No. 6 Ducks Host No. 3 UCLA to Open Pac-12 Play

EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 6 ranked Oregon softball team will begin Pac-12 play this weekend with a top-10 clash as the Ducks welcome No. 3 UCLA to Jane Sanders Stadium for a three-game series. The Ducks and Bruins will kick off the weekend at 5 p.m. PT on Friday before facing off at 7 p.m. on Saturday, and the series will conclude with a 2 p.m. game on Sunday.

Sunday's game will be Oregon's Strike Out Cancer Pink Game, with $3 general admission tickets available for anyone wearing pink, along with a silent auction and raffle items. All three games will be aired on Pac-12 Networks (National).

#6 OREGON DUCKS (23-4, 0-0 Pac-12)
Team BA: .337 | Team ERA: 0.70 | Runs Scored: 183 | Runs Allowed: 27
Recently: Went 5-0 at home in the Oregon Invitational, including three run-rule wins
National Rankings: UO is No. 6 in both the NFCA poll and the USA Softball poll
All-Time Series: Oregon trails UCLA, 82-25, all-time
Last Year: UCLA won two of three regular season games in Los Angeles.
Notable: The Ducks enter Pac-12 play on a five-game winning streak after going 5-0 last weekend in the Oregon Invitational to open their 2018 home schedule. Oregon has prepared itself for conference play with a grueling non-conference schedule in which the Ducks played eight games (4-4) against top-25 opponents. Oregon's pitching staff ranks third in the NCAA this season with a 0.70 team ERA, led by Miranda Elish (0.22) and Megan Kleist (0.75), who both rank in the top 15 nationally. The Ducks' offense is 10th in the nation with a .337 batting average, led by Jenna Lilley (.457), and fifth with 34 home runs. UO has 14 run-rule victories.

#3 UCLA BRUINS (24-0, 0-0 Pac-12)
Team BA: .399 | Team ERA: 1.45 | Runs Scored: 196 | Runs Allowed: 34
Recently: Finished 5-0 at the Louisville Slugger Invitational with four run-rule victories
National Rankings: UCLA is No. 2 in the NFCA poll, No. 2 in the USA Softball poll
Head Coach: Kelly Inouye-Perez (12th Season)
Notable: The Bruins head into conference play as one of just two undefeated teams in the country, along with top-ranked Washington. UCLA has recorded 13 run-rule wins and 11 shutouts, and is led offensively by freshman Aaliyah Jordan, who is fourth in the nation with a .537 batting average. The Bruins currently have seven players hitting .400 or better (min. 30 ABs), and their .399 team batting average is best in the nation. In the circle, Rachel Garcia leads the way with a 10-0 record and 1.14 ERA, and Holly Azevedo also owns a 1.14 ERA while going 7-0 in eight starts. UCLA's 24-0 start is the sixth best in program history.

BROADCAST INFO
All three of Oregon's games against UCLA will be broadcast live on both Pac-12 Oregon and Pac-12 Los Angeles. Kate Scott (pxp) and Amanda Freed (analyst) will be on the call for the three-game series.

RADIO INFO
KWVA 88.1 FM will air each of Oregon's games against UCLA. Fans outside of Eugene can stream the broadcast for free http://kwva.uoregon.edu/listen-live.

OREGON IN THE POLLS
Oregon started the 2018 season ranked No. 3 in both top-25 polls. The Ducks were No. 4 in the NFCA poll and No. 3 in the USA Softball poll at the end of the 2017 season, after reaching the WCWS semifinals. Oregon has been in the top 10 of both polls every week in 2018, and is currently No. 6 in both polls.

TOP-25 STREAK
Oregon softball has been ranked in the top-25 of the NFCA poll for 125 straight weeks (preseason and postseason polls included). The Ducks climbed to No. 23 in week 10 of the 2010 season (Mike White's first season in Eugene) and have never dipped below that mark since.

OREGON LIKES PAC-12 OPENING WEEKEND
The Ducks have been stellar on the opening weekend of Pac-12 play recently, and will look to continue that trend this weekend against No. 3 UCLA. Oregon has swept the opening weekend of conference play every year since 2013, including a home sweep of No. 23 California last season and a road sweep of No. 8 Washington in 2016.

RHODES NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore center fielder Shannon Rhodes was named the Pac-12 player of the week earlier this week after leading the Ducks to a 5-0 weekend at the Oregon Invitational. Rhodes hit .692 with a home run in eight RBIs, and she had a hit in all five wins. Rhodes blasted her fifth homer of the year on Saturday vs. Weber State, ranking her third on the team in long balls.

KLEIST TOSSES SECOND STRAIGHT NO-HITTER
Megan Kleist has been nearly untouchable all season long, but that has been especially true over her last two starts as the junior has thrown back-to-back no-hitters. Kleist tossed her second career no-hitter but picked up the loss in a 2-1 defeat at No. 13 Florida State (March 4), suffering some tough luck after two unearned runs scored in the fourth inning on a HBP, error, fielder's choice RBI, walk and sacrifice fly. Kleist issued just the one walk with seven strikeouts. The Appleton, Wisc., native followed that outing with seven hitless innings with 12 strikeouts and no walks last Saturday in a 5-0 win over Montana for her second straight no-no, with only an error preventing her from a perfect game. Kleist now owns three of the 29 no-hitters in UO history, and she has a miniscule 0.75 ERA this season to rank 15th in the NCAA. Kleist enters this weekend's series with 15.1 consecutive hitless innings, and she has not allowed an earned run in 20.1 innings.

ELISH'S SPECTACULAR START
Miranda Elish has been remarkable to start the 2018 season. The sophomore owns a 0.22 ERA, No. 3 in the NCAA, and a perfect 10-0 record. She is undefeated in her collegiate career at 20-0. Elish has tossed seven shutouts and has gone the distance in all nine of her starts this year. The right-hander has picked up wins against three top-25 teams this year. Her best outing was against No. 7 LSU, when Elish tossed a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts and just two walks. She also had 10 strikeouts in a five-inning run rule win over UTEP. Two weekends ago in Florida, Elish tossed a two-hit shutout of No. 13 Florida State with eight strikeouts and two walks. Elish has allowed just two earned runs all season and has 90 strikeouts with just 12 walks over 63 innings pitched.

TOP-25 FOES
The Ducks have played eight times this season against top-25 foes, going 4-4 in those games. In the four losses (No. 15 Ole Miss, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 11 Tennessee and No. 13 Florida State), the Ducks allowed seven total runs on 12 total hits.

THE DUCKS IN THE CIRCLE
- Oregon's 0.70 team ERA is the best in the Pac-12 and ranks No. 3 in the NCAA this season.
- Miranda Elish's 0.22 ERA is the best in the league and No. 3 in the NCAA.
- Elish's seven shutouts are second-most in the nation.
- Megan Kleist's 0.75 ERA is fifth in the Pac-12 and No. 15 in the NCAA.
- Kleist's 91 strikeouts are seventh in the Pac-12 and No. 36 in the NCAA, while Elish's 90 strikeouts rank eighth in the Pac-12 and No. 38 in the NCAA.

ON DECK
After taking on No. 3 UCLA to open Pac-12 play, the Ducks will have a week off from competition before heading up the highway to Corvallis for a three-game Civil War series at Oregon State (March 29-31).