In their first year of Big Ten Conference play, No. 3 Oregon softball (47-6, 19-3 Big Ten) proved outright that it can handle the competition.
How did the Ducks do it?
To start out the season, Oregon went on a five-game win streak at the UNLV Classic, beating every opponent by a margin of at least four runs every game. This set the tone for the season, starting out with much-needed momentum.
The first challenge came at the Littlewood Classic, when Oregon fell to former Pac-12 rival, Arizona State, in an extra-inning battle ultimately ending in a 4-3 loss.
The problem came at the plate, as the Sun Devils would not allow the Ducks to hit after the fourth inning.
Something shifted for the Ducks after this and the team would go on a 16-game win streak. But all good things must come to an end.
After going undefeated in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic and Oregon Classic Torunaments, the second loss of the season was a huge blow by another former Pac-12 rival, the Oregon State Beavers in a 5-2 loss in front of the largest crowd yet at Jane Sanders Stadium.
The Ducks were not going to let this get them down and would yet again go on a notable five-game win streak that would end during the third game of the first series match-up versus the Washington Huskies. The No. 7 opponent in the Big Ten gave the Ducks their first taste of what would be ahead in this new conference.
Now, this team would have to prove that it could overcome the challenges ahead. And following the loss would be a nine-game win streak, including a three-game series sweep with wins over Big Ten teams Illinois and Michigan.
The fourth loss of the season happened in a 5-3 defeat against LMU. But despite this, the Ducks set a program record for stolen bases in a season, with red-shirt senior outfielder Kai Luschar stealing second twice to set an individual single-season record for steals. She would go on to lead the division, securing 100 career stolen bases by the end of the regular season.
The Ducks went on to do some damage, sweeping Michigan, beating the Beavers, securing a series win over the Bruins, sweeping Indiana and defeating Notre Dame.
The final regular season challenge came against Michigan State, where the Ducks suffered a 6-4 loss in the first game of the series. With an outright conference title on the line, before the game had even ended on Sunday, the Ducks officially became undisputed 2025 Big Ten Regular Season Conference Champions when the No. 8 UCLA Bruins lost to an unranked Northwestern team.
With this win, the Ducks tied the 2017 team for the best regular season record in program history.
What has been the key to Oregon’s victories all season? Pitching.
Virginia Tech transfer junior Lyndsey Grein has been a success in the circle for the Version 7 team. Grein leads the nation with 26 wins. Against five top 25 opponents this season, she is 5-0 with a 0.00 ERA. This season, Grein has been named the National Pitcher of the Week by the NFCA twice and has been the Big Ten Player of the Week twice.
Among many honors received by Grein, she and senior outfielder Kedre Luschar were named to the Oregon USA Softball Player of the Year Top 25 Finalists lists.
Luschar has hit .333 or better in all seven conference series (.857 vs. Rutgers, .363 vs. Minnesota, .444 vs. Michigan and UCLA, .375 vs. Illinois, .364 vs. Indiana and .333 vs. Washington).
The Ducks softball team has earned the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award six times this season for catcher Emma Cox, twice for infielder Rylee McCoy -– who also holds Oregon’s freshmen home run record with 17 on the season — and three times for utility Stefini Ma’ake.
It is truly a one-of-a-kind season for this program with notable awards for relief pitcher red-shirt junior Elise Sokolsky, who was named a Big Ten Pitcher of the Week and sophomore infielder Katie Flanner was named a Big Ten Player of the Week as well as a Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week.
The Ducks have shown what they can do this season, but can this fire continue in postseason play?
What lies next for Oregon is the Big Ten Tournament hosted by Purdue at Bittinger Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. The Ducks are the No. 1 seed and earned a first-round bye. They will play in the quarterfinals round, facing the winner of Wednesday's 1:30 p.m. game between No. 8 Michigan and No. 9 Wisconsin.