“We try to get on you as soon as we can,” Elon Butler said after Oregon softball’s 10-1 series-clinching win over Penn State.

The Ducks certainly got on the Nittany Lions early again on Saturday. With another three-run first inning, and another 7 runs across the rest of the game, the Ducks run-ruled Penn State in just five innings and secured their opening series of Big Ten play. 

No. 19 Oregon (20-7) was back for game two of its three-game series against Penn State (19-8). With the chance to take the series, the Ducks plated double-digit runs by the end of the third inning, the defense was locked down with only one error that didn’t amount to anything and the pitching from freshman Maddie Milhorn shut the Nittany Lions down. 

“We felt like we really got to see all three cylinders working today,” associate head coach Sam Marder said. “I think each one played incredibly well on its own.”

Milhorn (5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER), who shoved in the Jane Sanders Classic, only giving up one run over her three appearances last weekend, took the circle for game two. The freshman gave up just three hits in her start and turned in another quality performance in the circle.

Just like the first inning of game 1 of the series, the Ducks had jumped on Penn State early. As a team who characterizes themselves as one who is going to get on opponents fast, they have certainly been proving that to start Big Ten play. 

Oregon’s bats scored three runs to begin the game: after a single and two walks Rylee McCoy was hit by the pitch with the bases loaded which drove in the first run, Stefini Ma’ake had a sacrifice fly and Emma Cox laced a single into left and plated the third Oregon run, which gave Milhorn nothing to worry about in the circle.

“I have so much confidence everytime we’re on offense,” Milhorn said.

Penn State got a run back off Milhorn with a solo shot to center field. A common issue amongst the Oregon pitching staff had been early home runs, but Milhorn didn’t let it affect her as she retired the next three batters. 

“I didn’t think too hard about it,” Milhorn said. “I have a talk with Lyndsey (Grein) in between every inning, and she kind of keeps me settled in.”

Poor fielding from the Nittany Lions gave the Ducks multiple runs in the second. Butler was presented with an opportunity to drive in Addison Amaral and Ayanna Shaw. She did just that with a double that barely stayed fair down the third base line. A second wild-pitch on the inning plated Butler from third which gave the Ducks a 6-1 lead after two.

Amaral laced her first extra-base hit since the Ducks played Samford University in the Oregon Classic in late February. That double also brought in another run and the Ducks were already looking to run-rule Penn State. 

Butler turned that threat into a very real possibility. She crushed an opposite-field 3-run shot off her face on the right field scoreboard. That homerun was Butler’s third homerun in the first two games of the series and the Ducks led the Nittany Lions 10-1 in the third. 

Oregon, though, started to have its own problems with the defense in the top of the fourth. With two outs, a Brooke Klosowicz single turned into a double after a Butler error in right field. Milhorn then threw a wild pitch and Klosowicz stood on third. Taryn Ho showed the home crowd her range at short, fielding a hard ground ball in the 5-6 hole and ripping it over to first to end the inning. 

“She’s showing so many different signs of maturity,” Marder said. 

Milhorn closed the game out in the top of the fifth and sent the Jane Sanders crowd home early with Oregon’s fifth run-rule victory of the 2026 season.

Oregon will be back tomorrow to wrap up the series at 12:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast via Big Ten + (video) and KWVA (radio).