OKLAHOMA CITY — On a night filled with career-highs for Lyndsey Grein in the circle, it was the actions Oregon’s ace took when she wasn’t pitching that may have been the biggest difference in her latest masterpiece performance, which kept the Ducks alive at the Women’s College World Series.

With Rylee McCoy committing two early errors in her first game back at first base since taking a line drive to the face in the Eugene Regional final against Stanford, it was Grein who consoled the All-American freshman, who was later moved to designated player.

After getting out of a two-on, two-out jam in the top of the tenth, it was Grein who spoke up in Oregon’s huddle even after she threw 94 strikes out of 144 pitches over 9 1/3 innings — all career-highs for the junior right-hander.

Grein held Ole Miss 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position and though she surrendered the game-tying two-run single in the seventh, the All-American buckled down and finished the gutsiest performance of her career. She silenced the Rebels throughout extra innings long enough for the Ducks to finally break through once more in a 6-5 win in 10 innings decided on a walk-off walk by Kedre Luschar after Friday night turned to Saturday morning at Devon Park.

“I knew my teammates had my back regardless,” Grein said. “I knew before we got here we were going to pull it off. We didn’t know what it would look like, but the Ducks were going to leave with a win today.

“I told my teammates as long as there’s innings and we have outs to spare, I will stay here until 8:30 the next — or today, and however long it was going to take for us to win. But today wasn’t the day that Version 7 ends their season.”

Grein left with with Oregon leading 2-1 with two outs and a runner on third in the fifth, then Ole Miss tied it on a single by Persy Llamas off Staci Chambers. Grein later reentered with two on and one out in the sixth, one of multiple jams she got out of unscathed, and did not leave the circle again.

Grein’s performance actually improved after reentering, despite the high leverage situations she was in.

She notched four of her seven strikeouts after returning to the circle and threw 46 strikes on 64 pitches compared to 48 out of her first 80. She threw first pitch strikes to 14 of the final 21 Ole Miss batters she faced compared to 10 of the first 21.

“I think they did a good job pitch calling because they went back down and mixed in some different off speeds in some of those counts, whether they led with it or finished with it, just to keep us off balance,” Ole Miss coach Jame Trachsel said. “Good pitcher, had good command today, up and down and mixed speeds and could throw it on different counts. Could throw it for a strike or expand the zone. It was a tough puzzle to crack.”

It was the most pitches thrown by an Oregon pitcher since Jordan Dail’s 145 against Utah on May 3, 2019, when UO literally had no other pitchers on its roster.

While not extremely outrageous volume in college softball, Oregon coach Melyssa Lombardi avoids overworking her pitchers and looks to avoid topping 120 pitches in a game.

Made aware Grein was one shy of the high pitch count mark of her tenure, Lombardi smiled.

“Lyndsey is just a straight-up competitor on the mound,” Lombardi said. “There’s no way she’s coming out of that game. There’s no way. She’s going to finish it.

“At Oregon, we talk about it all starts in the weight room. And the reason why Lyndsey was able to finish that game is because it all starts in the weight room. What she’s done with (strength coach Kaelin Jackson) has given her the strength, the endurance she needs to start a game like that and come out and reenter it and finish it and get better as the game went on. She got better as the game went on.”

It was performances like Grein’s that Oregon has so sorely been missing from the circle since All-American Brooke Yanez, who missed the 2022 season due to injury and transferred to UCLA in 2023.

Getting out of one jam after another — two on, no outs; two on, one out; runner on second, one out; bases loaded, one out; first and second, one out; first and second, two outs — against top competition on the sport’s biggest stage is what will make Grein’s outing live in lore no matter how Oregon’s season ends.

“It was just a no-way mentality,” Grein said. “I think one of the things that motivates me is when I glance up and look at my teammates, and that gets me really motivated, just to do it for them. ”

Grein allowed five runs, four earned, on eight hits and three walks, but those figures will be lost to history compared to the ultimate result as Oregon (54-9) advances to play the loser of Texas and Oklahoma in an elimination game on Sunday (4 p.m., ESPN2).

