Oregon Softball: NCAA Regionals Primer, Wisconsin, BYU and North Carolina Headed to Eugene
On Sunday Night it was announced that Oregon will be the #3 Seed for the NCAA Softball Tournament. Several teams will be coming from over half way across the country to play in Eugene this Weekend. The closest is BYU followed by Wisconsin and North Carolina. The schedule and a look at the Eugene Regional is below.
Press Release from the U of O:
GoDucks.com
Pac-12 Softball Champion Ducks Tabbed as #3 NCAA Tourney Seed & NCAA Regional Host
EUGENE – After staking its greatest regular season in school history, the University of Oregon softball team (46-9, 19-5) received a best-ever #3 seeding in the 64-team NCAA Tournament field announced Sunday night on ESPNU.
The Ducks will host the NCAA Regional for the second straight year (and ever), this Thursday-Saturday, May 16-18 at Howe Field, and will welcome BYU (33-23), North Carolina (39-19) and Wisconsin (42-11) in double-elimination play.
Game match-ups are as follows (*and times listed are Pacific Time):
Thursday, May 16
Game 1 – North Carolina-Wisconsin, 3 p.m.
Game 2 – #3 seed Oregon-BYU, 6 p.m.
Friday, May 17
Game 3 – Game 1&2 Winners, 11 a.m.
Game 4 – Game 1&2 Losers, 2 p.m.
Game 5 – Game 4 Winner & Game 3 Loser, 5 p.m.
Saturday, May 18
Game 6 – NCAA Regional Final, Noon
Game 7 – *NCAA Regional Final (*if necessary*), 3 p.m.
Sporting a 9-0 mark in regional action under fourth-year head coach Mike White, Oregon swept NCAA Regionals at Georgia Tech (2010), Penn State (2011) and at home (2012) en route to its first-ever Super Regional trips.
The Ducks played BYU in last year’s NCAA Regional in Eugene and staked 4-1 and 6-4 wins en route to their first NCAA Regional title. Later last postseason, UO edged Texas in the Austin Super Regional, then made its second-ever Women’s College World Series trip.
In other recent action vs. Eugene Regional foes, UO edged North Carolina in 2011 (1-0 (8)) and ’12 (5-4), and the Ducks and Badgers last met in 2001 when UO won 2-0 and 3-2.
Last week, BYU (33-23, 19-5) earned its ninth straight postseason invite after it won the Pacific Coast Softball Conference by a three-game margin.
Wisconsin (42-11) won the Big Ten tournament Sunday after it defeated Minnesota in the final (9-3), No. 6 Michigan in the semifinal (9-3) and Northwestern (3-0) in its opener.
Receiving its 11th NCAA invitation the last 13 years, North Carolina (39-19, 13-8) advanced to the semifinal of the ACC Tournament this weekend, and has ranked top 25 much of the 2013 season.
In last week’s NCAA RPI ratings, UO stood fourth, followed by Wisconsin (#26), North Carolina (#39) and BYU (#117).
Overall this season, Oregon sports a 15-8 mark vs. top-25 foes – including four wins over three WCWS returnees – and a 24-8 mark vs. 2012 NCAA Tournament qualifiers.
Oregon has ranked top 12 every week this season, including all-time highs of No. 2 and No. 3 in the USA Softball and NFCA polls last week.
Among other NCAA tourney news, the top eight seeds went to #1 Oklahoma (47-4), #2 Florida (52-7), #3 Oregon (46-9), #4 Texas (44-8), #5 Arizona State (45-10), #6 Missouri (35-11), #7 Tennessee (44-10) and #8 Michigan (45-10).
Oregon Ducks This Week:
Oregon Baseball: Irvin Named Pac 12 Pitcher Of The WeekPost Spring Game Look At Pac 12 Wide Receivers, Ducks At #3