EUGENE- Following a Friday run-rule victory over Boston University, the Oregon Ducks’ softball team is set for a tougher battle at their NCAA Regional in Norman. Still, Friday’s win comes after a disappointing loss in the Pac-12 tournament to Utah, highlighting the team’s resilience.  

“The thing I know about this team, since I’ve been a Duck day one, is that the bounce back is always for real,” coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “These guys do a good job of learning from adversity — things that don’t go our way — and really turning it into a positive.”   

This positive attitude was evident on the field. Pitcher Elise Sokolsky allowed just two hits and a walk over 5 Innings when Boston did not score. Sokolsky also struck out three different batters. Offensively, seven different Ducks scored or drove in runs, leading Oregon to a statement win over the Terriers.   

“Honestly, it really inspires me … having that encouragement that I’m not just doing this for myself, I’m doing this for the people that are hitting, I’m doing this for the people that are working behind me too,” Sokolsky said. “So, it’s really just encouraging to see them put up their fight for me — their best fight — and I’m gonna put up my best fight for them, too.”  

“You could see the bounce back we had, to come out and be ourselves. When we’re ourselves we score early, we allow our offense and defense to really work momentum back-and-forth with each other, and they just play free.”

– Melyssa Lombardi

Next, the Ducks will look to upset regional host Oklahoma on Saturday at noon PT. Oregon will be looking to overcome its history against the Sooners. Oregon and Oklahoma have met 16 times, with the Sooners holding a 10-6 edge in the all-time series. The Ducks won their last meeting in 2018 with a score of 5-0.  

This game will be particularly interesting for coach Lombardi, who spent 23 years as a player and assistant coach at Oklahoma before taking her career to Eugene. While at Oklahoma, Lombardi helped coach the Sooners’ battery to a combined 20 All-America honors, 37 All-Region accolades, and 77 All-Big 12 awards. Sooner pitchers also racked up six Big-12 Pitcher of the Year awards during her time there.  

Lombardi is not the only one in Oregon’s dugout with personal ties to Oklahoma. Former Sooner softball player Sydney Romera and former Oklahoma analyst Sam Marder are now assistants on Lombardi’s staff.   

“[Romera] knows what kind of pitches I like and what I don’t like,” said Sooner outfielder Jayda Coleman. “But I think it’s really cool to see just like how we saw Hope and now we get to see Syd. It’s a good little reunion.”  

In addition to Oregon’s success Friday, several Ducks were recognized for their outstanding seasons by being named to the NFCA All-Pacific Region teams. Here is a closer look at some of the Ducks’ standouts:  

The Oregon Ducks softball team has a challenging matchup against the Oklahoma Sooners Saturday. The Ducks will rely on the strong performances of several key players, including NFCA All-Pacific Region honorees KaiLuschar, Ariel Carlson, Alyssa Daniell, Morgan Scott, Paige Sinicki, and Vallery Wong. With a strong showing in the first game and several talented players receiving regional recognition, the Ducks are well-positioned for a competitive second game in Norman.

If you missed the recent Utah Republican Party convention, count yourself lucky. It was 15 hours of grueling, mean, misogynist, partisan rhetoric, with some vile attacks against children thrown in for good measure.

I wasn’t there. I recently left the Utah Republican Party and my leadership positions within the party. The E. Jean Carroll trial was my last straw. Knowing that a jury of his peers found the GOP frontrunner liable in that case was something I wasn’t willing to look past.

I’m not alone. According to Gallup, in 2023, independent voters constituted the largest voting bloc in the U.S. at 43%, and above 40% for most years since 2011. Only 27% of U.S. adults identify as either Republican or Democrat. In Utah, unaffiliated voters are the second largest voting bloc after Republicans at almost 30% of registered voters.

The complexities of Utah politics make leaving the Utah GOP (and/or joining the Utah GOP) a nuanced decision — staying and/or joining in order to engage in the primary election process.

Allow me to present an alternative vision, at least as it relates to the Utah Office of the Attorney General.

