Oregon Ducks Softball Season Review

To call the 2025 season a transition for Oregon softball would be a gross understatement.

The Ducks were moving from a power house west coast league in the defunct Pac-12 to a middling, at best, collections of teams that play softball in the Big Ten. However, it was also the end of eligibility for much of the veteran core of players that Lombardi had recruited in 2019. That same core had struggled through a disappointing 2019 (forced into early action following a spate of transfers) and a pandemic shortened 2020. Due to the extra year of eligibility granted for the 2020 non-season, much of the team stayed together through 2024. In that time, they never lost fewer than 10 conference games in a season, but reached the regional finals every year and even made it to the super regional round in 2023.

Though Oregon was widely expected to be near the top of the Big Ten standings this year (along with fellow Pac-12 expatriates UCLA), it remained to be seen whether a roster losing such a swath of veteran players could improve on the legacy they were inheriting.

The answer was an unequivocal yes.

The Ducks showed their upside during their non-conference slate, defeating future regional champions Florida State twice as well as super regional champion Tennessee. The only defeats were an early season 4-3 setback against Arizona State (who made the playoffs), and a puzzling 5-2 loss to Oregon State at the Jane in between their two victories over the Seminoles. What would have the biggest effect on the overall season though was an injury to transfer pitcher Staci Chambers. She would return but struggle throughout the regular season.

Badwater

The Ducks dominated their new conference, finishing first in the regular season standings thanks to winning two of three games against UCLA. Their only other losses during the back half of the season were 4-3 defeat in Seattle as the Huskies avoided being swept, a shocking mid-week loss to Loyola-Marymount, and a worrying defeat at the hands of Michigan State to begin the final regular season series. Oregon came back to beat the Spartans in the next two games. However, starting pitcher Lyndsay Grein had noticeably regressed in the last six weeks of the season. It looked like Oregon might have peaked too early.

Fears among the fan base of a late season flame out reached fever pitch following a 5-0 loss to Michigan in the first game of the Big Ten Tournament. If Oregon could be shut out by a team they had swept in the regular season, how could they succeed in the playoffs? The first few games of the Eugene Regional didn’t inspire much confidence. 8-0 and 9-1 wins over Weber State sandwiched a 1-14 shellacking at the hands of Stanford in which neither the pitching nor the bats looked playoff-worthy.

Needing to win a double header to survive their home regional, the Ducks pulled off an impressive 15-5 win in the early game. But the Cardinal had saved their ace for the decisive game 3, and Grein was quickly pulled by Oregon after giving up 7 runs in less than 3 full innings. Chambers came in and finally showed her healthy potential. In the best game of her Oregon career, the southpaw held Stanford scoreless until the the 7th when Elise Sokolsky got the final out. Oregon’s batters had come back to tie the score, and a walk-off home run by Dezi Patmon sent the Ducks to the Super Regional round.

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In an unexpected turn of events, Oregon would host Liberty in a best-of-3 series in Eugene after the Flames shocked #1 overall seed Texas A&M in the College Station regional. Oregon swept their visitors 3-2 and 13-1 to make it back to Oklahoma City for the first time since 2018.

The Ducks faced familiar foe UCLA in their first game, and though the score was tied in the bottom of the seventh inning a walk-off home run from the Bruins sent Oregon to the elimination bracket to face Ole Miss. The Ducks took an early lead with Grein in the circle. The coaches had wanted to relieve her in the fifth inning, but neither Sokolsky or Chambers demonstrated control and Grein returned in the sixth. The Rebels fought back with three runs in the top of the seventh. A grueling 10 inning game ended when Oregon scored the winning run on a walk. For all of her ups and downs on the season, Grein had the victory after pitching over nine full innings.

SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oregon would be eliminated 4-1 by #2 overall seed Oklahoma on Sunday. The Ducks proved that “Version 7” of Lombardi’s team could compete with the best in the country. They also showed how far they have to go to be a serious national title contender. The bats seemed to disappear at times this season, and the bull pen has a way to go to be considered among the nation’s elite.

The seniors on this team will leave knowing they left a powerful legacy. The Ducks have proven they should expect to be a nationally relevant softball program. Grein and Sokolsky have eligibility remaining, as does Taylour Spencer (who experienced a sophomore-slump after showing great promise her freshman season). Can the returners use this season as a stepping stone go even further in the post-season in 2026?

We’ve got a long off-season ahead of us, but hopefully it will all be worth the wait when the Jane returns to life in February.