A three-run home run off the bat of Oregon softball’s Dezianna Patmon walked off Stanford in the regional round of the 2025 NCAA softball championship on Sunday, May 18 at Jane Sanders Stadium in Eugene.

“We just knew we needed to get to today,” Ducks head coach Melyssa Lombardi said. “These guys were so (determined) to get what they wanted. To watch them come together as a team and just compete on every pitch was amazing.”

After a 14-1 run-rule loss in their first game against the Cardinal just a day earlier, the Ducks dished out a 15-5 drubbing of their own — headlined by three-run homers from Kedre Luschar and Rylee McCoy — in Saturday’s first game. The win by Oregon evened the series, forcing a winner-take-all game three with a super regional berth on the line.

The Cardinal jumped out to an early lead in game three thanks to their first baseman, Joie Economides, who bashed a first-inning grand slam and a three-run tank in the third inning. Both of Economides’ homers came off of Ducks’ starter Lyndsey Grein, whose day came to an end after allowing the second.

Lombardi turned to left-hander Staci Chambers out of the bullpen, who spun a masterful 4.1 innings of relief. The redshirt senior carried the game from the third inning until the final out of the seventh, allowing two hits and a lone walk. While Chambers’ two strikeouts didn’t scream dominance, the four-straight shutout innings gave the Ducks the chance to battle back from their then-7-3 deficit.

And battle back they did.

Catcher Ellie Cox’s two-run blast in the home half of the third inning cut Stanford’s lead to 7-5, before a wild pitch in the fifth inning saw outfielder Kedre Luschar score to bring Oregon within one run. Patmon herself scored the tying run in the sixth, being driven in from third base on a two-out single from Kai Luschar after a leadoff triple.

Come the bottom half of the seventh and down to their last two outs, Patmon came up to bat with runners on the corners and the score dead-locked at 7-7. All Patmon would’ve needed was to drive a ball to the warning track deep enough for shortstop Paige Sinicki, who stood on third, to tag up and score the run.

Patmon put the ball over the fence instead, driving in herself, Sinicki and Cox with a first-pitch swing off of Stanford right-hander Zoe Prystajko. The rest is history.

“This is why you come to Oregon, to have big moments like this,” Patmon said. “I wasn’t hanging up the cleats today, I know that. We talked about that as seniors and we we’re not done (yet)… We had our eyes on the mission.”

Oregon’s regional win, as well as No. 1 Texas A&M’s (Oregon’s pairing in the tournament) loss to Liberty earlier Sunday, means the Ducks won’t have to leave Eugene for the super regional. Jane Sanders Stadium will once again play host, with a super regional coming to Eugene for the first time since the 2018 season.

For Lombardi, who has led the Ducks to a super regional for the second time in her seven-year tenure, getting to keep playing in front of the home crowd is a dream come true.

“Our fans have been amazing all year,” Lombardi said. “I just think about how many times (this season) they’ve helped us, and tonight was another one. They were crazy. To have to be an opponent and play in this atmosphere, it’s tough. Our fans are special, they get into it.”

Game one against the Liberty Flames is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, May 23, at Jane Sanders Stadium in Eugene.