homer since April 18.

The fifth inning brought déjà vu when the ball dropped inside the left center wall, and Kedre Luschar drove in Kai Luschar for the eighth run.

“I kind of just look at her and she’s like a comfort to me,” Kedre Luschar said about her sister. “I think it’s cool that it just so happens that she’s on base a lot and I’m up to bat.”

The Ducks couldn’t tack on any more runs in the fifth or sixth, despite being one away from a run-rule win. Sinicki came home to score the final Oregon run after she tripled to center field at the top of the seventh.

The Ducks will play Stanford on Sunday, with first pitch set for 3:30 p.m. If Oregon is victorious, the two former Pac-12 foes will play again at 6 to decide the winner of the Eugene Regional.

“Not to get caught up in two games tomorrow, to get caught up in one pitch at a time, and for us to have all cylinders flowing,” Lombardi said about what it’ll take to win two straight on Sunday. “We did not do enough earlier. I know this group is going to want to answer back.”

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I elected to attend the New York Liberty’s exhibition game at the University of Oregon on May 12 as a media member rather than a fan. When the Eugene women’s basketball fanbase rallied together in support of former Oregon stars Sabrina Ionescu and Nyara Sabally during their pregame introductions, though, I couldn’t help but feel emotional.

Matthew Knight Arena hosted a sold-out crowd of 12,364 fans, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, with few empty seats from the upper bowl to the courtside seats. I felt my heart thumping through my chest to the rhythm of the crowd’s ear-shattering applause. In my four years as a student at the University of Oregon, I’ve attended nearly every Oregon women’s basketball home game, but I’d never seen an environment close to this one.

Nothing else at that moment seemed to matter to the Oregon faithful besides giving two Duck legends their flowers one last time. The arena was powered by a pure love of the women’s game. In what sometimes feels like an incredibly divisive world, this was a community united by an appreciation for a pair of athletes who represented something far more than just their play on the basketball court.

As an Oregonian, I grew up watching the Oregon women’s teams with Ionescu and Sabally on them. I fell in love with the women’s game because of them. I followed them to the pros, where they introduced me to more women’s basketball players and teams. Those late 2010s to early 2020s Oregon teams were what sold me on a career in sports media — and made me realize that I want to specifically cover women’s sports.

It felt like I went back in time five years when Ionescu drilled a 3-pointer from the bottom of the Oregon half-court logo midway through the third quarter. She played the Matthew Knight Arena crowd the same way she did in her college days. It was like she never left.

Those Ionescu-led Oregon teams were electric and consistently earned packed crowds, but they also kept the fans in their seats the full 40 minutes of basketball. I think what was even more important than Ionescu’s play on the court was that she helped the Ducks go from bringing in a few thousand fans every game to over 10,000 fans each time she was on the floor.

Recent WNBA draft picks from the past couple of years — such as Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese — sparked NCAA television viewership records and then ushered in new fans to the WNBA. A few years before their generation, Ionescu had a similar impact when it came to growing women’s sports, especially in the state of Oregon.

Ionescu and Sabally signed jerseys and posters pre-game, several feet in front of where I was standing on the sidelines. I scanned the front few rows behind the hoop and saw dozens of young girls excitedly waiting to meet the stars. Those young fans won’t know a world where the audience looks like anything less than the one on Monday night — large and enthusiastic.

As media members, we’re taught to separate our fandom from our coverage in the name of professionalism and building trust. At the same time, if you don’t remember why you fell in love with sports in the first place, how are you supposed to connect with fans?

The starting lineup introductions broke me out of my typical pregame coverage trance. All I could think of was why my journey began.

It’s exciting watching and covering teams that host NCAA Tournament games or athletes who are named Big Ten Player of the Week. I’ve always been enamored, though, with the community aspect of sports. What else would bring those 12,364 fans together into one building? Where else does an entire arena applaud the same moment in time all at once?

I always hoped I’d cover the WNBA at some point in my career. I’m grateful that I got the opportunity to see the Eugene community show out for women’s professional basketball as a student writer for The Daily Emerald. The return of Ionescu and Sabally to Eugene provided a reminder of the power of sports to bring people from different backgrounds together.

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