No. 3 Ducks Head to No. 7 ASU

EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 3 ranked Oregon softball faces a second straight top-10 foe with a trip to No. 7 Arizona State this weekend for a three-game series starting Friday.

#3 OREGON DUCKS (32-6, 7-2 Pac-12)
Team BA: .324 | Team ERA: 1.02 | Runs Scored: 241 | Runs Allowed: 48
Recently: Swept No. 9 Arizona in Eugene including two six-inning run-rule wins
National Rankings: Ranked No. 3 in both the NFCA and USA Softball polls
All-Time Series: UO trails, 47-56-1 (Ducks have won nine straight vs. ASU)
Last Year: Oregon swept ASU at home, including a pair of shutouts (4-0 and 1-0)
Notable: Oregon is coming off a sweep of then-No. 9 ranked Arizona, with the Ducks outscoring the Wildcats 23-2 in the three-game series. The Ducks feature one of the best pitching staffs in the NCAA. Oregon's 1.02 ERA is fourth-best in the NCAA and it's 7.63-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio leads the nation. RHP Miranda Elish (0.78) and RHP Megan Kleist (0.87) rank fourth and fifth in the Pac-12 in ERA. The Ducks have been absurdly good in the early innings of games. Oregon is outscoring opponents 121-5 over the first three innings of games this season. The Ducks have allowed just one run in the first inning all season.

#7 ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS (33-5, 7-2 Pac-12)
Team BA: .324 | Team ERA: 1.50 | Runs Scored: 188 | Runs Allowed: 56
Recently: Took two-of-three games at Oregon State last weekend
National Rankings: No. 7 in the NFCA poll, No. 6 in the USA Softball poll
Head Coach: Trisha Ford (Second Season)
Notable: Arizona State LHP Giselle Juarez has been nearly untouchable in Pac-12 play this season. In 49.0 innings against Pac-12 opponents, Juarez leads the league with a 0.29 ERA. She owns a 0.70 ERA overall this year, tied with Washington's Gabbie Plain for first in the Pac-12. The Sun Devils opened their conference schedule with a bang, taking two-of-three games against No. 1 ranked Washington. Juarez tossed two shutouts in the series with 19 strikeouts, two walks allowed and seven total hits. On offense, Danielle Gibson is hitting a team-best .413 with 11 homers, 10 doubles and 31 RBIs.

BROADCAST INFO
There is no TV this weekend, but all three of the Ducks' games at ASU will be streamed by the Sun Devils for free at thesundevils.com. Find the softball schedule page on ASU's web site or the softball schedule page on GoDucks.com for free live stream links.

RADIO INFO
KWVA 88.1 FM will air each of Oregon's games this weekend with Marc Grandi on the call. Fans outside of Eugene can stream the broadcast at kwva.uoregon.edu/listen-live.

ARIZONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
- ASU and Oregon have both been ranked in the top-25 in 24 straight meetings, starting in 2010. UO has been in the top-5 in the last 15 meetings.
- Arizona State leads the all-time series, 56-47-1.
- Oregon has won nine straight games vs. ASU, sweeping the series in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
- Oregon is 14-9-1 vs. ASU under Mike White.
- That is the only tie in White's career, a 2-2 rain-shortened six-inning game in 2014.
- Oregon's longest winning streak in the series is its current nine-game streak.
- ASU's longest win streak in the series is eight games, stretching from 1990 to 1992.
- Two of Oregon's last four games vs. ASU have gone to extra innings, with UO winning both.
- The last time Oregon and Arizona were both ranked in the top-10, like this year's matchup, was in 2014 when Oregon was No. 1 and ASU was No. 3. The teams tied the series (1-1-1) due to the rain-shortened series finale.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
Oregon is No. 2 in this week's NCAA RPI report. Of the current top-10 teams in the RPI, the Ducks have played or will play seven of the other nine teams. Oregon is currently No. 2 in the RPI. The Ducks have already played No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Georgia, No. 8 Florida State and No. 10 Tennessee. The Ducks will meet No. 1 Washington, No. 3 Arizona State and No. 6 Oklahoma.

TOP-25 STREAK
Oregon softball has been ranked in the top-25 of the NFCA poll for 129 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.

TOP-25 RECORD
The Ducks have played 14 times this season against NFCA top-25 foes, going 9-5 in those games. UO took 2-of-3 games against then-No. 3 UCLA to open Pac-12 play and swept then-No. 9 Arizona. Oregon also has wins against then-No. 13 Florida State, No. 7 LSU and No. 18 Oklahoma State.

EARLY GAME DOMINANCE
Oregon's pitchers have been outstanding in every inning this season, but they have been particularly strong early in games.
- Oregon has allowed just one run in the first inning this season. Tennessee scored in the first inning on Feb. 24 on a Meghan Gregg RBI double. UO lost, 1-0.
- Overall, the Ducks have allowed opponents to score just five runs all year over the first three innings.
- The Ducks have outscored opponents 23-1 in the first inning, 65-2 in the second inning and 33-2 in the third inning.

IN THE CIRCLE
- The UO pitching staff as the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the NCAA this season at 7.63-to-1.
- Megan Kleist's incredible 12.18-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio leads the league and is third in the NCAA. Elish is 10th in the NCAA with an 8-to-1 ratio.
- UO's 43 walks issued is the fewest in the Pac-12.
- Oregon's 1.02 team ERA ranks fourth in the NCAA and second in the Pac-12, behind Washington (0.85).
- Elish is fourth in the Pac-12 and 12th in the NCAA with a 0.78 ERA.
- Kleist is fifth in the Pac-12 and 14th in the NCAA with a 0.87 ERA.
- Elish leads the NCAA with nine shutouts.
- Elish is fifth in the NCAA, averaging 10.6 strikeouts per seven innings pitched.

IN THE BOX
- Oregon is 11th in the NCAA in batting average (.324), 11th in on-base percentage (.415) and seventh in slugging percentage (.532).
- Oregon's 47 home runs in 38 games this year is already one more than the Ducks hit all of last year (46 homers in 62 games).

IN THE FIELD
- The Ducks are 14th in the NCAA and second in the Pac-12 with a .976 fielding percentage.
- Oregon hasn't made more than two errors in any game this season.
- The Ducks have made just one error over their last six games.
- Oregon is 18-1 this year when making no errors, 11-2 when making one error and 3-3 when making two errors.

ON THE BOARD
The Ducks are 29-2 this season when scoring first and 11-0 when they've scored in the first inning. Oregon is undefeated (19-0) when scoring four-or-more runs in a game.

DON'T EVEN TRY IT
Oregon's catcher have allowed just five stole bases all season, the fewest in the Pac-12, on 12 attempts. Freshman Mary Iakopo has thrown on 4-of-6 base stealers while senior Gwen Svekis has thrown out 3-of-6 attempts.