Kaylynn Jones had launched one into the night already to try to get the Ducks’ offense going, but she wasn’t the hero until the bottom of the sixth. Jones laced a bounding ball up the middle and off the glove of the diving Hornets shortstop to capstone the Oregon long building comeback 

Under the lights for the second game of a doubleheader on the first day of the Jane Sanders Classic, No. 18 Oregon softball (16-6) scratched and clawed its way back to a late win over the Sacramento State University Hornets (17-5). Ace Lyndsey Grein pitched in her second game and continued to show why she is one of the best in the circle right now.

“It means everything,” Lombardi said about only having to use four pitchers total on the first day of the tournament. “I think, in order for us to do what we want to do, we have to have a deep pen.”

Sophomore Taylour Spencer, got the nod to start against the Hornets and struggled through three innings of work. Oregon used only two pitchers (Grein and starter Elise Sokolsky) in its first game of the day against Oregon State, which gave it a lot of leeway in who it wanted to start in its second game, and how long head coach Melyssa Lombardi was going to give them. 

Spencer retired the Hornets’ side in order to get the Ducks up to the plate as quickly as possible. Oregon gave Spencer some run support early: A single and a double to start the inning allowed the red-hot Stefini Ma’ake (3-4 and an RBI in game one against Oregon State, 2-2 with two home runs on Wednesday) to do damage with a single that drove in both runners.

“She’s (Ma’ake) getting her swing off,” Lombardi said. “She’s getting off in really good counts and just knows what she wants to do.”

The run support didn’t last long. Hornets first baseman Malissa George demolished a 2-2, 3-run blast to left centerfield. Spencer didn’t let the inning get away from her, and bounced back with a strikeout and groundout to end the inning. 

“I think Taylour has good stuff,” Lombardi said. “There’s just some things that didn’t go our way, and sometimes we just need to make a change and just get something new in there.”

With the offensive numbers the Ducks had been putting up for the past week, a run-run deficit didn’t seem like a burden for the Oregon offense. Spencer, however, got into more trouble in the top of the third. She gave up another run on a groundball that ate her up on the mound, then another on a ground ball up the middle that resulted in a double. 

Spencer (6 H, 6 ER, 2 K) was done after 2.2 innings of work. Grein, who had just pitched the last 2.2 innings against Oregon State two hours previous, took the ball with a three-run deficit. The Hornets were on a tear, and Oregon’s ace wasn’t immune to it either as another double gave the Hornets a 6-2 lead in the third. 

“It was about getting shutdown innings,” Lombardi said. “So to get a fourth, fifth, sixth shutdown inning, it gave our offense time to regroup.”

The offense was shut down in the second inning, and now it faced a much more challenging four run deficit. Jones did her part to get the rally going and smashed a solo shot into the night to cut the Hornets lead back to three.

Despite that, the next three Ducks were retired and the offense that was so potent in the first game hadn’t shown up yet in the second.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Elon Butler sent a colossal shot into the left field floodlights for a solo home run. Oregon was back within two, the smallest deficit it had to work with since the bottom of the second. 

“Once Elon brought us all into rest, we knew we had the game,” Jones said. “We knew it the whole time.”

The ‘Pass the bat’ mentality that Version Eight prides itself on finally showed up in the bottom of the sixth inning. Oregon loaded the bases with the most runners it had on base since the second inning. Katie Flannery drove in a run, then Jones drilled a ball up the middle that deflected off diving Hornets shortstop Madi Mendoza’s glove, allowing two more runs to score and flip the advantage in the Ducks’ favor: 7-6.  

“You see the power that these guys can produce throughout the lineup,” Lombardi said. “And I really appreciate that with them.”

“Lyndsey worked her butt off,” Jones said about the sixth inning comeback. “In that moment it was just winning for Lyndsey”

Oregon had the lead for the first time since the bottom of the first. Grein (4.1 IP, 8 K, 0 R, 1 H), who had been as lockdown as ever, went back out to the circle to finish the game. A 5-4-3 double play that barely beat the runner at first base secured the Ducks comeback as they beat the Hornets 7-6.

“My job is to have my teammates’ backs,” Grein said. “Regardless of whether I’m relieving or starting, that’s the approach I have going into it.”

Oregon will be back tomorrow for the second day of the Jane Sanders Classic. The Ducks will face the University of Nevada at 3:30 p.m. and Sacramento State once more at 6 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on Big Ten + (video) and KWVA (radio).