Ducks Open NCAA Regionals Thursday

EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 1 overall seed Oregon softball team opens play in the NCAA Eugene Regional at 5:30 PM on Thursday at Jane Sanders Stadium.

#1 OREGON DUCKS (47-7, 21-3 Pac-12)
Team BA: .322 | Team ERA: 1.12 | Runs Scored: 336 | Runs Allowed: 72
Regular Season: Won the Pac-12 title for the fifth time in six seasons
Notable: Oregon enters the postseason with the best team ERA (1.12) in the NCAA. The Ducks are 24-0 in NCAA regionals under Mike White. Oregon is 1-0 all-time vs. Albany, 10-4 all-time vs. BYU and 2-0 all-time vs. Drake.

DRAKE BULLDOGS (43-10, 24-1 MVC)
Team BA: .289 | Team ERA: 1.19 | Runs Scored: 236 | Runs Allowed: 88
Regular Season: Won both the MVC regular season and tournament titles
Notable: Pitcher Nicole Newman's 0.62 ERA ranks No. 2 in the NCAA this season. As a team the Bulldogs are No. 3 in the country with a 1.19 ERA. Mandi Roemmich is hitting .355 this season with a team-high 12 doubles and 34 runs scored.

BYU COUGARS (35-20, 13-1 WCC)
Team BA: .297 | Team ERA: 2.98 | Runs Scored: 308 | Runs Allowed: 190
Regular Season: Won the West Coast Conference regular season title
Notable: BYU is making its 14th straight NCAA regional appearance, including trips to Eugene in 2015, 2013 and 2012. 1B/C Libby Sugg leads BYU with a .423 batting average, 11 homers, 64 RBIs and 13 doubles.

UALBANY GREAT DANES (32-14, 13-4 America East)
Team BA: .266 | Team ERA: 2.55 | Runs Scored: 229 | Runs Allowed: 125
Regular Season: Won the America East regular season and tournament titles
Notable: After falling to UMass Lowell in the second round of the AE Tournament, UAlbany battled back to beat UML twice for the championship. Pitcher Celeste Verdolivo has a 1.73 ERA in a team-high 121.1 innings with 81 strikeouts.

BROADCAST INFO
ESPN carries the rights to all postseason games. Thursday's opening games of the Eugene Regional will not be on TV but they will be streamed on WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app. TV has not been determined for Friday and Saturday.

RADIO INFO
KWVA 88.1 FM will air every Oregon game of the Eugene Regional with Marc Grandi and Matt Tyra on the call. Fans can also stream the broadcasts for free at kwva.uoregon.edu.

OREGON IN THE POLLS
The Ducks are No. 1 in the NFCA poll for the first time since 2015, when they also went into the postseason as the No. 1 overall seed and the No. 1 team in NFCA poll. 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.

TOP-25 STREAK
Oregon softball has been ranked in the top-25 of the NFCA poll for 135 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).

TOP-25 OPPONENTS
The Ducks have played 24 times this season against NFCA top-25 foes, going 18-6 in those games. UO took 2-of-3 games against both then-No. 3 UCLA and No. 7 Arizona State and swept then-No. 24 Cal, No. 4 Washington and No. 9 Arizona. Oregon also has wins against then-No. 13 Florida State, No. 7 LSU, No. 18 Oklahoma State and No. 2 Oklahoma.

OREGON VS. THE TOP SEEDS
- Oregon went 14-5 against the seeded teams in this year's NCAA softball championship.
- The Ducks went 2-1 against No. 3 seed UCLA, 1-0 against No. 4 seed Oklahoma, 3-0 vs. No. 5 seed Washington, 1-1 against No. 6 seed Florida State, 1-0 against No. 7 seed Georgia, 2-1 against No. 8 seed Arizona State, 0-1 against No. 10 seed Tennessee, 1-0 against No. 11 seed LSU, 3-0 vs. No. 14 seed Arizona, 0-1 and vs. No. 15 seed Texas A&M.

POSTSEASON HISTORY
- UO is making its 20th NCAA appearance.
- Oregon is 65-40 all-time in the NCAA tournament and 39-17 under head coach Mike White. The Ducks swept through regional and super regionals in 2017 and went 2-2 at the Women's College World Series.
- In 2017, the Ducks made their 19th appearance in the NCAA tournament overall, not including two AIAW tournament trips in 1976 and 1980 before the NCAA sponsored women's sports.
- Oregon's first NCAA regional appearance was in 1989, when the Ducks also advanced to their first WCWS in Sunnyvale, Calif. Oregon has gone on to the WCWS four times since, in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017, all under head coach Mike White.
- Oregon is 24-0 in regional rounds under White. Five of those wins have been via run-rule and one came in extra innings (6-5 in 8 innings vs. Wisconsin last year).
- UO has now hosted regionals seven straight years.
- This is the fourth time Oregon has hosted BYU for regionals. Oregon hosted the Cougars in 2012, 2013 and 2015. The Ducks defeated the Cougars twice in 20102 (6-4 and 4-1), once in 2013 (5-2) and once in 2015 (8-0 in six innings).
- Oregon is 49-21 all-time in regional games. Super regionals began in 2005, with regionals consisting of eight teams in previous years.
- Under White, the Ducks have outscored opponents 53-6 in its opening game of regionals with three straight run-rule shutouts.

NCAA WCWS HISTORY
- Oregon advanced to its fifth Women's College World Series in 2017 and the fourth under head coach Mike White.
- Oregon first went to the NCAA WCWS in 1989. The Ducks didn't make it back until 2012, White's third season. White took the Ducks back to the WCWS in 2014, 2015 and 2017.
- Oregon made it the semifinals of the WCWS for the second time in 2017. The Ducks lost to Washington in the opening game but battled back to beat Baylor and LSU in a doubleheader before falling to eventual-champion Okalahoma in the final four. The Ducks also made it to the semifinals in 2014 when Oregon opened with a win over Florida State, lost to Florida, knocked off Oklahoma and was eliminated by Alabama. The semifinals is the deepest the Ducks have ever been in the WCWS.

