Oregon head coach Melyssa Lombardi has been preaching to her team all season long that they needed to play with a postseason mentality early on. The team has treated every inning like it’s their last. That mentality has paid off in the NCAA Tournament, as Oregon advances to its first Super Regional since Lombardi took over as coach.
The Ducks defeated No. 11 Arkansas 14-4 on Sunday in the regional final. The Ducks played in the same Fayetteville regional in 2022, but suffered a disappointing loss to Arkansas that ended their season.
“Last year, it didn’t go our way, and I remember standing on the field with Allee Bunker and Terra McGowan and we made a promise at the time to each other that this was happening for a reason and that this is what’s going to drive us to next year,” Lombardi said. “To be standing on that field and not getting what we wanted but then to hear our name called and for us to come back here, it was a part of our journey and we accepted it.”
Ariel Carlson led the Ducks with seven runs batted in. She hit two home runs in the fifth inning, including a walk-off grand slam.
After winning Saturday’s matchup against Arkansas 10-4, Oregon was the home team in this game.
The Razorbacks scored the first run of the game in the top of the first. A pair of singles had Razorbacks on the corners. The runner on third was driven in on a sacrifice fly to right field. The bases were loaded with Razorbacks, but a flyout stranded the runners.
“We’ve talked about responding all year,” Carlson said. “Just having a postseason mentality and I think that’s what we were able to do when they got on the board early. There wasn’t one person that was afraid we wouldn’t be able to come back.”
The Ducks started the bottom of the inning with a pair of walks. Carlson drove in the tying run with a single to left field. KK Humphreys homered to center field to drive in three runs and take an early lead.
Arkansas got back into the game in the third. A homer to right-center drove in three runs to equal the score.
A sacrifice bunt in the fourth advanced Oregon runners to second and third. Kai Luschar singled to the left side to drive in Oregon’s fifth run.
Stevie Hansen continued to take care of business inside the circle. She ended her day with a strikeout to retire the Razorbacks.
The Ducks closed out the game with a nine-run fifth inning. Following a single up the middle by McGowan, Carlson hit a homer that soared over the wall at left field and into the parking lot.
Arkansas put in its fourth pitcher of the game after Oregon loaded the bases. Paige Sinicki followed it up with a double down the left-field line to tack on an additional two runs.
The Ducks batted around in the inning. McGowan recorded her second hit of the fifth and drove in a run.
Carlson stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded this time. She hit the walk-off grand slam to left field to run-rule the Razorbacks on their home field in five innings.
Carlson’s teammates stormed the field to celebrate the advancement to their first Super Regional in five years. They dumped a bucket of ice water over her head to cool off the player with the hot bat.
“We’ve been talking about a quote all weekend,” McGowan said. “It’s ‘Fate happens so redemption can follow,’ and I think ending last season with tears of sadness and coming back here and being on that same field with tears of joy was the way it was supposed to happen.”
On Thursday, Oregon begins play in its first Super Regional since 2018 and its 10th in program history. It will face the winner of the Stillwater regional final between No. 6 Oklahoma State and Nebraska.
