EUGENE, ORE. — The sun shining, the smell of popcorn and hot dogs wafting through the air, and the cheer of the faithful fans at Jane Sanders Stadium. All that is just around the corner for the Oregon Ducks softball team. The team is poised and believes nothing can stop them.
“We talked a lot about having an endless belief in all that we are going to do this year,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “Having an unbreakable connection and having no finish line.”
Oregon enters the 2026 season ranked as the No. 5 team in the preseason top 25. After last year's defeat at the Women’s College World Series, the Ducks have reloaded the roster.
“We’re version eight, it's a different version, we celebrated version seven so much, and it was such an awesome ride,” Lombardi said. “But what I think is great is every version is so different, and you get to start from scratch and build upon it.”
The team is led by star right-handed pitcher Lyndsey Grein, who ranks 25th in the Softball America Preseason Top 100 (SAPT100). The preseason awards are not what Grein is playing for, though.
“To be fully transparent, I mean, for me, they don't mean anything, you know, you haven't done anything yet,” she said. “So, for me it's just taking everything one game at a time, one pitch at a time.”
Grein praised the team's work ethic and connection.
“We just have fun. Like, hard work to us, it doesn't feel like hard work because we have fun when we do it. I think we make the things that are challenging or difficult to the eye, we make it look easy, and that's really fun.”
The Ducks have one of the deepest teams in all Division 1 softball this year, and the players have felt that during practices.
“Truly, our lineup is the best lineup we're going to face all year,” Grein said. “So why not practice against that?”
Along with all the experience gained last season from the returners, they also went to the transfer portal to get three new athletes who are expected to make a major impact for the Ducks. Utility player Elon Butler, a transfer from the University of California, who ranks 71st on the SAPT100, Amari Harper, another utility player and a transfer from Texas A&M, who ranks 73rd on the SAPT100, and shortstop Addison Amaral, a transfer from Notre Dame who’s ranked 70th on the SAPT100.
Grein spoke about the competitiveness of the new transfers and facing her whole team in scrimmages.
"It's anyone, any given day. Most recently, that I remember, me and Elon [Butler] were going back and forth for a couple weeks,” she said. “She wins, then maybe I win some, so that's been really fun.”
Butler had high praise for Grein and all the pitching staff.
"We have conversations about how nasty all her pitches are. She's like, ‘You didn't swing at that one.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I know it's a ball, you're not going to get me this time.’ But we have amazing talent on both sides of the ball.”
All this hard work lets the team grow.
“Getting to grow within the sport, but also grow with each other and develop trust and loyalty and all the things that are going to be needed as we get on this journey this year,” Lombardi said of her squad.
The Ducks will also be fielding three freshmen who will look to make an impact early in their college careers: infielders Taryn Ho and Amanda Urbina, and RHP Maddie Milhorn. Grein had high praise for Milhorn and the whole bullpen in general.
"Our pen is incredibly talented across the board,” she said. “I'll start with freshman Maddie Milhorn. Coach is right, she throws a casual 72, and it's easy for her, so to watch her throw gas and compete against our hitters this fall has been a treat.”
That is the supportive culture that the whole team was expressing.
These additions will help fill the void left by the six seniors who graduated last year. Last year's team was predicated on speed. With this year's team, the message is slightly different.
“We’re a very physical team, us in the weight room, we push weights every morning, conditioning-wise, we get faster every time,” sophomore DH Stefini Ma’ake said. “I'm just excited to play with this group because we have newcomers and then we have some veterans,”
Ma’ake ranks 85th in D1Softball’s preseason top 100 players.
“I think this team is very powerful. I think it's going to be sneaky power,” Harper, who will be going into her last college season as a senior, said. “I think if we play our cards right, we can be very aggressive; we just have to make sure it's at the right time. We're going to be powerful, aggressive and connected as a team.”
Along with a powerful offense, the pitching will look to shut down opposing offenses. Catcher Emma Cox raved about her pitchers and the connection between battery-mates.
“I love our pitchers so much, they’re such a good time,” she said. “Maddie adds a lot of energy to our bullpen and all the returning girls. I value them on the field and love playing with them, but I love spending time with them off the field even more.”
Connection seemed to be a common thread among the team.
"The connection piece, the connection on and off the field, I think were extremely talented, but just that connection goes such a long way,” Lombardi said.
An example of how close this team is and the connection between the pitchers and catchers is the friendly competition between redshirt senior Elise Sokolsky and junior catcher Braiesey Rosa.
“I know me and Braiesey [Rosa] have our own little competition going on, so being able to have that connection and competition going at the same time just elevates the game,” Sokolsky said.
Rosa also hits off Sokolsky, so the two keep track of their battles at the plate, and as of now, the score is about even.
The Ducks are chomping at the bit to play another team since their last fall ball games in October, and to finally have fans back in Jane Sanders Stadium. For those who hadn't experienced Janesanity, it was breathtaking.
“It was crazy, I have never experienced that at all,” second baseman Kaylynn Jones, who looks to improve on her solid freshman year, said. “So, experiencing it last year, it's just something that we want to do over and over again.”
The team will travel to Florida for the NFCA Leadoff Classic, where they will face off against very tough opponents in Missouri, Clemson, Liberty, Tennessee and Southeastern Louisiana. They will play five games in just three days, which will undoubtedly test the team's strength and fortitude. Coach Lombardi said she was excited for the matchups. The team will have two of the games aired on MLB Network: the Tennessee and the Southeastern Louisiana matchups.
The team is well prepared and will look to make another deep playoff run while having fun playing the game in 2026.
“We’re very experienced, and I think that allows us to really be particular and understand what we need in the fall, what we need in the month of January,” Lombardi said. “What does our first weekend look like? I just think you’ll feel a very business-like approach from this group. But also it's a group that likes to have a lot of fun and has a lot of joy for the game.”