THE DUCKS UNDER MIKE WHITE
- Longest losing streak is just four games (2010)
- Longest winning streak is 35 games (2017)
- Oregon is 19-8 vs. Arizona, 16-10-1 vs. Arizona State, 20-8 vs. California, 23-4 vs. Oregon State, 22-5 vs. Stanford, 15-16 vs. UCLA, 21-1 vs. Utah and 17-10 vs. Washington in nine seasons under Mike White.
- White's only losing record against Pac-12 opponents is to UCLA by just one game (15-16).
- The Ducks are 51-15-3 overall in Pac-12 series.
- UO has been swept three times in a Pac-12 series under White while sweeping opponents 32 times.
- 4-11 against No. 1 ranked teams
- 39-17 in the postseason, 24-0 in regionals.
- UO has advanced to Super Regionals every year under White with four WCWS trips.
- Including 2018, White has coached 34 first team all-Pac-12 selections in his nine seasons in Eugene.

KLEIST NAMED PAC-12 PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Junior RHP Megan Kleist was named the Pac-12 pitcher of the year. Kleist is the third in UO history to win the honor as Cheridan Hawkins won in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and Jessica Moore won in 2013. Katie Wiese, a pitcher, was named the Pac-12 player of the year in 1989, before the league had seperate player and pitcher awards. As of the end of the regular season, Kleist leads the NCAA with an incredible 12.5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and is second in the Pac-12 and fifth in the NCAA with a 0.96 ERA. Kleist has more wins (20) than walks allowed (16) this year.

DUCKS RACK UP ALL-PAC-12 HONORS
In addition to Megan Kleist being named the Pac-12 pitcher of the year, she was named first team all-Pac-12 along with C Gwen Svekis, 3B Jenna Lilley and fellow pitcher Miranda Elish. The Ducks also placed four on the second team, with DP/C Mary Iakopo, SS DJ Sanders, 2B Lauren Lindvall and OF Alexis Mack. OF Haley Cruse was a third team all-Pac-12 pick. Iakopo and OF Lauren Burke were Pac-12 all-freshman picks while Lilley, Svekis and Lindvall were named to the all-defensive team.

DUCKS WIN FIFTH PAC-12 TITLE IN SIX YEARS
For the fifth time in six seasons, the Oregon softball team is Pac-12 champions. The No. 2 ranked Ducks defeated No. 24 Cal, 2-0, on Saturday to sweep the series from the Bears and secure an outright league title. "This is a great achievement for our club because the Pac-12 is as tough as it's ever been," said head coach Mike White. "I'm really proud of them. This team really loves each other, they're a very close group and a very fun group to be around." The Ducks (47-7, 21-3 Pac-12) won the Pac-12 championship in 2018 after also winning the league title in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. The Ducks finished a half-game out of first in 2017. "It's pretty awesome and it's just as special each time," said senior Jenna Lilley. "It's fun to be a part of." Oregon entered the weekend series against Cal in a first-place tie with No. 1 ranked UCLA. The Bruins dropped their series opener against Arizona State, allowing the Ducks to jump a game ahead and secure the outright title with a sweep of the Bears.

IN THE CIRCLE
- Oregon's 1.12 team ERA leads the NCAA.
- The UO pitching staff also has the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the NCAA at 7.8-to-1. UO pitchers have 461 strikeouts and just 59 walks this season.
- Megan Kleist's incredible 12.5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio leads the NCAA. Elish is ninth in the NCAA with a 7.5-to-1 ratio.
- Oregon is the only team in the NCAA to have two pitchers in the top-10 of the nation in ERA.
- Kleist's 0.96 ERA is No. 5 in the NCAA while Elish's 1.01 ERA is No. 8 in the nation.

IN THE BOX
- Oregon is 7th in the NCAA in batting average (.322), 13th in on-base percentage (.404) and 4th in slugging percentage (.531).
- UO is 8th in the NCAA in homers per game (1.30).
- The Ducks are 11th in the NCAA in scoring, averaging 6.2 runs per game.

IN THE FIELD
- The Ducks are 9th in the NCAA and second in the Pac-12 with a .978 fielding percentage. The mark would be a single-season program record if the season ended today.
- Oregon has made more than two errors in a game just once all season (3 vs. Stanford on April 20)
- Oregon is 27-1 this year when making no errors.

SUB-1
Only five times in UO history has a pitcher recorded a sub-1.00 ERA in a season. Megan Kleist has a 0.96 and Miranda Elish has a 1.01.

FOUR IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
The Ducks are undefeated, 41-0, when scoring four-or-more runs this season.

TEAM RECORDS WATCH
- Season pitching strikeouts: 461 (1st - 470, 2010)
- Season opponent BA: .173 (1st - .176, 1985)
- Season fielding percentage: .978 (1st - .974, 2007)

INDIVIDUAL RECORDS WATCH
- Season HRs: Svekis, 16, 3rd (2nd - Udria, 17, 2016)
- Season HRs: Sanders, 15, 5th
- Career doubles: Lilley, 49 (record was 42, Takeda)
- Career walks: Lilley, 132 (record was 121, T. Custer)
- Career runs: Lilley, 167, 4th (3rd - Ceo, 193)
- Career RBIs: Svekis, 162, 4th (3rd - Udria, 179)
- Career HRs: Svekis, 44, 3rd (2nd - Cuico, 46)