– The No. 2 Oregon softball team dropped its 2015 Women’s College World Series opener with a 7-1 loss to No. 7 UCLA. Oregon’s Cheridan Hawkins got the loss by giving up seven runs, all earned, while the offense had a tough time getting going against UCLA’s Ally Carda. With the loss, the Ducks will face No. 6 Alabama on Saturday in an elimination game. The Oregon-Alabama game is a rematch of last year’s 2014 WCWS when the Crimson Tide eliminated the Ducks by a score of 2-0.
– The annual Prefontaine Classic gets started today and concludes tomorrow at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The event is in honor of Steve Prefontaine, a legendary long distance runner for Oregon who passed away at the age of 24 in a car accident. The Classic is known for bringing together some of the world’s best track and field athletes and here are the top five events to watch: Men’s 5,000 meters, men’s 10,000 meters, women’s 400 meters, men’s 800 meters and women’s javelin.
– After rallying in the second half of the season, the Oregon baseball team snuck into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed in the Missouri State Regional. The No. 1 seed is Missouri State, the No. 2 seed is Iowa and the No. 4 seed is Canisius. The Ducks meet Iowa today at 11 a.m.
– The Oregon’s men’s golf team travels to Brandenton, Florida for the NCAA Championships, which begins today and runs through May 31. The Ducks will have to readjust to the marathon format of the Championships. From May 29-31, all 30 teams compete against each other in stroke play – a three-round format. From there, the eight teams with the lowest scores will move on to match play from June 1-3. In this format, teams will compete against another for one-round, with the winner moving on.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter: @Ryan_Kostecka