The Oregon Ducks women’s softball team will compete in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament on May 5, facing either seventh-seeded Wisconsin or tenth-seeded Purdue. The game is scheduled for Thursday at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. If Oregon advances, they will play in the semifinals on Friday at 4:30 p.m., with the championship game set for Saturday at 1 p.m.
This tournament appearance follows a strong season for Oregon, who are currently ranked ninth in RPI and have played one of the most challenging schedules nationally. The Ducks have won sixteen consecutive Big Ten series dating back to last season and lead the NCAA with a program-record thirty-five sacrifice flies.
Pitcher Lyndsey Grein has been a standout player this season, ranking among the top four in nine different statistical categories within the conference. She leads in strikeouts and appearances, is second in WHIP and wins, third in hits allowed per seven innings pitched, innings pitched, and strikeout-to-walk ratio, as well as fourth in ERA and strikeouts per seven innings pitched.
Stefini Ma’ake was named Big Ten Player of the Week after helping secure Oregon’s sixteenth straight series win by hitting .636 with two home runs and eight RBI during their recent series victory over UCLA. “It was Oregon’s first series win at UCLA since 2015,” according to Ma’ake’s performance summary.
Elon Butler has also made headlines by breaking or tying three school records this year—extra base hits (38), total bases (140), and doubles (18). Butler recently hit her fiftieth career home run against Washington and now leads all current Oregon players with fifty-two career home runs.
Looking ahead, senior Amari Harper was drafted fourteenth overall by Oklahoma City Spark in this year’s Athletes Unlimited Softball League Draft after receiving a “Golden Ticket.” Harper joins assistant coach Sydney Romero on OKC Spark’s roster next season while fellow Duck alum Paige Sinicki prepares to play for Portland Cascade.
