The day started with excitement for the Oregon softball team, included a period of anxiety and ended with a sigh of relief and anticipation as the Ducks (42-17, 7-14 overall) gathered to learn of its postseason fate in the Casanova Center on Sunday.
Oregon was one of the final eight teams announced as an at-large bid on the ESPNews broadcast for the 2007 NCAA Softball Tournament, and will take on Penn State in its opening game on Friday in the Columbia, S.C. regional, which also includes 15th-seeded North Carolina State, the automatic qualifier of that regional, and host South Carolina.
“I like the set-up,” Oregon coach Kathy Arendsen said. “I think it’s a very winnable (regional), but I also know it’s going to be very difficult.
“But I like our chances. We might be the hottest team coming into this.”
The Ducks won three of their final four regular-season games by putting together a season-high three-straight conference victories after beating No. 9 Arizona State, No. 16 Stanford and California.
“We definitely got back on track,” Oregon senior Suzie Barnes said. “I think we still have yet to play our best softball and hopefully the postseason will prove that. I am confident we can beat all these teams.
“It feels really rewarding because last year was pretty hard on us.”
Barnes and the Ducks missed the postseason last year with a record of 24-29 overall and 5-16 in conference play but prior to that, had advanced to three-straight regional tournaments. Oregon has played in nine total regional tournaments, including in four of the five years under Arendsen.
Oregon is 22-19 all-time in postseason play, with one Women’s College World Series appearance in 1989 and two in the now-defunct AIAW World Series in 1976 and 1980.
And despite winning 42 games, tied for the second most in school history, and seeing all seven other Pac-10 teams selected, there was still nervousness until Oregon finally saw its name appear.
“It was a little nerve racking being towards the end,” Arendsen said. “I feel for whoever the teams were in the very last regional that was announced because you know they are just having coronaries. When you leave it in the hands of a committee, you just never know.
“It’s exciting. We didn’t go (to the postseason) last year. So this is a really motivating, inspirational, exciting time for us.”
In Oregon’s last visit to the postseason in 2005, the Ducks fell short of the inaugural Super Regional, falling to Oklahoma.
In 2004 and 2003, the Ducks lost by two runs in both of their final games to fall one game short of a berth in the College World Series.
“Of any team, I think this is the team this year (to advance),” redshirt freshman shortstop Jenn Salling said. “We’ve got everything. It’s just a matter of putting it all together at the right time.”
And the focus now turns to Penn State (26-23, 5-9 Big Ten). The Nittany Lions finished the regular season eighth in the Big Ten and enter the postseason coming off three straight losses to Ohio State.
The Ducks are 3-0 all-time against Penn State, including a 10-8 victory in the opening game of the 2003 postseason.
North Carolina State (41-19, 15-6 ACC) boasts the ACC Player of the Year in pitcher Abbie Sims, who finished with a 1.69 ERA and a 26-6 record. The Wolfpack will face South Carolina (34-23, 12-16 SEC), which will have home-field advantage and also come from a very competitive conference, much like the Pac-10.
Still, the Ducks are hopeful about their chances.
“This bracket is totally winnable for us,” Salling said.
Arendsen, who is very familiar with South Carolina’s Beckham Field having spent six seasons with Mississippi State of the SEC, spoke to her team after the selection about the humidity and time change of South Carolina. She hopes to leave Eugene Wednesday morning.
“We’re going to give them a little introduction to Southern hospitality,” Arendsen said.
Arizona took the top seed out of 16 total automatic bids in the entire tournament. The defending national champion Wildcats, who won their fourth conference title in five years, lead another strong showing from the Pac-10. All seven teams below Arizona received at-large bids – the fifth time since 1999 that all eight Pac-10 teams reached the postseason.
Each regional is double elimination with the winner advancing to a Super Regional tournament. The Women’s College World Series is held in Oklahoma City.
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