Ducks Drop Game One at Northwestern

Thursday, March 26

Evanston, IL

11:00 AM

University of Oregon

24-9, 0

Northwestern

16-14, 0

Oregon

Northwestern

03/26/26 | Softball

Box Score Northwestern 11, No. 18 Oregon 3

ROSEMONT, Ill. — No. 18 Oregon dropped the opening game of its three-game series against Northwestern, 11-3, on a challenging day weatherwise at the Ballpark at Rosemont that saw both teams commit four errors.

Northwestern (16-14, 4-3) got the benefit of two wind-aided doubles and two wind-aided triples to prevail on Thursday.

Oregon (24-9, 5-2) will look to even the series Friday at 4 p.m. Pacific Time (6 p.m. Central Time).

How It Happened: Runs – and hits – were hard to come by early in the game. Ayanna Shaw's second inning single was Oregon's only hit in the first three innings.

Northwestern scored a run in the bottom of the third on a throwing error to break the scoreless tie.

The Ducks turned that around and took advantage of a couple of Wildcat errors to pull even at 1-1 in the top of the fourth.

Stefini Ma'ake got things going in the inning with a two-out double down the left field line. Pinch-runner Regan Legg went to third on an error at second that allowed Shaw to reach base. Legg then scored when Taryn Ho hit a ball that the shortstop couldn't handle.

Northwestern regained the lead, 5-1, on three doubles – two-of them wind-aided – in the bottom of the fourth, but the Ducks rallied to make it a two-run game in the top of the fifth.

Rylee McCoy led off with a single and Addison Amaral was hit by a pitch. Lawton ran for McCoy and then both runners moved ahead on stolen bases. Lawton came home on Kaylynn Jones' foul out to right. Amaral went to third on the play and then scored on Butler's sacrifice fly to left, making it 5-3 Wildcats.

Northwestern ended the game via the run rule by scoring four times in the fifth and twice in the sixth.

Notable: Oregon's fifth-inning sacrifice fly was its NCAA-leading 23^rd of the season. That's just two behind the school record of 25 (2015, 2025).

Up Next: The Ducks and Wildcats play game two Friday at 4 p.m. PT (6 p.m. CT) at The Ballpark at Rosemont, which is the home of the AUSL's Chicago Bandits in Rosemont, Ill. The game will be carried by Big Ten Network.