EUGENE, Ore. — Winners of two straight contests to close out non-conference play, the No. 19 Oregon Ducks (19-7, 1-0 Big Ten) hosted the unranked Penn State Nittany Lions (19-7, 0-1 Big Ten) on Friday night for the first of a three-game set to kick off Big Ten play. These two teams hadn’t met since May 2022, in which Oregon won handily, 12-4.
The Ducks won 8-2, largely due to their five home runs in the game — their most in nearly a year — while going back-to-back twice in the same game for the first time in recorded program history. Senior utility player Amari Harper contributed to both sets of back-to-back homers, while Elon Butler had two home runs of her own.
“It’s what I’ve been waiting for,” head coach Melissa Lombardi remarked after the game. “You can see that they’re starting to feed each other a little bit more. I see that all the time, so I’m just excited that everybody else is getting to see it too.”
Senior Lyndsey Grein got the nod for Oregon in the circle, making her ninth start. As for Penn State, junior Bridget Nemeth toed the rubber, making her eighth start.
After a scoreless top of the first inning, Butler took advantage of a mistake pitch from Nemeth, sending the Ducks’ first two runs of the Big Ten Season over the left-center field wall.
“Hitting is contagious,” Butler said after the game. “If someone hits in front of you, it just gives you that extra belief in yourself that you can do it as well.”
Sophomore utility player Stefini Ma’ake would add another on with an RBI single before the end of the frame.
Nemeth and Grein dueled in the coming innings, trading zeros into the middle part of the game. But Grein was the star of the show, working around two errors in the first three innings. She looked sharp all evening, getting ahead of nearly every hitter early on while allowing no base runners, save for the errors.
“I thought she commanded the zone all night,” said Lombardi when asked about Grein’s performance. “Emma [Cox] was excellent behind the plate.”
Butler would end the good part of Nemeth’s day, however, sending her second solo bomb of the day off the light tower in left field, and Jane Sanders Stadium into a frenzy.
The Duck faithful wouldn’t have to wait at all before Harper sent her own solo blast into left field, extending their lead to five.
Nemeth appeared rattled in the circle, ultimately sealing her fate following the inning, striking out sophomore infielder Rylee McCoy before another single from Ma’ake.
But the Ducks couldn’t capitalize once again, stranding Ma’ake and freshman shortstop Taryn Ho, who reached on her own single.
The Nittany Lions quickly answered back, with junior utility player Michela Barbanente taking Grein deep to break up the no-hitter and the shutout. Later in the inning, Grein would give up her first walk of the evening in what ended up a shaky frame for her.
The Ducks’ half of the fourth inning brought on a new pitcher for Penn State in junior McKenna Young, who made her twelfth appearance of the season. She’d cough up another set of back-to-back home runs, this time off the bats of Harper and McCoy, putting the Ducks up 8-1 after just four innings.
The Nittany Lions wouldn’t go down without a fight, however, with sophomore outfielder Natalie Lieto going yard to cut the lead to six.
The Ducks would load the bases with just one out in the bottom half of the sixth, capitalizing on poor command from Young stemming from a line drive off her glove-side arm. But they’d end the frame without anything to show for it, as a strikeout from McCoy and a groundout from Ma’ake meant Grein would return to the circle once more.
The Nittany Lions, who had just two hits — both solo home runs — went down with a whimper, going down in order to end the game.
Grein finished the game with twelve strikeouts, hitting a regular-season high for her pitch count, while going the distance for the second time this year.
Oregon and Penn State will meet again on Saturday, with first pitch set for 4 PM.