No. 1 seed Ducks open Super Regionals on Thursday against Kentucky

EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 1 seed Oregon softball team opens NCAA Super Regionals at The Jane on Thursday, with No. 16 seed Kentucky visiting for a second straight season.

The Ducks and Wildcats will meet at 6 PM on Thursday, 8 PM on Friday and, if needed, 6 PM on Saturday.

#1 SEED OREGON DUCKS (50-7, 21-3 Pac-12)
Team BA: .322 | Team ERA: 1.06 | Runs Scored: 348 | Runs Allowed: 72
Recently: Three shutout wins in regionals, beating UAlbany and Drake (twice)
National Rankings: Ranked No. 1 in both the NFCA and USA Softball polls
All-Time Series: Oregon leads, 4-2 (UO has won three straight meetings)
Last Meeting: UO swept Super Regionals against Kentucky last season in Eugene
• Oregon is hosting Kentucky in Super Regionals for a second straight season. The Ducks won the first game last year, 4-0, and took the second game, 6-5, scoring four runs in the top of the seventh inning.
• Pitchers Megan Kleist and Miranda Elish have identical 0.92 ERAs, tied for fifth-best in the NCAA.
• UO's pitchers lead the NCAA with a 1.06 team ERA and a 8.15-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
• Kleist is one of 10 finalists for the USA Softball national player of the year
• The Ducks won their fifth Pac-12 title in the last six years, finishing one game ahead of UCLA.
• Oregon has reached 50 wins for the sixth time in program history, five have come under Mike White.

#16 SEED KENTUCKY WILDCATS (34-19, 8-15 SEC)
Team BA: .310 | Team ERA: 2.92 | Runs Scored: 291 | Runs Allowed: 173
Recently: Three run-rule wins in regionals vs. UIC and Notre Dame (twice)
National Rankings: Ranked No. 19 in both the NFCA and USA Softball polls
Head Coach: Rachel Lawson (11th Season)
• Kentucky finished 10th in the 13-member SEC with a league record of 8-15
• The Wildcats outscored its opponents 28-1 in sweeping through the Lexington Regional via run-rule
• Erin Rethlake started two of the three regional games, going 2-0 with one unearned run in 11.0 innings.
• Rethlake owns a 2.77 ERA overall this season, 11-4 record and 76 strikeouts in 96 innings.
• Freshman pitcher Grace Baalman has a 2.28 ERA in a team-high 129.0 innings with 94 strikeouts.
• Abbey Cheek leads UK and is third in the SEC with 16 home runs. She also leads UK with 51 RBIs.
• The Wildcats rank 21st in the NCAA in batting (.310) and 12th in fielding percentage (.977).
• Kentucky has 76 stolen bases this season but have been thrown out 22 times.

BROADCAST INFO
ESPN networks will air all three games of the Eugene Super Regional. Thursday's 6 PM game will be on ESPN2 as will Friday's 8 PM first pitch. If a third game is needed, it will be on Saturday at 6 PM on ESPN. Mark Neely and Danielle Lawrie will be on the call.

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

REGIONAL SHUTOUTS
The Ducks blanked their opponent in all three games of the Eugene Regional. Oregon defeated Albany 4-0, Drake 5-0 and Drake again, 3-0. Only Oklahoma also had three shutouts in the 2018 regionals. Oregon's pitchers allowed no runs on 10 hits and two walks in 21 innings with 36 strikeouts.

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.

IN THE CIRCLE
- Oregon's 1.06 team ERA leads the NCAA.
- The UO pitching staff also has the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the NCAA at 8.15-to-1. UO pitchers have 497 strikeouts and just 61 walks this season.
- Megan Kleist's incredible 13.19-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio leads the NCAA. Elish is sixth in the NCAA with a 7.89-to-1 ratio.
- UO and OU are the only teams in the NCAA to have two pitchers in the top-10 of the nation in ERA.
- Kleist and Elish are tied for fifth in the NCAA with identical 0.92 ERAs.

IN THE BOX
- Oregon is 7th in the NCAA in batting average (.322), 12th in on-base percentage (.404) and 3rd in slugging percentage (.529).
- UO is 7th in the NCAA in homers per game (1.28).
- The Ducks are 11th in the NCAA in scoring, averaging 6.11 runs per game.

IN THE FIELD
- The Ducks are 9th in the NCAA and second in the Pac-12 with a .977 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 29-1 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 and Miranda Elish both have 0.92 ERAs going into Supers.

FOUR IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
The Ducks are undefeated, 43-0, when scoring four-or-more runs this season.

TEAM RECORDS WATCH
- Season pitching strikeouts: 497 (2nd - 470, 2010)
- Season opponent BA: .171 (1st - .176, 1985)
- Season fielding percentage: .977 (1st - .974, 2007)

INDIVIDUAL RECORDS WATCH
- Season HRs: Svekis, 16, 3rd (2nd - Udria, 17, 2016)
- Season HRs: Sanders, 15, 5th
- Career doubles: Lilley, 51 (record was 42, Takeda)
- Career walks: Lilley, 135 (record was 121, T. Custer)
- Career runs: Lilley, 170, 4th (3rd - Ceo, 193)
- Career RBIs: Svekis, 162, 4th (3rd - Udria, 179)
- Career HRs: Svekis, 44, 3rd (2nd - Cuico, 46)

POSTSEASON HISTORY
- UO is making its 20th NCAA appearance, not including two AIAW tournament trips in 1976 and 1980 before the NCAA sponsored women's sports.
- Oregon is 68-40 all-time in the NCAA tournament and 42-17 under head coach Mike White. The Ducks swept through regionals last weekend after sweeping through regionals and Super Regionals in 2017 and going 2-2 at the Women's College World Series.
- The Ducks are 10-9 all-time in Super Regional games, with each contest coming under White. UO has won seven of its last nine Super Regional games, sweeping No. 14 seed Kentucky last year, unseeded NC State in 2015 and No. 16 seed Minnesota in 2014.
- UO has been upset twice in Super Regionals. The No. 5 seed Ducks were beaten by No. 12 seed UCLA in 2016. No. 3 seed Oregon was also upset by No. 14 seed Nebraska in 2013.
- Oregon's first Super Regionals win was in 2012, when the No. 11 seed Ducks upset No. 6 seed Texas.
- The Ducks are playing in Super Regionals for the ninth straight season and sixth straight in Eugene.
- Oregon is 27-0 in regional games 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 hosted regionals seven straight years.
- Oregon is 52-21 all-time in regional games. Super Regionals began in 2005, with regionals consisting of eight teams in previous years.

NCAA WCWS HISTORY
- Oregon advanced to its fifth Women's College World Series in 2017 and the fourth under head coach Mike White.
- Oregon is looking to make it four trips to the WCWS in the last five years in 2018.
- UO first went to the NCAA WCWS in 1989 in Sunnyvale, Calif. 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 Oklahoma 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
- 42-17 in the postseason, 27-0 in regionals.
- UO has advanced to Super Regionals in all nine seasons under White with four WCWS trips.
- Including 2018, White has coached 34 first team all-Pac-12 selections in his nine seasons in Eugene.