Oregon Ducks Softball Receives No. 16 Seed, Hosts NCAA Regional in Eugene

After the always stressful NCAA selection process, the Oregon Ducks softball team finally could get a sigh of relief, even if their seed was much too low at No.16 for what coach Melyssa Lombardi's group actually deserved.

Oregon softball will be hosting the Eugene Regional at Jane Sanders Stadium from May 16-18. The Ducks will open their chase at the regionals on Friday, May 16 on ESPN+ at 4:30 p.m. PT against the Weber State Wildcats of the Big Sky Conference. The Binghamton Bearcats will be going up against an old foe from the Pac-12 Conference, the Stanford Cardinals at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.

Oregon coach Melyssa Lombardi, center, cheers her team during the first inning against Michigan at Jane Sanders Stadium. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Here is how the rest of the bracket in the Pacific Northwest will play out:

Friday, May 16
Game 2: Binghamton vs. Stanford, 5 p.m., ESPN+
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3

Saturday, May 17
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3

Sunday, May 18
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5
Game 7 (if necessary): Rematch Game 6

The other top seeds in the 64-team field consist of the four top programs in the Southeastern Conference with No. 1 Texas A&M Aggies, No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners, No. 3 Florida Gators, and No. 4 Arkansas Razorbacks.

After that, it goes the Atlantic Coast Conference's Florida State Seminoles at No. 5 just to go right back to the SEC with the No. 6 Texas Longhorns, No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers, No. 8 South Carolina Gamecocks.

No. 9 Big Ten's UCLA Bruins were named the Big Ten Conference champions over the Michigan Wolverines.

UCLA Bruins infielder Kaniya Bragg (33) throws the ball Saturday, May 10, 2025, during the Big Ten softball tournament championship game against the Michigan Wolverines at Purdue University’s Bittinger Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. | Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Obviously, the SEC has dominated over the course of this current decade with Oklahoma under coach Patty Gasso winning four straight national championships from 2021-24. In 2025, this is how the No. 9 through No. 16 teams with having home field advantage will play out:

No. 10 SEC's LSU Tigers

No. 11 ACC's Clemson Tigers

No. 12 Big 12's Texas Tech Raiders

No. 13 Big 12's Arizona Wildcats

No. 14 ACC's Duke Blue Devils

No. 15 SEC's Alabama Crimson Tide

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Oregon is ranked the final seed at No. 16 to have home field pride. The Big Ten champions in the Michigan Wolverines will have to play in the Austin field along with Texas.

Coach Lombardi has been taking charge of the new energy in the clubhouse with freshman infielder Rylee McCoy (.396 batting average, 17 home runs, 52 RBI's) and right-handed pitcher Grein Lyndsey (26-2 W-L record, 194 strikeouts, 1.93 ERA through 148.2 innings) are the focal points of the Ducks.

Will Lombardi and the Ducks be able to make a run in the tournament?