Softball On SI

Eugene Super Regional: Schedule & Updates

Katie Burkhart-Gooch, Allison Smith|
Oregon players celebrate their win against Stanford in the NCAA Eugene Softball Regional on May 18, 2025.
Oregon players celebrate their win against Stanford in the NCAA Eugene Softball Regional on May 18, 2025. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The 2025 NCAA Softball Eugene Super Regional features a compelling matchup between No. 16 seed Oregon and Liberty University, with a Women’s College World Series berth on the line.

Oregon (51–8) advanced after sweeping Stanford in the regional final, highlighted by a walk-off three-run homer from senior Dezianna Patmon. The Ducks, led by head coach Melyssa Lombardi, are seeking their first WCWS appearance since 2018.

Liberty (50–13) made history by upsetting No. 1 overall seed Texas A&M in the College Station Regional, marking the first time a top seed has been ousted in Regionals by an unranked opponent.  Senior outfielder Rachel Roupe powered the Flames with two home runs and four RBIs in the decisive game.

The best-of-three series begins Friday, May 23, at 10 p.m. ET on ESPNU, with Game 2 scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. If necessary, Game 3 will be played on Sunday, with time and broadcast details to be announced.

All games will take place at Jane Sanders Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. The winner will advance to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, starting May 29.

Game 1: Oregon 3, Liberty 2

In a nail-biting opener of the Eugene Super Regional on May 23, 2025, the Oregon Ducks walked off with a 3–2 extra-inning win over the Liberty Flames at Jane Sanders Stadium. Both teams battled with grit and guts, but it was Oregon’s final swing – and some pivotal coaching decisions – that defined the drama. Liberty stole the show from Oregon with a robbed ball over the fence and a coaching call that would shift the game.

Oregon jumped out first in the third inning. After Ayanna Shaw reached base, Kai Luschar crushed a triple to deep right-center, bringing Shaw across. Stefani Ma’ake followed up with a line-drive single to left, scoring Luschar and giving Oregon a 2–0 lead.

Liberty answered quickly in the fourth. KK Madrey singled and scored on a double by Paige Doerr to cut the lead in half. The Flames tied it in the sixth when Alexia Carrasquillo, pinch-hitting, knocked a sharp single to left, scoring Doerr and silencing the Oregon crowd.

It was the clutch calls from Liberty Head Coach Dr. Dot Richardson that changed the tone of the game. In the first and seventh innings, Richardson used both of her video reviews, each time contesting a “left early” tag-up by Oregon runners. Both calls were overturned, taking runs off the board and keeping Liberty in it.

With momentum hanging by a thread, the game went into extras. Liberty had a baserunner in the eighth, but couldn’t cash in. In the bottom half, Oregon’s Luschar singled and advanced to third. Then came Dezianna Patmon’s moment – she drilled a clean single to center, scoring Luschar and sparking an eruption from the home crowd.

Liberty’s Elena Escobar was solid in the circle, throwing a complete game and holding Oregon to just five hits. Oregon used a combination of Lyndsey Grein, Staci Chambers, and Elise Sokolsky to limit Liberty’s threats late.

This was a hard-fought battle from first pitch to final swing—one that reminded everyone just how thin the margins are in postseason play. Oregon now leads the best-of-three series 1–0, needing one more win to punch their ticket to Oklahoma City.

Oregon 13, Liberty 1

Oregon softball display the Oregon O after their win on May 18 against Stanford.
Oregon players celebrate their win against Stanford in NCAA Eugene Softball Regional May 18, 2025. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Oregon Ducks are Oklahoma City bound after they ended the Liberty Lady Flames historic season , 3-1 Oregon's offense showed up and out on Saturday night with 14 hits, 13 RBIs, and two home runs.

The game opened with a Flames home run from second baseman Savannah Woodard in the bottom of the first inning of Lyndsey Grein. However, Grein quickly settled in striking out all three outs in the inning. Grein made only the single pitch mistake in the first, otherwise she accumulated 10 strikeouts on the day and kept the Flames off the base pads for the remainder of the game.

The Ducks scored in the second, fourth, fifth, and seventh innings. In the top of the second shortstop Paige Sinicki crushed a solo home run to right center. The Ducks struck again later in the inning off an infield single from outfielder Kai Luschar and scored Dez Patmon.

Oregon pushed another run across home plate in the top of the fourth inning off a double from third baseman Katie Flannery. Then at the top of the fifth freshman catcher Emma Cox blasted a three-run bomb that opened up the game. However, in the top of the seventh the Ducks would put the game away.

The seventh inning for Oregon saw five hits, three walks and seven runs, with a triple to the right field fence from Sinicki which placed her a double away from hitting the cycle on the day.

With this win, the Oregon Ducks head to their seventh Women's College World Series, but first for head coach Melyssa Lombardi.

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Katie Burkhart-Gooch
KATIE BURKHART-GOOCH

Katie Burkhart is a former professional softball pitcher and Arizona State University alumna, where she was a three-time All-American and led the Sun Devils to a national championship. She played professionally in the U.S., Japan, and Italy, and has coached at the Division I level. She now provides private pitching instruction and mindset training for athletes of all levels. Katie is also the author of Mental Muscle and Beyond the Game, books focused on athletic performance and life after sports.

Allison Smith
ALLISON SMITH

Allison Smith is an expert in leadership and organizational behavior in collegiate and professional women’s sports. Smith is a professor (Georgia State University), researcher, and writer. Smith holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in Kinesiology and Sport Studies. Smith’s research centers on combatting the underrepresentation of women leaders in sport, lack of organizational structure for work life integration for sport employees, and lack of programming and oversight for preparing athletes to transition to life after sport. Since graduating with a bachelor’s in journalism in 2011, Smith has sought opportunities to write about sports as a contributing writer focused on the growth of women’s collegiate, Olympic, and professional sports in this new age and movement for multiple outlets including Athletic Director U, and now Forbes.com. As a former Division I and II pitcher and Division III pitching coach Smith will bring unique insight and expertise to Softball on SI.

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