It was the climax of the season, crucial in the pursuit of a championship for Oregon softball and baseball.
Oregon lost and Oregon won, but as the weekend played out Duck pitching ace Lyndsey Grein and baseball head coach Mark Wasikowski shared with each other and with fans the most important lesson in sports.
Some things are bigger than the game.
Wasikowski missed Oregon's last game of the regular season with USC, the Ducks needing a win to clinch the No. 3 seed and a home regional in the NCAA Tournament. Instead, he attended his daughter's graduation at Purdue.
Head coach at Oregon for seven years, Wasikowski had never missed a game. He told Tyson Alger of the Eugene-Springfield Lookout, “As a dad, I not only want to be there, I have to be there. That is a family event that needs to occur. I’m thrilled for my daughter, and I love her so much. Being a dad first and a family man first, I think those things are really important.”
His daughter Joelle was graduating from pharmacy school, beginning a career where she will save lives. In his absence assistant coach Jack Marder took over, leading the Ducks to a tense, thrilling 6-5 victory in 14 innings over USC to secure both the three-seed and the home regional.
From the bullpen, Devin Bell, Jonah Barkoff and Collin Clarke pitched seven scoreless innings to keep the Ducks in the game. As Alger wrote, they struck out 11 and walked none in a courageous performance.
In the 14th inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus laid down a perfect, shocking suicide squeeze. It caught the Trojans flat-footed and Oregon outfielder Bryce Jaksa raced home for the winning run.
Doesn’t get more electric than a walk off bunt pic.twitter.com/nw3FzBwA16
— Barstool Ducks (@BarstoolDucks) May 17, 2026
The dugout emptied. Joy ensued. Teammates soaked Mabeus' jersey with the contents of water bottles in spontaneous celebration. He did the obligatory postgame interview shirtless, wearing a cream-colored jacket with his arm around a stand-in photo of Wasikowski, the coach draped in his uniform jersey as if he were in attendance.
Mark Wasikowski was at his daughter's @LifeAtPurdue graduation for @oregonbaseball's dramatic season finale.
— Big Ten Baseball (@B1Gbaseball) May 18, 2026
It's the first game he's ever missed, as a player or coach.
Waz joined the #B1GToday crew to discuss what it meant to support his daughter, Joelle 👇 pic.twitter.com/O887hvfew3
Softball endures a different outcome
A storybook ending came out of a crucial choice. In another ballpark a pop foul away, the Oregon women endured heartbreak. Version 8 lost in the elimination round of the Eugene Regional, falling 4-0 on a no-hitter by Mississippi State pitcher Alysssa Faircloth, then losing again in the win-or-go-home game against St. Mary's, 5-4. The Gaels pounded out nine hits, including a double and a triple.
In the last game of her storied college career, Grein couldn't pitch. She watched helplessly from the dugout with a patch over her eye, stricken by a life-threatening infection.
In an Instagram post shared by the Oregon Daily Emerald she said,
“After some time on antibiotics and worsening symptoms, my roommates made the decision to take me to the hospital. According to my doctors, that decision not only saved my sight, but my life.”
Grein was in the hospital for five days. Although she was in the dugout for her teammates, it might have been life-threatening for her to pitch, an oversized patch on her left eye to protect an open wound. The doctors said no.
Fellow starting pitcher Elise Sokolsky told Rowan Shea of the Emerald, “I think we all came out this weekend and we knew that we were playing for Lyndsey. We really wanted to come out and we gave everything that we could so that she could see us continue.”
Architects of so many storybook endings over the last two seasons, the Oregon women didn't have one in them over the weekend. The Bulldogs completed a tournament sweep with a 5-0 pasting of St. Mary's advancing to the Super Regional versus No.1-seed Oklahoma.
Unable to take the circle, Grein finished her two-year at Oregon with a 2.45 ERA, 16 complete games, seven shutouts, 53 wins and 9 losses in 96 appearances. Opponents had batted just .190 against her. She struck out 431.
Grein and Wasikowski made difficult choices for health and for family. Fans come to the ballpark and the stadium with expectations, wanting to see one kind of story. Sometimes the game demands we accept something entirely different.
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