Duck Softball Set For Postseason Return to Norman
*An NCAA bracket is available in the LINKS box to the right.
EUGENE - The University of Oregon softball team celebrated its 14th postseason invitation Sunday, and will open the postseason as the fourth seed when it faces the regional host and 10th overall seed Oklahoma (43-12) in Norman, Okla., Friday, May 16.
The Ducks will play the second of the Friday's first day games at 7:30 p.m. Central Time (5:30 p.m. Pacific Time), and Arkansas (36-27) and Tulsa (34-23) play the day's opener at 5 p.m. at the University of Oklahoma's Marita Hynes Field. The Saturday-Sunday game times have yet to be set.
The Ducks (33-27, 5-16) patiently waited to hear the news on the ESPN-U selection show broadcast Sunday night, and the anxiousness continued to build until near the end of the half-hour show. Finally, a tidal wave of joy was unleashed with the announcement of the 14th of the 16 regional brackets.
"I couldn't be more happy for our players, coaches and staff," Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen said. "We have battled all season long for this type of honor and have beaten some great teams along the way. Anybody who has watched us in those games knows that we can play with any team in the nation. We have a great senior class who has provided amazing leadership, and they showed that again yesterday with the dramatic season-ending win. Now that we're in, this starts a whole new season. Every team is 0-0, so we'll be ready to give it our all every pitch."
OTHER BRACKET FOES
Tulsa (34-23) and Arkansas (36-27) will play in Friday's other game at Oklahoma's Marita Hynes Field in the first day of the three-day regional. The winner of the Oklahoma regional will advance to the Super Regional the following weekend to face the winner of two-time defending national champion and No. 7 seed Arizona's regional - one that also includes Canisius (38-12), Long Island (34-15) and Hofstra (43-11).
UO-OU REMATCH
In late February this year, the Ducks (UO) beat the then-No. 6 Sooners (OU) near Palm Springs at the Cathedral City Classic. In that game, senior pitcher Alicia Cook threw a 1-0 shutout, while freshman Monique Fuiava rocked a homer over the right center field wall.
That first meeting of the season nearly had two more homers as senior third baseman Joanna Gail had a homer robbed by the left fielder who jumped over the collapsible three-foot high fence for the catch. Duck sophomore centerfielder Neena Bryant duplicated the dramatic leap-and-grab maneuver in the sixth inning on another would-be homer.
Cook flexed her big-game moxie in that outing as Oklahoma stranded 11 runners and at least one every inning, including two in the seventh. With two outs, consecutive Sooners got on via a walk and hit by pitch. However, Cook, notched a strikeout looking to end the game. Her starter counterpart Jadyn Smith pitched 4 1/3 innings, before being relieved by the team’s ace D.J. Mathis who allowed no runs in the final 1 2/3 innings.
ALL-TIME VS. THE SOONERS, RAZORBACKS & GOLDEN HURRICANES
Oklahoma holds a 6-4 all-time advantage over Oregon. The Ducks last played Arkansas in 2003 (a 3-1 win by the Razorbacks), and Arkansas leads the series, 3-1. Oregon has played Tulsa once - a 13-0 win by Oregon to open the 2000 season.
GET YOUR TICKETS
The University of Oklahoma Athletics Ticket Office will begin selling public tickets to the NCAA Softball Regional at 8 am on Monday, May 12. Tickets will be sold as all-session packages until the start of Regional action on Friday, May 16. Ticket prices are as follows: Reserved all session - $40, General Admission all session - $25, Youth all session (ages 2-12) - $20. Children 1 and under are admitted free of charge.
MORE INFORMATION
More information on game times and ticket information will be available through Oklahoma’s www.SoonerSports.com website, and more tournament information is available at the www.NCAAsports.com website. Further Oregon game, travel and practice arrangements will be arranged Monday.
ARENDSEN’S POST-SEASON POSTERITY
The Ducks look forward to
their fifth postseason trip under sixth-year head coach Kathy Arendsen
and have advanced to the regional final all four prior occasions. UO
sports a 13-8 postseason record under its overall winningest coach in
school history (216-140).