“I put her up against any hitter in this country and she’s going to win, and I just know it,” Luschar said. “I trust her, I believe in her, and she’s so awesome to play behind.”

A crash on Highway 224 in Clackamas County killed an Oregon City man on Monday.

Oregon State Police responded to a two-vehicle crash near milepost 45 at 5:16 p.m. Preliminary investigation revealed that Niko Daniel Harpham, 28, of Oregon City, was riding an eastbound Harley Davidson motorcycle when he failed to negotiate a corner.

Harpham slid into the westbound lane and struck a Kia Forte head-on. The Kia was driven by Gabriela Camacho, 21, of Molalla.

Harpham was transported by Life Flight to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Camacho suffered minor injuries.

The highway was closed for approximately five hours during the investigation.

This story was drafted with the assistance of generative AI based on data from Oregon State Police and reviewed by Oregonian editorial staff.

As calls for stronger education accountability continue to grow from the upper echelons of Oregon’s government, the Joint Subcommittee on Education approved Senate Bill 141 on Wednesday afternoon by a 7-1 vote. The approval means the bill will now advance to the broader Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

SB 141 is part of Gov. Tina Kotek’s effort this session to improve the state’s dismal education outcomes. It gives more power to the Oregon Department of Education to coach and intervene in struggling school districts, and establishes more metrics to track, specifically around early chronic absenteeism and eighth grade mathematics. It will also streamline grant reporting processes for school districts and improve ODE’s data transparency.

Kotek’s focus on education accountability came amid dueling reports presented to the Oregon legislature this cycle. A report from the American Institutes for Research studied the state’s Quality Education Model (that projects the cost to adequately educate students statewide), and found it would cost Oregon billions more to help its students achieve proficiency in mathematics and reading, while reducing chronic absenteeism. Another presentation, from the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, mapped increased education funding since 2013 against declining student outcomes.

As she unveiled her bill in March, Kotek told reporters she didn’t “believe in writing a blank check.” SB 141 accompanies the state government’s largest-yet investment in the State School Fund, though many district leaders say many of those costs will be offset by the Public Employees Retirement System, inflation and other rising costs, alongside declining enrollment. (In the same hearing Wednesday, the subcommittee approved $11.36 billion for schools in the upcoming biennium.)

The majority of legislators expressed optimism that Kotek’s bill was a step in the right direction to building a system of shared accountability between school districts and the state for student outcomes, which are in the bottom nationwide for both reading and mathematics.

But many of them emphasized that the bill must be implemented properly. Sen. Suzanne Weber (R-Tillamook) said Oregon tends to fall for “shiny tricks,” where legislators are attracted to new policies but fail to follow through. “If we start this program, we have to commit to it,” she said.

Rep. Dwayne Yunker (R-Grants Pass) was the sole no vote for the accountability package in the subcommittee. He says many of the problems school districts face are not ones that can be addressed from the top down. For example, he says it’s hard to blame a school when a parent doesn’t send their child to attend.

“I think what’s going to work is changing what we’re doing…more class time, more time in school,” Yunker says. “We’re not changing any of that, and I think there’s other things we could’ve done that would’ve been more productive to change outcomes.”

Sen. Janeen Sollman (D-Hillsboro) told Yunker the bill is not about imposing a top-down authority on schools, but rather setting the state up to provide school districts with resources and tools to help students succeed. It’s meant to foster collaboration, she said, and emphasized that a streamlined grant process will also give schools more time to focus on improving outcomes.

Sen. Lew Frederick (D-Portland) added that until everyone in the education system and the broader community all put in the work to make student outcomes a priority, the bill’s text is just “rhetorical posturing.” He says it’s the conversation this bill will spark that may be its most powerful effect.

“I’m hoping that what will happen as a result of this is that people will begin to actually step forward and say ‘Alright, what do I need to do?’” Frederick says. “I don’t want to see yet another document that tells me we believe in education but we aren’t actually getting everyone involved in making changes. I hope this begins a process of accountability not just for the schools…but for everybody.”