Lyndsey Grein continues to give No.12 Oregon that feeling.
The feeling that every time she takes the ball, the team will get a quality start. That whenever she enters the circle, a string of zeros will follow. That, most importantly, on days she pitches, the Ducks (24-2) will be positioned to win.
Sunday was indeed another of those days of dominance, with Grein dazzling in a five-inning shutout start to guide Oregon past the Abilene Christian Wildcats 3-1 at the Jane.
The commanding showing lowered her ERA to 0.93 over 70 innings. It’s her 13th scoreless outing out of 19 appearances.
It was against a severely overmatched opponent (ACU entered 4-19). Still, Grein and the Ducks’ performances of late certainly haven’t gone unnoticed.
“Our cap is wherever we put it,” Grein said. “This weekend was super exciting.”
Grein pounded the strike zone throughout, and the only real trouble she faced was of her own doing — a ball kicked off her glove in the fourth and was ruled an error.
Everything else was dominance — her offense would need it.
The Ducks struggled offensively, tallying just one hit — a Katie Flannery double to right — over the first four innings.
Kaylynn Jones was a spark plug of sorts for the Ducks, scratching the first run across the board after some baserunning savvy helped her score on a Braiesey Rosa sac-fly. Jones then drove in the third and final run of the day on a swinging bunt in the sixth.
Rosa — who hit a two-run home run on Friday — continued her hot weekend, blasting a solo homer in the fifth over the netting in deep left field.
“It’s been awesome to see her succeed,” Grein said of Rosa. “She’s an awesome teammate, an awesome friend and obviously an awesome athlete.”
Aside from those two, there was little other offensive intrigue in an otherwise lethargic showing for the Ducks — something that could be expected for a team coming off a top-10 win and largely favored in its second game of the day.
Elise Sokolsky entered in the fifth and was dominant in two innings of work. She evaded an unlucky error which resulted in the Wildcats’ lone run. After a complete game in her first outing of the day, she finished the doubleheader with nine total innings pitched — none of which included an earned run.
“I thought they both shoved,” Lombardi said of Grein and Sokolsky. “I thought they both went out and executed.”
Kai Luschar made up for that seventh-inning error by ending the game with a diving grab in left.
“I was working hard out there for my team because I know they are working hard for me,” Sokolsky said.
The win caps off Oregon’s remarkably successful slate of games before conference play.
All of that, however, has been made possible by Grein’s performance on the mound — even if the pitcher often immediately credits any personal accomplishment to her peers.
“We are so bought in here, we don’t pay attention to any outside noise…we still have a lot to accomplish,” Grein said.
Kedre Luschar extended her hit-streak to 12, the longest for any Duck since Allee Bunker who had an 18-game streak in 2022.
The Ducks will look to get a little healthier over a week of practice before opening Big Ten play with a series on Friday in Washington (19-7).
