16 wins.
No. 12 Oregon softball has won 16 consecutive times since an extra-innings loss to Arizona State on February 13.
The Ducks rebounded and won five in a row in Tempe. They(22-1) went toe-to-toe with the nation’s best at the Mary Nutter Classic making it 10-straight. Then, Oregon came home and did more of the same at the Jane. And Friday, where a home letdown against a top-ranked team felt like a possibility, they bested No. 8 Florida State (19-4) 2-0.
It continues the Ducks’ best start since 2021.
“It’s great that our fans get to see what we have been doing on the road the last four weeks,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said.
Energy and complacency were never issues for Oregon on Friday, not with Lyndsey Grein every bit as-advertised against yet another quality opponent. Not with Braiesey Rosa getting an impressive crowd of 1,914 on their feet with a second-inning, two-run homer. Not with the Ducks making big play after big play and not with Oregon, once again, playing with the kind of full-throttle effort that has it off to the best start in the Big Ten.
“It was awesome, it was so cool,” Grein said of the crowd. “It was something that I’ll always remember.”
Grein threw 66 of 100 pitches for strikes en route to a seven-inning one-hitter. And as much as her strikeout stuff knocked Florida State back early, her pitching to contact put the Seminoles away late. The win improves her record to 12-0.
“I love the way she just manages her business out there,” Lombardi said.
“I just like to take things one pitch at a time,” Grein said. “When I look at the big picture, I can get overwhelmed, so looking at it one pitch at a time, one out at a time has worked good for me.”
Rosa, who entered on the heels of her first-career hit last weekend, got her first-career homer Friday night. She blasted a 1-0 fastball from Annabelle Widra (3.1 innings pitched, two earned runs) over the right-center wall in the second frame.
“I was kinda shocked when I was going around first,” Rosa said of her mindset after the homer.
Fittingly, the battery of Rosa and Grein were the two catalysts for the Ducks win. Oregon, still without opening-day catcher Emma Cox, got all of its offense from Rosa’s homer.
“She did outstanding,” Grein said of Rosa. “Obviously offensively, but everything… she made me look way too pretty tonight.”
Oregon’s other big offensive threat came in the fourth when Kedre Luschar and Rosa reached second and third with one out in the fourth, but a baserunning blunder and a strikeout ended the threat.
“I felt like the momentum could have shifted a bit there,” Lombardi said.
With the way Grein was pitching, it wouldn’t matter.
She allowed just the one hit — a one-out single in the first — and aside from a walk, was otherwise perfect. Any hard contact she let up was immediately corralled by her defenders.
Widra and Ashtyn Danley (2.2 innings pitched, three strikeouts) quieted Oregon’s bats well, but on the other side of the ball, the Ducks flew around the field and were terrific behind Grein.
“Our offense and our defense just fed off of eachother,” Lombardi said. “I love that our defense does the things that they do, it takes pressure off our pitching and helps out our offense as well.”
No one on the field compared to Grein, who, since coming to Oregon, has continued to establish herself as one of the best pitchers in the country.
“I’m so thankful for coach Lombardi,” Grein said. “When she’s in the dugout, it feels like she’s right behind me doing it with me. She’s helped me a ton both with the physicality of the game and the mental side of the game.”
The Ducks take on Oregon State Saturday at 3:30.
