TEMPE, Ariz. — Starting fast was one of head coach Melyssa Lombardi's biggest points of emphasis for her Ducks heading into the 2025 season. They did just that during their opening weekend at the UNLV Desert Classic, setting a program record with 73 runs scored across five games as they cruised to a flawless 5-0 start to the season.
"We've been talking a lot about the ability to start fast, stay fast, and finish fast," Lombardi said of her team. "I thought they showed that all weekend long, especially at the end of the weekend."
This weekend, the Ducks will look to carry the momentum they found in Vegas into their next tournament, the Littlewood Classic hosted by Arizona State and Grand Canyon. Oregon will start the weekend at 5 PM on Thursday against the Sun Devils, a former Pac-12 opponent who have found a new home in the Big 12. The Ducks won all three games against Arizona State in Eugene last season and hope to give the Sun Devils the same treatment on their home turf this year.
Arizona State — a power conference opponent — will be the Ducks' biggest test of the weekend before they take on a slew of smaller programs. Friday starts at 9:30 AM with a doubleheader against North Dakota and Weber State before Oregon faces Utah Valley and Grand Canyon at 9:30 AM and 3 PM, respectively, on Saturday, and finishes the weekend with an early 8 AM first pitch against Belmont on Sunday.
Through the first weekend of competition around the country, the Ducks have been nothing short of one of the best teams in the nation, and as such, saw their ranking climb by three spots up to No. 20 in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. In its first five games, Oregon has had arguably the most dominant lineup in all of college softball, ranking as a top three triple slash team with a .469 batting average (1st), .559 on-base percentage (1st), and .742 slugging percentage (3rd). As a team, the Ducks have posted an on-base plus slugging (OPS) of 1.301, not far off of Barry Bonds' steroid-enhanced 1.368 mark that led to four straight National League MVPs from 2001 to 2004.
"Sometimes you get a lot of runs and then you just cruise," Lombardi said. "I thought we did a good job at not cruising and staying on it. It was nice to see them put up those runs."
With a nearly entirely new starting lineup, the Ducks were able to generate offense from a wide variety of sources. Oregon got contributions from returning veterans like Kai Luschar (.647 average, nine steals) and Paige Sinicki (.571 average, two home runs), as well as their additions through the transfer portal like Dezianna Patmon (.412 OPB, seven runs).
"I just loved how they came together," Lombardi said. "You could see that they loved to play with each other. You could see that we have the ability to score and win ball games in multiple ways, which I think is gonna be really important as we continue with our schedule."
But the Ducks' biggest offensive contributors were their freshmen, who shined in their first taste of collegiate softball.
Three freshmen — third baseman Kaylynn Jones, catcher Emma Cox, and designated player/first baseman Stefini Ma'ake — got the starting nod in Lombardi's first lineup of the season, a massive sign of the trust she's placed in her teams' youngsters. Jones was an on-base machine from the two-hole, reaching at a .478 clip while tying for second on the team with nine RBIs and playing some slick defense at the hot corner.
Cox, who was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for her efforts, was an absolute star from the jump, managing a veteran pitching staff with ease from behind the plate and doing damage with her bat when she was up to hit.
"I was just focused on my first at-bat," Cox said. "Doing the best I can. Focusing on my job and not focusing on any outcomes or the way that I feel or my emotions. I was just trying to stay neutral and execute my job and then it kind of helped me settle in from there."
She launched a pair of homers in Oregon's second game on Friday against Southern Utah, pulling the first to left field with the help of the wind before going the opposite way for her second long ball later in the game. Cox is the first true freshman to earn regular playing time at catcher for the Ducks in over a decade, and looked completely comfortable doing so with a .500/.526/.944 slash line through her first five games.
"Love the way she swung the bat," Lombardi said of her backstop. "I think she does a great job of working with our pitchers and just what she does behind the plate."
Ma'ake, who Lombardi trusted to hit cleanup in her first career game, instantly looked ready for the moment, lacing an RBI double in her first plate appearance and crushing a three-run homer an inning later. She added a second homer in Oregon's final game of the weekend, finishing with a .444 average and a team-leading 10 RBIs.
"I was a little nervous if I'm being honest," Ma'ake said of hitting cleanup in her first game. "But it meant a lot that she had enough trust in me to put me there."
Additionally, infielder Rylee McCoy saw action in all five of the Ducks' games off the bench. She quickly showed why she was ranked as the nation's No. 2 first base recruit with an RBI single up the middle in her first plate appearance and a two-run homer in her second. All seven of Oregon's freshmen made their Duck debuts, with outfielder Elyse Kresho and catcher Presley Lawton each scoring as pinch runners, and righty Rowan Thompson getting the final out of the weekend in the circle. As a whole, Oregon's freshmen combined for a 1.290 OPS while scoring 21 runs and driving in 28.
"All the freshmen stepped up to play in big moments," Ma'ake said. "And just really executed the game plan well."
In the circle, the Ducks were led by the transfer tandem of Lyndsey Grein and Staci Chambers. Both mowed down hitters with strikeout stuff, combining for 40 punches in just 24 innings, but struggled at times with control, each walking eight batters. Grein was able to limit her damage, maintaining a 1.00 ERA, but Chambers wasn't as lucky, allowing five of her seven runs in a blow-up fifth inning against UNLV.
"I think the weekend was just a tough weekend of us trying to find specific zones," Lombardi said of her pitching staff. "When they found it, I thought they did well, and then when they didn't, I thought we gave some things away… free passes that we've got to clean up."
Returning starter Elise Sokolsky failed to make it out of the first inning for the first time as a Duck against Southern Utah but recovered well through the rest of the weekend. She allowed a pair of runs in her next two appearances, striking out five across four frames. Sophomore Taylour Spencer was held out of the first weekend with an injury but will be expected to make her season debut in Arizona. Last year, she posted a 2.94 ERA across 64 ⅓ innings while being named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team.
"She will have more of a workload," Lombardi said of Spencer. "Exactly what it looks like going into it, I don't know, it just kind of depends on how she's feeling. But I'm looking forward to getting her on the mound."
Despite the success that the first weekend of the season brought them, the Ducks know that complacency has been the downfall of many talented teams. Oregon isn't content to sit on any of its laurels and will continue to take things one pitch, one game, and one series at a time in what will be a long season ahead.
"Whatever we did last weekend was last week," Cox said. "It doesn't affect our next weekend so we're just gonna continue on defining what our jobs are, what we need to do, focusing on what we can control, and whatever happens, happens."
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