OREGON POSTSEASON HISTORY
Oregon’s first postseason trip was in 1976 to the AIAW World Series, an event it returned to in 1980. The Ducks’ next regional trip in 1989 (3-1) resulted in its lone Women’s College World Series invitation where it went 1-2 with a win over South Carolina (1-0) and losses to Cal Poly Pomona (1-0) and Arizona (4-0). The Ducks also advanced to regional play in 1990 (0-2), ’94 (2-2), ’98 (2-2), ’99 (1-2) and 2000 (2-2). Arendsen guided UO to its four most recent trips in ’03 in Fullerton, Calif. (5-2), ’04 in Tallahassee, Fla., (4-2), ’05 in Norman, Okla., (2-2) and ’07 in Columbia, S.C. (2-2).
MAKING THEIR CASE
Oregon helped position itself for one of the tournament’s 34 at-large selections the day before on Saturday with a dramatic televised 3-0 win over then-No. 24 Washington to close the season ? a game that will be replayed on Monday at 1 p.m. Pacific Time on Fox Sports Northwest.
Cook (16-12) helped write a nearly perfect Senior Day script with her fifth shutout of the season, and struck out four, walked one and scattered four hits. The win was fifth of the Pac-10 slate against four of the leagues seven opponents, and her fifth overall vs. top-25 foes. At the plate, Gail tied a team season high with two doubles and had an RBI in the third inning. Sophomore Neena Bryant also claimed RBI singles in the first and fourth innings, respectively.
SKED CRED
Looking back, UO’s rigorous schedule featured 27 games (and an 8-19 record) against its 14 opponents that made the 64-team NCAA bracket. Duck wins in 2008 against NCAA qualifiers (and game scores) included a pair against eight-time national champion and No. 7 seed Arizona (3-2, 2-1) to give Oregon its first-ever season series vs. the Wildcats. A listing of UO’s games vs. fellow NCAA tourney qualifiers follows:
NCAA Opponent Season Wins (then-ranking)
2/22 - Long Island - 2-1, Palm Springs, Calif.
2/23 - No. 10 seed Oklahoma (#6) - 1-0, Palm Springs, Calif.
3/14 - Mississippi Valley State - 10-0, Eugene
3/14 - Mississippi Valley State - 6-1, Eugene
4/6 ? No. 7 seed Arizona (#8) - 3-2, Eugene
4/25 ? No. 7 seed Arizona (#8) 2-1, Tucson, Ariz.
5/4 - California (#22), 4-1, Eugene
5/10 - Washington (#24) - 3-0, Eugene
NCAA Opponent Season Losses (then-ranking)
2/8 - Mississippi State - 3-0, Palm Springs, Calif.
2/9 ? No. 13 Seed Tennessee (#6) - 5-0, Palm Springs, Calif.
2/22 - No. 11 seed Northwestern (#2) - 7-0, Palm Springs
2/29 - Fresno State (#22) - 4-1, San Diego
3/2 - San Diego State (#20) - 3-2, San Diego
3/29 - No. 2 seed UCLA (#1) - 2-0, Los Angeles
3/30 - No. 2 seed UCLA (#1) - 12-0, Los Angeles
4/11 ? California (#22) - 3-2 (11 innings), Berkeley, Calif.
4/12 - Stanford (#8) ? 1-0, Stanford, Calif.
4/12 - Stanford (#8) ? 2-1, Stanford, Calif.
4/4 - No. 6 seed Arizona State (#1) - 3-2, Eugene
4/5 ? No. 7 seed Arizona (#8) ? 5-1, Eugene
4/26 - No. 6 seed Arizona State (#1) - 6-1, Tempe, Ariz.
4/26 - No. 6 seed Arizona State (#1) - 9-0, Tempe, Ariz.
5/2 ? Stanford (#8) - 6-0, Eugene
5/3 - California (#22) - 6-1, Eugene
5/8 - No. 2 seed UCLA (#3) - 3-1, Eugene
5/9 ? Washington (#24), 5-2, Eugene
5/9 ? Washington (#24), 7-1, Eugene
2005 REGIONAL FLASHBACK
UO returns to the same site that it faced Oklahoma in their 2005 regional final showdown. In that trip, Oregon opened with a 7-5 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette, beat Wichita State, 3-2, in eight innings, and Louisiana-Lafayette, 3-1, then lost to Oklahoma, 2-1. Kayleen Hudson led the Ducks in batting in the tourney’s four games (4-for-8 (.500) 4 RBI, home run, double, 1.000 slugging) and hit safely in each game. In two pitching appearances, Alicia Cook posted a 0.00 ERA (9.1 IP), allowed just one hit and held opponents to a 0.33 batting average.
