No. 17 Oregon softball was saved by the bell in its rubber match against Northwestern on Saturday. The Wildcats had the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate, but midway through the at-bat the drop dead time rule (game ends after three hours) kicked in. And though it was a 2-0 count and only one out in the game, it was over and the Ducks took the series win. 

Oregon (26-9, 7-2 Big Ten) had another series on the line Saturday afternoon against Northwestern (16-16, 4-5 Big Ten). The Ducks had struggled through the beginning of the game to get runs on the board, but behind a great performance from Lyndsey Grein in the circle and a late game offensive explosion, Oregon took their third Big Ten series on the season in a 4-2 win. 

Grein (6 IP, 2 ER, 6 K) took the circle for the final game of the series. The Wildcats had already seen a lot of Oregon’s ace — exactly seven innings through her first two appearances. After her rough start on Thursday in the Wildcats run-rule victory, the senior bounced back well in game two and looked to continue that on Saturday. 

Through the first three frames, the Ducks offense was near-nonexistent. Oregon had just two base runners, one from a first inning Ayanna Shaw walk and the second from a Katie Flannery single in the third, but they were not able to bring them in. An offense that had been showing fight at the plate through the season looked to be lacking that punch.

The Wildcats broke through onto the scoreboard first with one out in the third. Tru Medina smoked a line drive missile into left field for a solo homerun — the first homerun on either side in the series.

The Oregon offense looked to have figured it out in the fourth. Kaylynn Jones singled, Elon Butler reached via an error and Amari Harper was hit by the pitch to load the bases. The Ducks were able to tie the game after an Emma Cox walk after two quick outs to Rylee McCoy and Stefini Ma’ake.

While the Ducks struggled to get any runners in with the bases loaded, the top of the fifth gave the Ducks the lead. 

Shaw singled with one out, and Jones lasered a ball into the right field bleachers for a two-run blast that gave the Ducks the lead. Butler immediately followed up with a double down the left field line and manufactured her run as she stole third and scored when she broke for the plate when Taryn Ho stole second base. 

The Wildcats scored a run and loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth. Grein was able to get two outs in the inning, but was having some issues with her command as she bounced multiple balls before the plate and fired out to the backstop. That control issue, though, didn’t come to bear a problem as she got a fly out to sit down the threatening Wildcats. 

Grein’s performance in the circle Saturday was much better than her last two. She had six innings of two-run softball and had the Wildcats guessing at the plate most of the game. The Ducks got another two runs in the top of the seventh with a Ho sacrifice fly and a Ma’ake two-run blast to left field to give Oregon a 7-2 lead — but they wouldn’t go in the final scorecard after the drop-dead rule, which nullified the entire seventh inning. 

 With the issues the Ducks had been having on the weekend with driving in runs, and back to the Purdue series, the offense clicked into the gear it was in against Indiana. It was a solid performance for the offense to end on before going back to Eugene. 

In the bottom of the frame, Grein’s day came to an end after a walk and a double to start the seventh, but she had given her teammates everything she had. Taylour Spencer came in and loaded the bases, then Grein came back into the game. In that situation, though, the three-hour time limit kicked in, ending the game.

Oregon will be back at Jane Sanders Stadium for its next series against the Iowa Hawkeyes. The series will be broadcast via Big Ten + (video) and KWVA (radio).