No. 16 Kentucky Travels West For Super Regional at No. 1 Oregon
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Following a historic run through the Lexington Regional, which saw the No. 16 Kentucky softball team impose run-rule wins in all three games, the Wildcats will now turn their attention to the Oregon Ducks for the 2018 Eugene Super Regional in the Pacific Northwest.
All three games will take place at Jane Sanders Stadium in Eugene. Tickets are sold out for the entire weekend.
Oregon is the No. 1 overall seed in the 2018 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament, and champions of the Pacific 12 Conference this season. The Ducks swept through the Eugene Regional this past weekend, not allowing a run in three games as UO shutout Albany in the opening round and then Drake back-to-back to lock up a bid in the supers.
UK and Oregon met last year in the super regionals, with the Ducks sweeping the series two games to none. Oregon leads the all-time series with Kentucky 4-2 and has won three-straight over the Wildcats dating back to 2016. The last time that Kentucky beat Oregon was in 2016 when Abbey Cheek hit a grand slam and the Wildcats held on for an 8-6 win over the Ducks in Tempe, Arizona at the season-opening Kajikawa Classic.
The Eugene Super Regional will kick off on Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET live on ESPN2. Game two will be on Friday night at 11 p.m. ET live on ESPN2. If a third game is necessary, ESPN would carry the action at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday night from Jane Sanders Stadium.
Mark Neely and former Washington national champion pitcher Danielle Lawrie will have the call for ESPN.
UK became just the third school (Missouri in 2016 and Washington in 2011) to run-rule all three games of a regional in NCAA history this past weekend with 10-1, 10-0 and 8-0 wins over Illinois-Chicago and Notre Dame (2x). The Wildcats did not allow an earned run all weekend and outscored its opposition 28-1. Kentucky pitchers allowed just five hits in the three games and have now won four of six games in the NCAA regional round via shutouts dating back to 2017.
For the latest on UK Softball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @UKSoftball.
