Friday, No. 3 Oregon softball (45-6,17-3 Big Ten) welcomed in the Michigan State Spartans (16-27, 6-14 Big Ten) to conclude regular season play with a three-game series at Jane Sanders Stadium.
The old saying goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and that’s the best descriptor for Oregon’s 6-4 loss to Michigan State.
The Ducks entered the weekend atop the conference standings, and one win away from clinching a regular-season conference championship title in their first year in the Big Ten.
Oregon’s captain in the circle, RHP Lyndsey Grein, entered the weekend with the best record in the nation at 26-1 with three saves. Grein also ranked 3rd in the Big Ten with 184 total strikeouts, and carried the lowest ERA in the Big Ten at just 1.52 Earned Runs Allowed per seven innings.
The Spartans came into Jane Sanders Stadium yet to accomplish an overall series victory, and sat at fourteenth in the Big Ten Standings. On the line for Michigan State is a trip to the Big Ten Tournament, as only the top twelve teams are eligible, so pulling off a couple of wins vs No. 3 Oregon is what stands between the Spartans and postseason play.
Despite the Ducks’ dominance and the Spartans’ woes all season, Michigan State came out in game one swinging with an explosive six-run second inning fueled by hot bats and the self-destruction of the Duck defense.
Third baseman Kaelin Cash started off the barrage in the top of the second with a solo home run that opened up the floodgates on Grein and the Duck defense. After Cash’s homer, Grein allowed a Double down the leftfield line, and an RBI single caused by a throwing error from 2024 Gold Glove winner Paige Sinicki. Then, Grein threw a wild pitch and walked Michigan State’s Payton Conry. With only one out recorded, head coach Melyssa Lombardi and staff decided to pull Grein out and bring in Elise Sokolsky from the bullpen with runners on first and second base.
Sokolsky came in and was unable to find the zone, walking the first batter she faced to load the bases. Facing her next batter, Sydney Doloszycki, Sokolsky was ahead in the count 1-2, but her fourth pitch of the at-bat set up a bases-clearing double that scored three Spartans.
To tack on the pain, another infield error by Sinicki’s attempt to throw to first on Hannah Howley’s infield single allowed Doloszycki to touch home plate, making it 6-0 Spartans.
Sokolsky was then able to put the band-aid on the wound with her first strikeout of the day as she made Collette Allen whiff.
Oregon’s offense woke up after the rude awakening in the second, and brought home two runs from a Kedre Luschar single that scored her sister Kai and Dezianna Patmon.
After Sokolsky was able to keep the Spartans off the board in the top of the fifth, the Ducks’ offense tacked on two more runs. Paige Sinicki got her mojo back after the rough second inning (two errors) with a triple to center field that scored Kai Luschar.
Kedre Luschar then stepped up to bat, and her left field single brought home Sinicki, but that’s all Oregon could squeeze out of the fifth inning.
Sokolsky kept the defense rolling and racked up her third strikeout of the day along with a groundout and a foul out, keeping Michigan State off the board for yet another inning.
Bottom of the sixth, the Ducks found themselves with the bases loaded, but were no match for Michigan State's RHP Carsyn Cassidy, who got Briasey Rosa to strikeout looking, and closed out the inning with a fielder’s choice.
Sokolsky closed out her outing with a dominant top of the seventh, pitching a one-two-three inning. She finished the day with four strikeouts and one earned run allowed.
The Ducks had one last shot at preserving their five-game win streak, but the Oregon offense went cold with both Sinicki and Rylee McCoy flying out to center field, and Kedre Luschar striking out swinging.
The Ducks picked up their sixth loss of the season because of their inability to capitalize on opportunities, according to Lombardi.
"That's just not us, not us at all," she said. "We pride ourselves on our defense, pride ourselves on the little things. I just think we missed the mark today on that. But what I do like today is the fight; we fought back."
Oregon will have another shot at the regular-season conference title in game two of the series against Michigan State.
"We need to play better — a full seven innings better than we did today," Lombardi said. "They understand it, and I know tomorrow they'll show up. This group is resilient, and they'll be ready to go tomorrow."
First pitch for game two is set for 2:02 p.m. on Saturday at Jane Sanders Stadium.