The Oregon Ducks softball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh straight year.
The Pac-12 champions will welcome Fordham (39-19), Long Beach State (32-20) and Baylor (43-12) to Eugene this weekend. Oregon’s first game will be Friday against Fordham at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
“I know that all these teams are good,” senior Cheridan Hawkins said. “To make it to the postseason, you have to have some sort of talent and ability. You can’t take anyone lightly.”
Oregon (44-8, 20-4 Pac-12) finished up its regular season on Saturday with a 3-2 win over Utah. The Ducks clinched their fourth straight Pac-12 title on Friday night with ace Hawkins in the circle.
This weekend’s regional will mark the fifth straight year the Ducks have hosted a NCAA regional. It’ll be the first time Oregon will welcome teams to its new stadium.
“This to me looks like somewhere you’d host a postseason match up,” Hawkins said. “I feel like Jane Sanders [Stadium] will do regionals and super regionals justice.”
The Ducks team, coaches and staff assembled at Jane Sanders Stadium on Sunday afternoon to watch the announcement of the field on ESPNU as it came in.
“Of course you want to be in the top four when they first announce that on Twitter, but it’s good to know we’re in the top eight and get to host a super regional,” senior Koral Costa said.
Should the Ducks advance past the regional round, they’d likely host fellow Pac-12 foe UCLA, which earned the No. 12 seed overall. The Bruins won two of three games when they visited Eugene earlier this season. UCLA also dealt the Ducks a College World Series loss last season.
“We definitely want to match up against them again,” head coach Mike White said. “It would be a fun match-up. I don’t know quite why they match up two Pac-12 teams; they could have had an SEC team, but that’s O.K.”
Said Hawkins: “They’re good. I think last time we didn’t show our full ability. It would be awesome to get a chance to re-do that series.”
Other top seeds in the NCAA field include Florida (No. 1), Michigan (No. 2), Oklahoma (No. 3) and Auburn (No. 4).
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne