“I didn’t like how we competed yesterday,” Oregon head coach Melyssa Lombardi said.” And I really liked how they competed today.”

A day ago, Oregon was shut out, lost its first game since Mar. 26 and was not able to do much of anything at the plate. Game 2 had to be different. And early on, it was the same story from the night before. But, something flipped and the Ducks put up a bakers dozen before the sunset on Saturday.

No. 14 Oregon (37-10, 17-3 Big Ten), after dropping Game 1 on Friday, figured it out against Ohio State (24-24, 11-9 Big Ten) and won 13-6 in Game 2. Oregon had an abysmal start to the day, but found whatever it needed late in the game. 

And while Version 8’s fight should not be overlooked, they put themselves into a terrible position at the onset of the game. The first pitch of the day from Elise Sokolsky to Hadley Parisen left the park. A looping fly ball to left field, just out of the reach of Amari Harper, escaped Jane Sanders Stadium — the long ball bit the Ducks again after giving up two yesterday. 

“We lost a ball over, so what,” Lombardi said. “On to the next. That’s the most important thing they can do, how do they respond after that?”

The rest of Sokolsky’s (5.0 IP, 4 ER, 4 K) start was in the middle of the road. She gave up another three runs in the third, and another single shot to Abbie Wilhelm in the fifth. Lyndsey Grein (2.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 K) took over in the sixth once Oregon found it at the plate.

“She’s commanding her drop ball low in the zone, and keeps her change up low in the zone. Then, she’s able to separate with the rise ball, and she does a great job of commanding it inside and outside,” catcher Emma Cox said. “(It’s) really tough to hit two planes and a change of speeds.”

The Buckeyes’, clearly operating under the if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it mentality, sent Game 1 starter Lorin Boutte (4.0 IP, 11 H, 7 R) back out to the circle. Boutte pitched seven full, allowed no runs on five hits and struck out seven Oregon batters a day ago before fanning four today.

Lombardi said last night that the Ducks have to hit the ball on the line more, and that wasn’t done for the first 3.2 innings. Oregon had a multitude of shallow pop ups that ended a couple rallies, and were just as stagnant as they were in Game 1. 

“I think early on we weren’t making the adjustment that we needed to,” Lombardi said. “You look at the first three innings and (we) didn’t put any runs on the board, but then once we did, you could clearly see that we made the adjustment, it just needs to be sooner.”

With no offense, and down early, the defense needed to be on its game. And it wasn’t. During the stretch of subpar hitting, the Ducks turned in one of the worst defensive innings they’ve had all year in the top of the third. 

Skylar Limon hit a short fly ball into right and Kaylynn Jones and Elon Butler both took off for it. Jones didn’t give way to Butler and the ball clanked off the glove of Jones as she slid to try to make the play; Butler, who tried to avoid running into Jones, also hit the deck. The ball rolled further into right, eventually picked up and hauled in by Jones, but Limon had her eyes set on scoring and slid past the tag at the plate.

The Ducks followed up the blunder in right field with another lapse in the field at second base. 

Sokolsky put more runners on with a walk and a hit by pitch, but looked to get out of the inning as she snagged a comebacker to the circle. 

Sokolsky, correctly, fired to second base to start the doubleplay; but, incorrectly, Ho and Jones both went to the bag to cover. The ball clanked off Ho’s glove and into shallow center, and in came another Buckeyes’ run. 

“I thought we had some defensive miscues, that’s not like us,” Lombardi said. “That could have really just taken us down.”

Boutte was still dealing until Butler broke her shutout streak against the Ducks at 10 innings. In the fifth, the Ducks knocked Boutte around and chased her after she surrendered the lead. 

“Seeing her for the second day, we knew what she was throwing and what she was going to give us,” Ho said. “We were confident that we were going to get to her, and that’s exactly what we did. 

Oregon and Ohio State traded off shots in the fourth and fifth innings: first, a Butler three-run shot to put the Ducks within two. Then, Wilhelm sent one halfway up the netting in left field. Emma Cox saw Wilhelm’s and raised her an even higher blast that tied the game at 5-5.

After the shot, the Ducks loaded the bases with nobody out. Shaw hit a ground ball to second base and an errant throw to the plate scored Regan Legg (pinch running for Stefini Ma’ake) and Amanda Urbinia (pinch hitting for Katie Flannery) lifted a sacrifice fly to score Ho.

Those back-to-back RBI plays put the Ducks in momentary control with a 7-5 lead, their first of the series. The cushion didn’t last long as Sami Bewick, Grein’s first batter faced, demolished another solo blast into left.  

Cox, again, responded with another two-run home run out to left field. Over her last 10 games, Cox has hit at a clip of .438 with a slugging percentage of 1.125 with 7 home runs with two multi-home run games.

“I think stressing being process oriented at the plate. I spent a lot of time in my career being result oriented,” Cox said. “That’s a big shout to Lyndsey who’s walked me through it, step by step, and really helped me shape my mental game.”

Flannery got her first home run of the year in the bottom of the sixth. Ho reached on an error, then consecutive singles from Addison Amaral and Ayanna Shaw set up Flannery to do damage. She launched a grand slam halfway up The Bob to put the Ducks up 13-6. Finally, whatever was holding the offense back snapped. The powerful Ducks bats were back.

“She’s been someone that I’ve looked up to since I got here,” Ho said. “Seeing her succeed, it means a lot.”

Oregon and the Buckeye’s will kick the series finale off on Sunday at 12pm. The game will be broadcast via Big Ten Plus (video) and KWVA (radio).