Utah’s office of the attorney general has had a complicated history, to say the least. Utah’s partisan system incentivizes attorneys general to follow their donors’ wishes, enables pay-to-play schemes and ignores Utah voters, to the detriment of Utah’s top law firm.

Instead of focusing on state legal work or modernizing the office’s e-discovery methods so courts don’t label them as “haphazard,” or even ensuring the office’s staff are appropriately compensated, the partisan nature of the top leadership role changes the dynamics of that traditionally nonpartisan role.

But politics have no place in law enforcement.

Utah’s judges aren’t elected, thankfully. Attorneys aren’t political. And yet Utah’s attorney general is a partisan office.

The attorney general represents Utah voters in Utah’s highest courts. Who is representing Utah voters if a hyperpartisan attorney general is beholden to national party bosses and their purse strings or, even worse, to himself?

There is no question that the office needs reform; the for-sale sign needs to go.

One idea floated by Republican leaders is to appoint the attorney general instead of elect her. But that removes choice from Utahns and consolidates even more power in a government already controlled by a supermajority of Republican legislators (80% Republican) that fails to reflect Utah’s population (50% Republican).

The better option is to elect a nonpartisan attorney general. But Utah’s laws do not currently provide for such an option.

The next best option is to elect a third-party attorney general untainted by party politics and untethered from either major political party or their purse strings — essentially, a nonpartisan attorney general.

That is why I am running as a third-party candidate and member of the United Utah Party, whose platform includes the principle of ethical government and transparency, which is one of my priorities in office.

I’ve been a Wall Street lawyer, a federal court clerk, a solo practitioner, a law school dean of admissions, a Utah State Bar commissioner, and am now a business litigator, appellate advocate and familiar face in Utah’s legal community.

As you make your decision about who you will vote for in the Republican primary over the next month, I urge you to remember there is a better option on the November ballot.

A vote for me in November will do three things:

1. Send a message to those who have been stewards of this office for decades that voters are unhappy with that stewardship.
2. Reform the office to what is essentially a nonpartisan attorney general and get the politics out of the office by disconnecting it from big party bosses and their purse strings.
3. Elect the best candidate with the most experience and service in Utah’s legal community whose only interest is to refocus back on state legal issues.

I look forward to earning your vote in November.

Michelle Quist is a business litigator and appellate attorney at Holland & Hart in Salt Lake City, a mother of seven and the United Utah Party candidate for attorney general of Utah.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) — Students danced the night away at the Durand School prom on Friday night.

“We have been talking about this event for weeks now,” Durand School Principal Jennifer Amoroso said.

The special night at The Supper Club in Washington Township was filled with sparkles and snazzy suits.

“We have quite a few dancers in here. We love to dance at Durand,” Amoroso said.

One of them was Hayden Rossi, who said a 90s boy band inspired his look for the night.

“I look like the one from the Backstreet Boys, ‘I Want It That Way,’” Rossi said.

Durand serves students with autism, learning and developmental disabilities. The students who attended the prom also got a full day of glam.

“We had haircuts. We had updos and then the students get to dress up and have that neurotypical event that they’re not used to having,” Amoroso said.

DJ Nick also had the whole room dancing and when it comes to song choice, he said he reads the room.

“Depends on the crowd,” DJ Nick said.

Elizabeth Utvik said there’s nothing like watching her daughter smile.

“It is like nothing that you can honestly imagine. Not only that she gets to have a prom, but also that I get to be here,” Utvik said.

“She got an updo in school, which she promptly took right out obviously. And the group home that my daughter lives in, they decorated it like you wouldn’t believe. They had a limo because they wanted a full prom experience,” Utvik said. 

While the students danced the night away, it was also a night to remember for their families, teachers and staffers.

“It’s a whole family experience and they get to come out and they get to dance, they get to have amazing food and they get to have the best night ever. And look at the way they’re all dressed, they are having the best night of their lives,” said Rae Pastore, director of marketing and development.

Durand said this is their second prom and since it was such a success, they are planning to have it year after year.