The No. 7-ranked Oregon Ducks exited the Big Ten  tournament early following a 5-0 quarterfinal loss to Michigan on Thursday, May 8 in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Oregon (47-7, 19-4 Big Ten) entered the tournament as the conference’s regular-season champs, claiming the top seed and earning the first-round bye. The Wolverines (35-19, 11-11) entered as the No. 8-seed, beating No. 9 Wisconsin 3-2 on Wednesday to advance in the single-elimination tournament.

“We’re not done. There’s so much more to do,” Oregon head coach Melyssa Lombardi told present media members. “In order for that to happen, we’ve got to be better than what we showed today. Michigan played really, really well on all sides of the ball. We didn’t play well enough and that’s the difference.”

Oregon had swept Michigan in a three-game conference series at the beginning of April.

A fourth-time was the charm for Big Blue, who rattled off 11 hits and a three-run fifth-inning en route to the 5-0 win. Michigan senior Lauren Derkowski (three innings) made the start, while sophomore Erin Hoehn (17-6) earned the win with four innings out of the bullpen.

It was just the second time that Lombardi’s Ducks (47-7, 19-4 Big Ten) had been shut out during the 2025 season, notching just five hits — all of which were singles — and stranding seven baserunners.

Elise Sokolsky (15-3) started the game in the circle for Oregon, getting through the first two frames allowing one run. The wheels came off for the redshirt junior in the third inning, letting up three-straight base hits and one run before being relieved by junior Lyndsey Grein.

Grein — who’s 1.82 ERA was the second-lowest amongst qualified pitchers in the Big Ten — stopped the bleeding in the third inning and struck out the side in the fourth. She exited with the bases loaded after recording the first out of the fifth, following three-straight singles by the Wolverines.

Redshirt senior Staci Chambers was the third and final arm to see work in the loss, relieving Grein in the fifth. The southpaw let up a sacrifice fly and an RBI single — both credited to Grein — before spinning two scoreless innings to finish the game.

Oregon’s lineup was routinely able to get innings going with leadoff batters reaching safely four times in seven innings, but couldn’t string together at-bats. The Ducks finished the day 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and just 3-for-18 in advancement opportunities.

Starting in left field and batting leadoff, Ducks senior Kai Luschar went 2-for-4 in the game for Oregon’s only multi-hit performance. After singling to lead off the game, Luschar stole second base for her NCAA-leading 54th of the season and 102nd of her career. The swiped bag tied Janie Takeda’s career record, while extending Luschar’s single-season record.

A trio of freshman — catcher Emma Cox, designated-player Stefini Ma’ake and second baseman Kaylynn Jones — each accounted for one hit in the losing effort.

The Wolverines advance to face either No. 12 Purdue (29-22, 9-13) or No. 4 Ohio State (43-11-1, 16-6) in the tournament semifinals.

Sitting at No. 7 in the USA softball rankings, Oregon remains a lock for the postseason. However, the loss dropped the Ducks one spot in WarrenNolan.com’s live Rating Performance Index rankings. Oregon moved from No. 16 to No. 17, clouding Oregon’s hopes of hosting the regional and super regional rounds of the upcoming NCAA tournament.

Oregon will find out its hosting opportunities and first wave of tournament opponents following the NCAA softball tournament selection show. The show will air on ESPN2 at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 11.