Oklahoma 2, Oregon 1 ? 5/22/05. In the UO-OU finale, the 10th seed Oklahoma topped the Ducks’ Amy Harris (18-16) who had two strikeouts and gave up only one earned run in 4.2 innings en route to the school single season strikeout record (203). The Sooners scored both runs in the first inning off a pair of singles followed by a double steal that included a steal of home, and another RBI single. UO’s run came in the fifth when Lovena Chaput’s groundout drove in Erin Goodell who had singled earlier, while Suzie Barnes had doubled between them. Oregon would have had to beat Oklahoma twice to advance to the Super Regional.
Oregon 3, Louisiana-Lafayette 2 ? 5/21/05. Alicia Cook came in with one out in the fifth inning and retired nine consecutive batters to keep the Ducks’ Super Regional chances alive. UO scored a run in the first inning when Lovena Chaput led off with a right field single and Kristi Leiter and Beth Boskovich followed with walks to load the bases. Ashley Richards hit a sacrifice fly to center field for the first run, then Hudson (1-for-3, 2 RBI) doubled down the right field line to clear the bases for UO’s other runs.
Oregon 3, Wichita State 2 (8 innings) ? 5/21/05. In its first must-win situation of the double elimination format, Ashley Richards hit a two-out, two-RBI double in the top of the eighth inning that scored Lovena Chaput and Beth Boskovich. On the mound, Amy Harris had five strikeouts in the game to become Oregon's all-time leader (476). The Ducks took the first lead of the game on a Kayleen Hudson solo home run to right field in the fourth inning. Richards' eighth double of the season not only drove in the go-ahead runs for the Ducks, but also moved her to a tie for 10th all-time in a career (26).
Louisiana-Lafayette 7, Oregon 5 ? 5/20/05. ? The Rajun Cajuns hit four home runs in the team’s opening regional game. Junior third baseman Beth Boskovich (1-for-1, 2 HBP, 1BB) pulled Oregon within 6-5 with a two-out three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning ? her 20th career shot that put her ninth all-time in school history. Kayleen Hudson (1-for-2) drove in the first run of the game and scored the Ducks' second run in the sixth inning. Junior pitcher Amy Harris didn't allow a hit in the second and third innings, but the Ragin' Cajuns' second hit of the game was a three-run home run by Lacey Bertucci in the fourth inning that extended Louisiana-Lafayette's lead to 4-0. The Ducks cut the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI single that scored Breanne Sabol who had singled to lead off the inning.
CHAMPIONSHIP STRUCTURE
The 64-team Division I Championship is held over be three weekends
of competition. Four teams will participate at each of 16 regional
sites in a double-elimination tournament. Sixteen teams were seeded and
placed at one of the regional sites. The regional winners will advance
to super regional competition for a best-of-three series May 23-24
(Memorial Day Weekend) at eight campus sites. The remaining eight teams
will advance to the WCWS, an eight-team, double-elimination
tournament. The championship final will be a best-of-three-series. The
WCWS will be conducted May 29 to June 4 at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium
in Oklahoma City.
SELECTION PROCESS
The NCAA Division I Softball Committee selected teams from the
following eight regions to participate in the championship: Central,
East, Northeast, South, Mideast, Midwest, West and Pacific. Thirty
conferences were granted automatic qualification, and 34 teams were
given at-large bids to fill out the 64-team field. The top 16 teams
were seeded in order, and the remaining teams were placed in regional
brackets to create balanced competition and avoid conference match-ups,
when possible.
2007 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP REWIND
The University of Arizona captured its eighth National Championship title since 1991 by defeating Tennessee 1-0 and 5-0 in championships series games two and three, respectively. Tennessee won series game one 3-0. Arizona won its second consecutive national title behind the pitching of Most Outstanding Player Taryne Mowatt and all-tournament team honorees Kristie Fox, Jenae Leles and Caitlin Lowe. Arizona completed the series with a record of 6-2.
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