Two thousand five hundred fans enter through the old gates of Howe Field and the new gates of Jane Sanders Stadium, flocking
to their seats to create a roaring sea dressed in yellow and green. With bleachers in centerfield and seats from the left field line around to the right, the claustrophobic crowd closes in and suffocates any team who walks into the newly decade old venue.

“It’s euphoric,” senior starting pitcher Elise Sokolsky said. “I want to compare it to the Washington series when I first came back out. The moments before I started warming up to pitch again, I felt like I could hear every single individual in the crowd. It was amazing.”

And for Ducks fans, it’s hard for one to not get a rising feeling in their chest. The adrenaline rush, surge of excitement and emotion when the buzzing turns into a rumbling. That’s what makes “The Jane” the experience it is.

“I think our fans get locked in every single moment,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “They give us their all; that’s what we need.”

The Jane has had a lot of opportunities to explode over this season. Elon Butler hit for the first cycle in program history, and Emma Cox walked that game off on a sacrifice fly. Cox’s grand slam against rival Washington in Game 1 of the series, any Lyndsey Grein late-game performance, Rylee McCoy’s jaw dropping shot against Penn State early in the year, the list could go on.

“Throughout the season, we’ve had great showings at The Jane, but postseason out here with our fans is just something different,” Sokolsky said.

And for newcomers to the team, the experience they get is something that many haven’t felt before. Take Butler, the senior transfer from Cal. She had been a part of three postseason runs with the Bears, but the experience at Oregon was going to be something different.

“I’m just excited to be home, to hear my walkup song and feel the energy from the crowd,” Butler said. “It’s something that I didn’t really get during my years at Cal.”

But for those who have been feeling the deafening roar for their whole career, the magic hasn’t been lost on them.

“I’ve had teammates from different programs come and watch last year, and they were like, ‘Wow, I’ve never experienced this feeling,’” Kaylynn Jones said. “And to be able to call that my home and my normal is pretty special, too.”

In the postseason, Ayanna Shaw got the biggest crowd pop of the tournament with her go-ahead grand slam in the fifth inning against Idaho State. The noise that this stadium can produce creates a rowdy and rocking atmosphere that is difficult for any team to come into and play against.

“I don’t think there’s any other schools that experience like we do here at The Jane,” Lombardi said. “I mean, we call it a lion’s den for a reason.”

The sea of yelling, chanting, hollering Ducks fans acts as a hive mind. Once they step foot into The Jane, they act as a lifesource to the players on the field, fueling the team with the energy they give off.

“Whenever we’re feeling low, you can just feel our crowd,” Butler said.

And the 2,500 fans aren’t only going to stay if the Ducks are winning. They’ve hunkered down when the deficit has seemed insurmountable and willed the team back into the game with their presence.

“I remembered one game we were losing by five or six runs, and we ended up coming back and our crowd didn’t leave because they believed in us,” Butler said. “It’s that support that you honestly feel.”

In many stadiums, a good crowd will always get a name. Look at the Seattle Seahawks and the “12th Man” section at Lumen Field, or “The Kop” at Anfield Stadium, the home of Liverpool F.C. Add Janesanity to that list. A strong, rowdy, rambunctious and, most importantly, loud crowd will always be a blessing to a team.