Neither No. 16 Oregon softball nor Purdue had anything going for it all game on Sunday. Aces Lyndsey Grein and Julia Gossett were battling it out in the circle, until the bottom of the sixth when Purdue broke through with an RBI double to give them the 1-0 lead.

But freshman Taryn Ho came in clutch for the Ducks, lifting a sacrifice fly into right field to tie the ballgame up with one out in the top of the seventh inning. Braiesey Rosa delivered the knockout blow with a single into right field that plated Ayanna Shaw from second, and the Ducks, who had been shut down and beat down at the plate all game, pulled away with a hard-fought victory.

No. 16 Oregon (23-8, Big Ten 5-1) put it together at the last possible moment to snag the 2-1 series win over the Purdue Boilermakers (23-8, Big Ten 4-2). Oregon was having another bad day at the plate. Though in the past two games, the Ducks weren’t hitting when it mattered, on Sunday, the Ducks weren’t hitting at all. Oregon had not gotten a hit until the fifth inning, and didn’t score until the top of the seventh. But, thanks to another complete game from Grein, they dug deep and found a way to push past the Boilermakers.

Grein (7 IP, 8 K, 1 ER) had already thrown a complete game against Purdue in the series on Friday, and had appeared in the second game of the series when the Oregon pitching staff was struggling in game two. The senior was tasked at giving Version 8 another solid appearance out in the circle, and she did just that as she held the Boilermakers to just three hits over her seven innings of work.

The Ducks had no offense through the first three innings. They couldn’t find a way to get a hit off of Gossett, let alone any base runners of any kind. Gossett had two strikeouts and was inducing a lot of weak contact, mostly popups to shortstop. 

Though the offense wasn’t clicking for Oregon, the pitching was. Grein was having as good a day as her Purdue counterpart. Through the third, the 2025 First Team All American had four strikeouts, allowed only one baserunner via a walk and hadn’t allowed a hit. 

That streak of both sides going hitless continued until Ayanna Shaw roped a single into left field with one out in the top of the fifth. She tried to make the most of it by stealing second, but was called out as she left first base early and the only Ducks baserunner to that point was quickly erased.

Purdue got its second base runner on the day after a dropped third strike from catcher Braiesey Rosa and an errant throw to Addison Amaral at first base. The ball went down the line, just far enough for strikeout victim Delaney Reefe to reach second base. Grein got two flyouts and a groundout to third to end the inning. Through five innings, between Purdue and Oregon, there had only been three total baserunners and one base hit.

The best opportunity for any side came in the top of the sixth. A one-out walk to Emma Cox and an error at shortstop allowed Katie Flannery to reach base gave the Ducks runners at first and second. 

But the issues the Ducks were having all weekend with driving in runners were still present. Kaylynn Jones struck out, and Elon Butler crushed a ball to dead center field that died at the wall for the third out. 

Purdue got its first knock with a high, bounding ball just over the head of Grein. The batter, Khloe Banks, beat it out for a one-out infield single. The best hitter in the nation, Polar laced a double down the third base line to bring in Banks from first and the Boilermakers finally broke the 0-0 score in the bottom of the sixth.

Oregon put up some fight in the top of the seventh. Stefini Ma’ake (Presley Lawton pinch ran) reached on a fielder’s choice, and Shaw roped a ground-rule double to give the Ducks two runners in scoring position with one out. Ho tied the ball game up with a sacrifice fly into right field that scored Lawton from third.

Rosa singled and brought in Shaw, and the Ducks had the lead. With nearly no offense coming all day from either side, Oregon waited until the last possible second to get it going. 

The seventh inning wasn’t silent, but the Ducks were able to keep Purdue off the board to snag the 2-1 win, and another Big Ten series win. 

The Ducks will remain in the state of Indiana for another game, this time against the Indiana Hoosiers on Monday at 2 p.m. PT. The game will be broadcast via Big Ten Plus (video) and KWVA (radio).