No. 7 Oregon softball upset by Michigan in opening game of Big Ten Tournament

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Although the No. 7 Oregon Ducks may have claimed the Big Ten's regular-season championship, the Michigan Wolverines proved their conference may not be easy to take on Thursday afternoon.

After beating Wisconsin in Wednesday's first round, the reigning conference tournament champs upset Oregon 5-0 to eliminate the top-seeded Ducks in their first game of the tournament.

The Ducks (47-7, 19-4) failed to manage extra bases on any of their five hits, stranding seven runners as the Wolverines' offense put relentless pressure on the Oregon pitching staff. Michigan (36-19, 13-11) totaled 11 hits while scoring once in the second, once in the third, and three times in the fifth to put the Ducks away.

Oregon head coach Melyssa Lombardi decided to go with redshirt junior Elise Sokolsky in the circle, who continued the dominance she found last weekend in the first inning. After tossing 15.2 of Oregon's 19 innings against Michigan State, Sokolsky froze the Wolverines' leadoff hitter for her first strikeout to begin a one-two-three inning.

In the bottom of the frame, Kai Luschar beat out an infield single to lead things off for the Ducks before swiping second, her 102nd career steal to tie Janie Takeda for the program record. But she would be stranded there, with Michigan starter Lauren Derkowski fanning her sister Kedre for the third out.

Right fielder Ella Stephenson led off the second with a single for the Wolverines, and after Lilly Vallimont reached on a fielder's choice, she was able to slide in safely to second when Oregon first baseman Rylee McCoy eliminated the force on another fielder's choice by initially going to first. Maddie Erickson would follow with a two-out single to plate a run for the Wolverines and take a 1-0 lead before Sokolsky forced a grounder to Kaylynn Jones to escape the inning.

After Stefini Ma'ake was stranded with a single for the Ducks, Michigan quickly jumped on Sokolsky in the top of the third. Avery Fantucci doubled before taking an extra 60 feet on a wild pitch. A pair of singles would plate one and put runners on first and second with no outs before Lombardi decided to go to her bullpen, calling on righty Lyndsey Grein.

Grein dotted a strike at 70 mph on her first pitch, something she didn't do last weekend when she allowed seven earned runs in just 3 ⅓ innings against Michigan State. After working Lauren Putz to a 1-2 count, Grein got her to chase over the top of a 57 mph changeup down and away before freezing the next batter, Stephenson, on an off-speed pitch running back into the zone on the outside corner. A groundout to Flannery at third would get the Ducks out of the inning to leave the bases loaded.

Kai Lushar reached on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the third before Derkowski plunked Sinicki to give the Ducks a pair of base runners. Luschar took third on a deep fly ball from McCoy before Sinicki stole second, but Derkowski held strong, getting Kedre Luschar to pop up in a 3-2 count to escape the inning and keep Oregon scoreless.

Grein kept cooking in the fourth, striking out the side swinging, including a perfectly placed heater up and away to Fantucci to bring her to five in the first seven batters she faced. Cox led off the bottom of the frame with a single, and Michigan head coach Bonnie Tholl decided to make a pitching change, going to Erin Hoehn out of the bullpen. Ma'ake lined Hoehn's first pitch straight to Wolverine first baseman Madi Ramey, who dove to tag the base and double up Cox's pinch runner Presley Lawton. Dezianna Patmon sent a flyball deep into left-center field with two down, but Jenissa Conway tracked it down at the wall for the third out.

Grein finally cracked in the top of the fifth, walking her first batter to lead off the game before a single put two on with one out. Stephenson followed with a single up the middle to make it 3-0 before Vallimont battled to a 3-2 count and shot a ground ball between Flannery and Sinicki to load the bases.

Lombardi made another pitching change, bringing in lefty Staci Chambers to face Ellie Sieler, who sent a sacrifice fly into right field to bring home another run. Erickson followed with another single to make it 5-0 before Chambers finally froze Ramey to escape the inning.

Flannery reached on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the fifth before Kai Luschar slapped a single to left to put two on with one out. Sinicki sent a deep fly ball to center for out number two before Hoehn got McCoy to expand above the strike zone in a 1-2 count to hold the Ducks scoreless once again.

Hoehn returned to work at the bottom of the sixth, walking Cox before fanning Ma'ke and getting Patmon to fly out to the center to keep the Ducks off the scoreboard.

Chambers retired the Wolverines in order in the top of the seventh, giving her offense three more outs to try to tie the game. But the Ducks would go quietly to end things, failing to put a runner on base in the bottom of the seventh as the Wolverines celebrated their upset.

Next up for Oregon will be the NCAA Tournament selection show on Sunday at 4:00 PM PT on ESPN2. The Ducks entered the week 16th in the RPI rankings and will have a chance to host a regional, but a loss in the first game of the conference tournament will not help.