Oregon Ducks Softball is Ranked Unanimous #1 in ESPN and USA Today Polls

Howe Field, University of Oregon, KPNW Sports

Last weekend the Oregon Ducks Softball team played then #1 UCLA at Howe Field and won two of three games, one of those games was Run Ruled. For those who are not familiar with the rule it is similar to the mercy rule. According to Wikipedia, in NCAA softball, the rule is invoked if one team is ahead by at least eight runs after five innings and, unlike with college baseball, applies in the NCAA tournament as well. Oregon and Head Coach Mike White used this rule three times against two different opponents, once against UCLA last weekend in a 12-4 win on Saturday and this past weekend against Oregon State in a 10-2 win in six innings on Sunday and a 18-0 victory on Monday.

Last week the Oregon Ducks Softball team earned their first number one ranking in school history. After an emphatic victory over in state rival Oregon State they were not only named number 1 again this week, but also unanimous number 1 in both the ESPN/USA Softball and USA Today/UFCA  polls. Some icing in the cake is that Oregon is the first team to take all votes in both polls this season.

Oregon(37-5, 11-1 Pac-12) has won ten of their last eleven games and welcome Pac-12 Conference foe California(21-17) to Howe Field for a three game series starting on Thursday. The games this weekend are Thursday(4pm), Friday(4pm) and Saturday(12pm). The first two games of the series will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.

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