The Oregon softball team had plenty of reason to smile over the weekend, as it took two of three games in a season-ending series against UCLA and was subsequently named the host of a four-team NCAA regional for the first time ever. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205427264@@
BYU (43-13), Mississippi State (33-22) and Portland State (27-23) will head to Eugene this week for the start of a double-elimination tournament. Oregon (39-15, 13-9 Pac-12) was named the No. 11 overall seed in the 64-team NCAA tournament, and this is its 14thregional berth.
The first game of the regional will be at 3 p.m. on Thursday, as BYU takes on Mississipi State. Oregon will follow at 6 p.m. when it faces Portland State. The winners of those games will, in turn, play at 11 a.m. Friday.
Whichever team wins the Eugene regional will face the winner of the Austin Regional, which features No. 6 seed Texas (42-10) as well as Northwestern (27-27) and Auburn (33-21).