With the wind blowing in and two aces in the circle, Oregon’s series opener on the road against Northwestern projected to be a low-scoring game. Instead, the Ducks’ sloppy defense and Lyndsey Grein’s command struggles allowed an aggressive Wildcats lineup to plate 11 runs and end the game three outs early.

Grein (3.1 IP, 4 R, 4 H, 3 BB) can outduel just about any ace in the Big Ten on most days, but on this day in Rosemont, Illinois, she struggled to grip the ball, allowing Big Ten Freshman of the Year candidate Marina Mason (6 IP, 3 R, 4K) to cruise to the win. The ongoing lack of support from the Ducks’ depth pitchers and far too many mistakes in the field led to what should be Oregon’s worst loss of the season when it’s all said and done.

The first two innings fell in line with the expected pitchers’ duel, with Grein stranding the lone baserunner she allowed while consistently drawing weak contact, and Mason shutting down a Ducks threat built on defensive mistakes in the second inning.

Grein opened the third inning with her second walk, but made an excellent play to erase the lead runner on a bunt. Sophomore Kaylie Avvisato broke through with a two-out double for Northwestern’s first hit of the game, one-hopping the wall with a low changeup from Grein. Head coach Melyssa Lombardi came out to talk Grein through her apparent struggles to grip the ball, but the problem was not rectified in the next at-bat, which ended in a four-pitch walk. 

Oregon catcher Emma Cox attempted to pick Grein up by throwing out the runner at second, but her throw deflected off Kaylynn Jones’ glove, allowing Northwestern to take a 1-0 lead.

Stefini Ma’ake started a Ducks’ bid to answer back in the top of the fourth inning, driving the fourth off-speed pitch she saw in the at-bat just inside the third base line for a double. Shaw advanced pinch runner Regan Legg and reached base on an error, but made the second out of the inning when a Northwestern challenge revealed that she left first base early on her steal attempt.

At risk of entering another inning trailing, Taryn Ho tied the game 1-1 with a ground ball to the shortstop that went down as an error. Mason ended the threat by coaxing a groundout from Cox.

Northwestern senior Kelsey Nader led off the bottom of the inning with a single, and quickly advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and wild pitch as Grein’s command issues persisted. Junior Isabel Cunnea drove in the run and advanced to second when Amari Harper and Shaw collided attempting to field a fly ball, and Tru Medina gave the Wildcats a 3-1 lead with a double.

Junior Taylour Spencer relieved Grein with one out in the fourth inning and started with a six-pitch walk to put runners on first and second. Avvisato drove a fly ball to straight-away center field that looked like a loud out, but turned into a two-run double when it got caught up in the wind and fell short of Shaw. Spencer eventually drew two flyouts to escape the inning, but the Ducks trailed 5-1.

Rylee McCoy led off the fifth inning with an infield single, and the Ducks soon placed two runners in scoring position when pinch runner Presley Lawton and Addison Amaral executed a double steal. Lawton and Amaral each scored on sacrifice flies to cut Northwestern’s lead to 5-3.

Northwestern extended its lead to 6-3 when Nader scored on a groundout to third after reaching on a double, and a Medina triple brought out freshman pitcher Maddie Milhorn to replace Spencer. In Braisey Rosa’s first inning in right field after pinch-hitting in the top of the inning, the primary catcher broke in on back-to-back deep fly balls that landed behind her, allowing the Wildcats to take a 9-3 lead.

After the Ducks’ lineup went down in order, more sloppy defense put the Wildcats within one run of the eight-after-five run rule, when Ho fielded a ground ball up the middle but tossed it out of the reach of Jones covering second. Milhorn was unable to shut down the Wildcats with runners on second and third, hitting the next batter then allowing a walkoff sacrifice fly to Medina.

The Wildcats took their lumps in a brutal nonconference schedule, entering Big Ten play 0-7 in ranked matchups before being swept by No. 22 Washington in their conference opener. With their first ranked win under their belts, they will go for the series tomorrow at 4 p.m. PT.