Melyssa Lombardi took over as head coach of the Oregon Ducks (26-3, 2-1 Big Ten) before the 2019 season, making 2025 her seventh season as the head coach of the team.

Prior to this season, the most stolen bases a Lombardi-lead team has swiped was 90 and it came last season over the course of 51 games. 

Sunday against the Washington Huskies (21-9, 1-2 Big Ten) the Ducks hit 100 stolen bases on the year in a 2-1 series win, after playing only 29 games.

“It just shows again we can win in many ways,” Lombardi said. “We can win with our speed. We can win with the deep long ball. We can win with our short game and it’s important, the game is going to ask us to win in different ways all year so I just love how fast we are and the ability to run when we need to.”

Oregon is currently the only Power Four team in collegiate softball to hit 100 stolen bases on the season. The Alabama Crimson Tide is the next Power Four team on the list with 76 stolen bases. South Carolina Upstate leads all of Division I softball with 104.

The sister duo of Kai and Kedre Luschar have combined for 45 of the team's 100 stolen bags (Kai: 32 and Kedre:13). In Game 1 of the doubleheader versus the Huskies on Sunday, Kedre grabbed stolen base 99 just one inning before Kai snagged 100.

“This has been our goal all year long,” Kai Luschar said. “We have so many girls who could have done the job and it was just cool that I got to [get number 100] you know everyone wants to do it.”

Kai Luschar stole 27 bags last season across the team’s 51 games, her 32 at this point in the season is her new career high and the team is just barely over halfway through the season.

“Honestly it’s just me and Coach Marder communicating,” Kai said of her aggression on the base paths this season. “Getting the chance to steal as many bases as I can, that's about it.”

Kai’s 32 stolen bases are good for the second most in Division I softball behind Alabama outfielder Audrey Vandagriff’s 34. However, Kai’s number is good for the most in the Big Ten and is seven stolen bases ahead of number two on that list, Purdue’s Moriah Polar with 25.

Oregon’s Paige Sinicki and Kaylynn Jones are tied for number three in the Big Ten with 14 stolen bases while Kedre Luschar’s 13 is right behind them at number five, meaning four of the top five base stealers in the Big Ten don green and yellow.

With this lightning speed on the base paths, the Ducks look to continue conference play strong. They will face the Illinois Illini (13-11, 1-2 Big Ten) this weekend at Jane Sanders Stadium for their second series of conference play.