Oregon Ducks Named No. 1 Seed, Host Albany To Open NCAA Tournament

Oregon Softball was named the Number One Overall Seed for the second time in school history on Sunday.

The Oregon Ducks were rewarded for finishing 19-1 at home during the regular season as well as facing 10 of the 15 seeded teams entering in the NCAA Tournament. Oregon will play the hunted as the number one overall seed as they make their way to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series.

Oregon finished the regular season winning the Pac-12 Conference on the final weekend over the UCLA Bruins. The Ducks rolled over the California Golden Bears putting up 23 runs and holding Cal to just 3 on the road. Oregon lost just three true road games this season and enter the NCAA Tournament on a 13 game winning streak.

Oregon will be joined by six other programs in the Pac-12 in the NCAA Tournament including UCLA, Washington, and Arizona State. Despite having more losses than the Bruins, the Ducks earned the top seed with the highest RPI in the nation over others in contention including UCLA and Oklahoma who both have three losses respectively.

The Regional Round of the NCAA Tournament at home has been good to the Oregon Ducks under Head Coach Mike White. Oregon is 24-0 in the first round under White. The experience of last season and losing just two games shy of a National Championship is coming into focus, but this team is more experienced this season. The Ducks have been dominant in the circle with Miranda Elish and Megan Kleist leading the way. Kleist hit 200 strikeouts on the season over the weekend and was named Pac—12 Pitcher of the Year.

While the accolades are appreciated, the team will now focus on Albany, their first opponent in the Eugene Regional. The first round is a double elimination tournament. The Ducks need to win one game a day for three days starting on Thursday.

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Oregon and Albany open NCAA Tournament play Thursday at 5:30 pm at Jane Sanders Stadium.