Two weeks ago, UCLA swept Michigan in its regular season conference series in Ann Arbor, Michigan, putting up 21 runs across the three games.

However, the Bruins failed to light the scoreboard with a single tally in the battle for Saturday’s championship – concluding without a trophy at their inaugural Big Ten tournament.

In a 2-0 shutout defeat, No. 2 seed UCLA softball (49-10, 17-5 Big Ten) succumbed to No. 8 seed Michigan (38-19, 11-11), watching its Big Ten tournament championship dreams soar out of reach at Bittinger Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. The Bruins will now move onto the NCAA regionals.

All was quiet on the tournament finals front as the matchup began with a five-inning pitchers’ duel – during which the Wolverines recorded just a single hit off freshman pitcher/utility Addisen Fisher and the Bruins notched only three off Michigan’s ace Lauren Derkowski. 

But one inning later, everything changed.

Instead of allowing Fisher her sixth strikeout of the game, Michigan infielder/outfielder Indiana Langford capitalized on a throwing error by UCLA left fielder freshman Rylee Slimp, advancing to second on a would-be single – and opening the floodgates for the Wolverines to begin their path to the title.

A double from outfielder Jenissa Conway and single from outfielder Ella Stephenson in the sixth inning brought Michigan’s lead to two – a gap UCLA would not recover from.

Langford leads her team’s seasonlong efforts in batting average and RBIs – with a .410 clip and 48 tally, respectively – trailing at second in hits and runs behind Conway.

And while infielder Jordan Woolery and utility Megan Grant currently pace UCLA’s offense and lead the nation in combined RBIs, the juniors were unable to find their rhythm Saturday. 

Freshmen duo catcher Sofia Mujica and infielder/utility Kaniya Bragg – in addition to Woolery – all went yard in the tournament’s earlier grounds, but none were able to make a dent in Michigan’s efforts in the championship game.

In fact, only three Bruins recorded hits in the matchup, with Slimp serving as the only representative for UCLA’s most efficient hitters. She was joined by Bragg and sophomore pitcher/outfielder Kaitlyn Terry, who deciphered Derkowski to reach second on a throwing error.

Beyond the lack of production, a lack of timely hits when the Bruins needed them most proved to be detrimental. UCLA went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, leaving six runners stranded throughout the game. 

With junior pitcher Taylor Tinsley relieving Fisher and preventing a further Bruin deficit, UCLA’s last hopes for a comeback came against Michigan reliever pitcher/utility Erin Hoehn, who – in shutting out the Bruins’ offense – completed the tournament without giving up a single earned run.

Postseason competition may still be on the horizon for the Bruins, but their fight for a second straight conference tournament championship has come to an end.

A UCLA Athletics spokesperson for UCLA softball said coaches and players would be unable to comment until Sunday.