“We won in all different ways,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said after the game on Sunday. 

The Ducks had an eventful three-game set against the Iowa Hawkeyes to begin the month of April. Version 8 slugged their way through Game 1, culminating with a “walk-off” two-run home run from Amari Harper in the sixth inning to reach the run rule threshold. 

In Game 2, the Ducks had a terrible day in the circle, one that saw them give up 13 runs over seven innings. But the offense bailed out the pitching staff. They scored 13 runs, Elon Butler hit for the first cycle in Oregon softball history and Oregon scratched across a four run bottom of the seventh to tie the game. It finished the comeback with an Emma Cox sac-fly to walk the game off in the eighth — the 26th sacrifice fly of the year, a school record.

And, on Easter Sunday, the Ducks played their most normal game of the weekend. The pitching and the offense were solid, and the defense was utterly phenomenal: executing two perfect run downs, including one that ended in a double play, and freshman Taryn Ho was at the center of almost every stellar play in the field.

Each cylinder had their time to shine over the weekend. The pitching held the Hawkeyes to one run in the first game, the offense picked up the pitching in Game 2 and the defense was lights out in Game 3. 

Friday’s was the type of game that Oregon fans have grown accustomed to. Lyndsey Grein dealing in the circle, Butler and Harper in the driver’s seat for the offense, and the defense being good but nothing to write home about. 

But Game 2 highlighted the need for the cylinders to be able to pick each other up. 

Freshman Maddie Milhorn got her first start since the Penn State series and got shelled for 10 earned runs over her 4.2 innings of work. Rowan Thompson and Grein combined to let up another three runs.

“She left the ball over the plate a little bit. But the only way to do it is just get thrown into the fire, and I needed her to get thrown into the fire today,” Lombardi said about why she kept Milhorn out in the circle for as long as she did in Game 2. “I appreciate how she competed. I appreciated her team around her and how they competed. There’s going to be times where you’re going to have games like this.” 

But the big Oregon bats weren’t going quietly. It scored in every single inning, and though it was either one or two runs, it kept it in the game. Then it broke through in the seventh for four to tie the game at 13, and Oregon finished it off in the eighth.

The best teams can pick each other up when things aren’t going well. It’s something this team has been betting on all year: the understanding that they can get the job done. It may not be pretty and it may take a little while, but they will get it done.

“I don’t think there was a moment in the dugout that I was like, ‘All right, we need to pick it up,’” Cox said after Game 2. “Every single girl was bought in.”

And while each cylinder got to show that it’s good enough to pick up the other two when needed, the defense had its best day of the season by far. 

The defense for this squad has shown that it has the ability to make plays and that they have the skills needed to do so. Katie Flannery is a vacuum at third base, Kaylynn Jones has continued to show growth in her sophomore season and Cox is one of the best catchers in college softball. 

But they hadn’t put together a full game of great defense yet this season, until Sunday when the Ducks defense shut down a couple of Hawkeye rallies, something that was key as the offense was only able to plate three runs until the sixth.

The infield turned a great double play on a run-down between third and home in the fourth, and they got another out via a run-down between third and home again in the fifth. Flannery didn’t let anything get by her as she fielded a handful of rockets at third and freshman shortstop Ho ended an inning after she fully extended to intercept a line drive before it got to the outfield.

“We talk about how defense wins championships, and we want to see all three cylinders, but just there’s times where different cylinders have to take on more strain,” Lombardi said. “And to see the defense get us out of a couple big time innings that could have possibly gone the other way, was huge.”

A series like this, especially in conference play, is stressful, but it continues to build the identity of the team. Version 8 had issues over the weekend, but they fought back and found a way to win. If a cylinder is off, the others will pick them up, and that confidence can propel a team deep into a playoff run.