Roundup: UCLA, UO and UW begin quest for WCWS glory

Washington softball opens the Women’s College World Series against Oregon Thursday night, and check out the notes from GoHuskies.com in the preceding link. UCLA will also be in action on Thursday at the WCWS in Oklahoma City.

Oregon men’s golf lost to Oklahoma 3-1-1 in the NCAA finals Wednesday in Sugar Grove, Ill., coming up just short of a repeat.

UCLA softball pitcher Rachel Garcia was named NFCA Freshman of the Year; this on the heels of being named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. She’ll take a 22-7 record with a 1.92 ERA into the Women’s College World Series.

Utah softball’s Hannah Flippen was named an NFCA First Team All-American after leading the Pac-12 in batting average and on-base percentage.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report believes that USC has the second-best chance of being the next college football dynasty outside of Alabama, which you could argue is the current college football dynasty despite the CFP finals loss this year.

The eighth-seeded Stanford baseball team begins regional play Thursday night against Sacramento State (GoStanford.com). Cal State Fullerton and BYU are also in the Stanford regional.

Michael Lev of the Arizona Daily Star answers three questions surrounding Arizona baseball as it begins regional play. The Cats went all the way to the College World Series finals in 2016 before bowing out to Coastal Carolina.

The Pac-12 released game times and TV networks for its early schedule for the football season, so take a look at Colorado’s times and channels for its first games in this BuffZone.com link. The Buffs open the season Sept. 1 against Colorado State at 6 p.m. MT/5 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Networks.

CougCenter takes a look at Klay Thompson’s new signature shoe from Anta America called the KT2 “Chase.” Count me among the new fans of the shoe; I think it looks dope. In other news, the NBA Finals are finally here.

Here’s a snippet of a Pac-12 Sports Report feature on the Oregon State baseball team. The top-seeded Beavs begin regional play on Friday.

Jeff Metcalfe writes about Arizona State men’s basketball’s trip to Rome and Barcelona this summer as the Sun Devils try to make their way into the postseason with a completely different roster from the previous season.

Check out Ivan Rabb highlights from his two years at Cal as he gets ready for the 2017 NBA Draft (Pac-12 Networks).