No. 6 Oregon softball looks to take Big Ten lead with series against No. 5 UCLA

EUGENE, Ore. — Although they are both in their first seasons in their new conference, nothing has changed between the Oregon Ducks and UCLA Bruins. The two teams that combined to take home eight of the final ten regular-season Pac-12 championships have moved to the Big Ten and find themselves tied at the top of the standings just past the midway point of conference play. This weekend, they will square off for three games at Jane Sanders Stadium, with the winner gaining the inside track to this year's regular season Big Ten title.

"They're an excellent team," Oregon head coach Melyssa Lombardi said of UCLA. "For us wanting to be the best, we've got to beat the best, and UCLA, they're a storied program. The opportunity to match up with them at home is great."

The Ducks and Bruins are currently ranked back-to-back in the ESPN.com/USA Softball's rankings, with UCLA checking in fifth and Oregon sixth in this week's poll. But these teams didn't get to where they are now the same way this season. UCLA was expected to be here, Oregon less so.

The Bruins (40-5, 12-1) are a historic program, with their 12 national championships ranking first all-time. They are still the last team not hailing from Norman, Oklahoma, to win it all (back in 2019), and have averaged over 48 wins in the four full seasons since. It makes sense, then, that UCLA was the overwhelming favorite to win its new conference entering its first season, beginning the year as a top-five team in the country.

The Ducks (39-4, 12-1), on the other hand, began the season ranked — a testament to the winning culture that Lombardi has built during her time in Eugene — but just barely at 23rd. Despite reaching the postseason in each of Lombardi's previous four seasons, there were plenty of question marks surrounding her team heading into the start of this year. Oregon's 2024 squad was a veteran-laden group, leaving the Ducks with just two returning starters in their lineup at the start of 2025: left fielder Kai Luschar and shortstop Paige Sinicki.

Those questions would soon be answered as the Ducks got out to a blazing start to the season, powered by starting pitcher Lyndsey Grein's ascension out of the transfer portal and a quartet of freshmen — first baseman Rylee McCoy, second baseman Kaylynn Jones, catcher Emma Cox, and designated hitter Stefini Ma'ake — who immediately rose to meet their new level of competition. Oregon quickly shot up the rankings thanks to top-10 wins over Tennessee and Florida State (twice), even surpassing the Bruins to reach as high as fourth before an upset loss to Loyola Marymount sent them back down.

"I think this team has a really good understanding that every game that we play is just as important as the next," Lombardi said. "There's no game in our schedule that's not important. So to understand how to tackle the game that is right in front of us, and then move on to what is next. I think they're just a mature team and understand that concept."

Rightfully so, much attention has been paid to the Ducks' newcomers this year. Whether it has been from its additions out of the portal, like Grein and her nation-leading 23 wins, or its 16th-ranked recruiting class, like McCoy, Jones, Cox, and Ma'ake's combined 1.102 on-base plus slugging (OPS), Oregon has gotten production from its newcomers that has turned it into a force to be reckoned with.

There is no doubt that without a strong transfer and recruiting class, the Ducks likely would not be where they are today as a top 10 team in the country. But they also wouldn't have reached these heights without internal improvements. Entering the year, Kai Luschar was the only proven commodity in Oregon's lineup, coming off consecutive seasons hitting over .400 with an on-base percentage (OBP) over .440 as one of the best leadoff hitters in the country.

The other returner, Sinicki, was far better known for her gold glove defense at shortstop than her prowess at the plate. Across her first three seasons with the Ducks, Sinicki slashed just .260/.328/.379 while mostly hitting at the bottom of the order, providing most of her value on the other side of the ball. She saw a marked improvement in her junior year, especially in her OBP, as it climbed from .310 in her first two seasons up to .380 thanks to her walk rate improving 3.4 percent to 11.3 percent as a junior.

This season, she has continued to improve and has solidified herself as one of the most important pieces in Oregon's lineup. After working to improve her patience in 2024, Sinicki has taken a more aggressive approach at the plate in 2025, which has led to a .376/.455/.624 triple slash, all the best marks of her career. While her walk rate has fallen back just 6.8 percent, she has countered that by making the most contact of her career with a strikeout rate to match. This has helped boost her batting average to new heights, but she has also achieved this while posting career-best power numbers, already surpassing her previous best marks with nine doubles and six home runs this season.

"It's just sticking to my process and then knowing that at some point it's gonna go my way," Sinicki said.

This has turned Sinicki into one of the most complete players in the conference. She is still bringing gold glove defense to the shortstop position day in and day out, but is now a legitimate threat at the top of Oregon's lineup, which she has added to with her speed, setting a career-high with 22 stolen bases.

The other player who has taken a leap in the Ducks' lineup has been Kai Luschar's sister, Kedre. A consensus top 100 recruit, Kedre Luschar came to Eugene the same year her older sister transferred from Arizona State. While Kai was able to quickly find a role with Oregon, entering the starting nine full-time by the end of her redshirt sophomore season, things were slower for Kedre, whose career highs of 18 starts and 67 at-bats entering this year fell well behind her sister's.

Across 134 career plate appearances in her first three seasons, Luschar slashed just .274/.295/.331 without a single home run. Knowing that she would have a spot in the starting lineup going into her senior year, Luschar got to work in the off-season, relentlessly hitting the weight room and batting cages, looking to become a stronger, faster, and better player at the plate.

"She's one of our strongest athletes," Lombardi said of her center fielder. "What she does in the weight room is very, very impressive. She has worked really hard. I just think when you're a senior, all of a sudden, sometimes things just get a little clearer."

This season, all of that hard work has paid off to the fullest as Luschar has become a key cog in Oregon's lineup, leading the Ducks with a .466 batting average that ranks as a top-20 mark in the nation. This has not only come from an increase in contact quantity — her strikeout rate dropped from 23.5 percent to 8.5 percent — but an increase in contact quality as well, consistently making more hard contact than ever before.

"Giving me more power and more mobility," Luschar said of how her added strength has helped her in the batter's box. "Being able to have more mobility in my hips, because I'm obviously tall and a bit lengthy, it's a little harder for me to do some movements. But just really honing in on that and it's helped me a lot."

This has increased her slugging percentage to .712, as she leads the Ducks with 13 doubles and has hit the first four homers of her career. The first, a grand slam in Oregon's opening game of the season, gave a hint as to what was to come. She even reeled off a 14-game hitting streak that lasted over three weeks, the longest by a Duck since Allee Bunker recorded a hit in 18 straight games in 2022.

While UCLA will certainly give Oregon its toughest test in conference play, Lombardi's team has shown to be a resilient group throughout the season, even rallying to come back and win against their in-state rivals, Oregon State, on Wednesday night. Although both teams are among the few with five or fewer losses this season, there has been some doubt as to the strength of their conference. The Ducks and Bruins are two of just four ranked Big Ten teams (No. 21 Nebraska and No. 24 Ohio State), compared to 12 from the SEC, five from the ACC, and three from the Big 12, which gives a disadvantage when comparing their resumes to the likes of No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 Texas, and No. 4 Oklahoma (all from the SEC).

This weekend will provide both squads with the chance to prove themselves as a legitimate national championship contender with a win over the best that the Big Ten has to offer.

"It's always us against us," Sinicki said. "We try to go out there and not really worry about what the name is on the front of their jersey because it's always what kind of softball Oregon softball can play."

First pitch of game one is set for 7 PM on Friday night at the Jane, followed by game two at 4 PM on Saturday, and game three at 2 PM on Sunday.