Friday, March 20
West Lafayette, IN
2:00 PM
University of Oregon
22-7, 0
6
at
0
Purdue
22-7, 0
1st innning1
2nd innning2
3rd innning3
4th innning4
5th innning5
6th innning6
7th innning7
RunsR
HitsH
ErrorsE
Oregon
0
0
3
0
0
2
1
6
5
0
Purdue
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
3
Grein, Defense Spark Game One Win
03/20/26 | Softball
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Lyndsey Grein struck out 11 and No. 18 Oregon's defense turned two key double plays to spark the Ducks to 6-0 win over Purdue Friday at Bittinger Stadium.
Grein allowed just four hits and only walked one batter in her second complete-game shutout of the season.
When she did have runners on, the defense behind her turned a 4-6-3 double play in the bottom of the third and then Stefini Ma'ake snared a line drive at first and went to the bag for the unassisted double play in the fifth.
"I loved what Lyndsey did today," said coach Melyssa Lombardi. "She was having little problems with the strike zone at times, but then she would make the adjustment. I really liked how she finished the game.
"Those two big double plays I thought were huge for us," said Lombardi. "I really loved our defense. And then being able to put the runs on the board that we needed."
Five of Oregon's six runs were unearned as the Ducks capitalized on three Purdue errors that factored significantly in Friday's outcome.
"There's never a doubt with our offense. It's just a matter of when," said Grein. "It's very freeing when you know you're going to score runs and the defense is going to keep the other team from scoring runs."
The win was Oregon's 15th in the last 16 games as the Ducks improved to 22-7 overall and a perfect 4-0 in the Big Ten.
How It Happened: Oregon loaded the bases in the top of the first and had two runners on in the second, but could not break through.
Grein did her part to keep the game scoreless in the early innings. She worked around a couple of hits in the bottom of the first to strikeout the side and then struck out two more to strand two runners in the bottom of second.
The Ducks scored the first two runs of the game thanks to an error in right field. Elon Butler and Amari Harper walked leading off the top of the third. Two outs later, Emma Cox popped a ball up into right field that the outfielder misplayed. As the ball hit the ground, Butler and Harper scored, while Cox went to second.
Taryn Ho then lined a single into right to score Cox, giving Oregon a 3-0 lead.
The Boilermakers (22-7, 3-1) threatened again in the bottom of the third, but a 4-6-3 double play and Grein's sixth strikeout of the game stifled the rally.
Grein, who improved to 12-3 on the season, struck out two more batters in the bottom of the fourth and Ma'ake's double play ended the fifth with the Ducks still leading 3-0.
The Ducks tacked on two more runs in the sixth, aided by Purdue's second error of the game.
Ayanna Shaw led off with her team-leading fifth triple of the season. Walks to Kaylann Jones and Butler loaded the bases. Shaw then scored on a grounder that the shortstop couldn't handle. Stefini Ma'ake brought Jones home from third with the Ducks' 18th sacrifice fly of the season that made it 5-0.
In the seventh, Shaw turned a two-out single into a run. Purdue moved the right fielder in for a five-player infield. Shaw bunted and beat the throw to first for a hit, but the throw was wide and bounced down the right field line. With no right fielder to back up the play, Shaw raced around to score on a three-base error before Purdue could retrieve the ball.
"No hesitation," said Shaw. "I saw the ball, nobody there, so I just kept running."
Notable: Amari Harper extended her hitting streak to a career-high 11 games … Harper has now reached base in 25 consecutive games … Elon Butler has now scored a run in 11 straight games (and 16-of-17) … It was Lyndsey Grein's 10th career shutout … Oregon left 11 runners on base … This was the first game between Oregon and Purdue since 2012.
Quotable
Head Coach Melyssa Lombardi:
"I thought the defense did a great job getting off the field and allowing the offense to stay on offense for longer. We work hard on defense to on offense and we saw that today."
Sophomore Ayanna Shaw
"The momentum that our defense and Lyndsey provided gave us a lot of energy and excitement and we wanted to score runs for our pitchers."
Up Next: Game two at Purdue will be Saturday at 11 a.m. PT (B1G+).
"Coach says the most important game of the weekend is game one," said Grein. "And then tomorrow, the second-most important game is game two. Happy we got game one."
Grein allowed just four hits and only walked one batter in her second complete-game shutout of the season.
