The Oregon Ducks will host the Iowa Hawkeyes at Jane Sanders Stadium from Friday through Sunday, according to an April 1 announcement. This marks Iowa’s first trip to Eugene for a softball series against Oregon, with all three games set to air on B1G+.
The matchup is notable as both teams have split their previous four meetings, and their last encounter was in 2015. The press release also recalls a significant game between the two programs during the 1998 NCAA Tournament, when Oregon staged a comeback capped by Lindsey Welch’s walk-off grand slam for a 10-9 win.
Oregon currently holds the No. 13 spot in RPI rankings and has played one of the nation’s most challenging schedules this season. The team leads the NCAA with a program-record tying 25 sacrifice flies and has won its last eleven Big Ten series dating back to last season. Elon Butler stands out with fifteen doubles—leading the Big Ten and ranking third nationally—and forty-three runs batted in this year.
Pitchers Lyndsey Grein and Taylour Spencer recently combined for a one-hit shutout against Northwestern on March 27. Grein is second in strikeouts within the conference and thirteenth nationally, while Kaylynn Jones continues her consistent performance at bat with an average of .385, hitting over .300 every weekend so far.
Attendance remains strong as Oregon ranks eighth nationally for average attendance per game at Jane Sanders Stadium. With twelve of their sixteen remaining games against teams ranked in the RPI top seventy-five, Oregon faces a demanding finish to its regular season schedule.