When she did have runners on, the defense behind her turned a 4-6-3 double play in the bottom of the third and then Stefini Ma'ake snared a line drive at first and went to the bag for the unassisted double play in the fifth.
"I loved what Lyndsey did today," said coach Melyssa Lombardi. "She was having little problems with the strike zone at times, but then she would make the adjustment. I really liked how she finished the game.
"Those two big double plays I thought were huge for us," said Lombardi. "I really loved our defense. And then being able to put the runs on the board that we needed."
Five of Oregon's six runs were unearned as the Ducks capitalized on three Purdue errors that factored significantly in Friday's outcome.
"There's never a doubt with our offense. It's just a matter of when," said Grein. "It's very freeing when you know you're going to score runs and the defense is going to keep the other team from scoring runs."
The win was Oregon's 15th in the last 16 games as the Ducks improved to 22-7 overall and a perfect 4-0 in the Big Ten.
How It Happened: Oregon loaded the bases in the top of the first and had two runners on in the second, but could not break through.
Grein did her part to keep the game scoreless in the early innings. She worked around a couple of hits in the bottom of the first to strikeout the side and then struck out two more to strand two runners in the bottom of second.
The Ducks scored the first two runs of the game thanks to an error in right field. Elon Butler and Amari Harper walked leading off the top of the third. Two outs later, Emma Cox popped a ball up into right field that the outfielder misplayed. As the ball hit the ground, Butler and Harper scored, while Cox went to second.
Taryn Ho then lined a single into right to score Cox, giving Oregon a 3-0 lead.
The Boilermakers (22-7, 3-1) threatened again in the bottom of the third, but a 4-6-3 double play and Grein's sixth strikeout of the game stifled the rally.
Grein, who improved to 12-3 on the season, struck out two more batters in the bottom of the fourth and Ma'ake's double play ended the fifth with the Ducks still leading 3-0.
The Ducks tacked on two more runs in the sixth, aided by Purdue's second error of the game.
Ayanna Shaw led off with her team-leading fifth triple of the season. Walks to Kaylann Jones and Butler loaded the bases. Shaw then scored on a grounder that the shortstop couldn't handle. Stefini Ma'ake brought Jones home from third with the Ducks' 18th sacrifice fly of the season that made it 5-0.
In the seventh, Shaw turned a two-out single into a run. Purdue moved the right fielder in for a five-player infield. Shaw bunted and beat the throw to first for a hit, but the throw was wide and bounced down the right field line. With no right fielder to back up the play, Shaw raced around to score on a three-base error before Purdue could retrieve the ball.
"No hesitation," said Shaw. "I saw the ball, nobody there, so I just kept running."
Notable: Amari Harper extended her hitting streak to a career-high 11 games … Harper has now reached base in 25 consecutive games … Elon Butler has now scored a run in 11 straight games (and 16-of-17) … It was Lyndsey Grein's 10th career shutout … Oregon left 11 runners on base … This was the first game between Oregon and Purdue since 2012.
Quotable
Head Coach Melyssa Lombardi:
"I thought the defense did a great job getting off the field and allowing the offense to stay on offense for longer. We work hard on defense to on offense and we saw that today."
Sophomore Ayanna Shaw
"The momentum that our defense and Lyndsey provided gave us a lot of energy and excitement and we wanted to score runs for our pitchers."
Up Next: Game two at Purdue will be Saturday at 11 a.m. PT (B1G+).
"Coach says the most important game of the weekend is game one," said Grein. "And then tomorrow, the second-most important game is game two. Happy we got game one."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Grein, Lyndsey (12-3)
L: J. Gossett (9-4)
Batting:
3B: Shaw, Ayanna 1
RBI: Harper, Amari 1 ; Ma'ake, Stefini 1 ; Ho, Taryn 1
SF: Ma'ake, Stefini 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Shaw, Ayanna 2 ; Jones, Kaylynn 1 ; Butler, Elon 1 ; Harper, Amari 1 ; Cox, Emma 1
Batting:
2B: H. Painter 1
Base Running:
HBP: D. Reefe 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
UTIL
/ Softball
RHP
/ SoftballUTIL
/ Softball
INF/OF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball2026 Oregon Softball | Penn State Series Cinematic Recap
Wednesday, March 18
Melyssa Lombardi | Postgame - Penn State (Game 3)
Monday, March 16
Stefini Ma'ake | Postgame - Penn State (Game 3)
Monday, March 16
Emma Cox | Postgame - Penn State (Game 3)
Monday, March 16
