Roundup: Good start for Washington at Women's College World Series

Washington softball defeated Oregon 3-1 to begin Women’s College World Series play Thursday in Oklahoma City. The Dawgs will now play Oklahoma, while Oregon faces Baylor in an elimination game and UCLA plays Texas A&M in another elimination game (the Bruins lost to LSU 2-1 in their first game).

Stanford baseball dominated Sacramento State 10-0 in its regional opener Thursday, getting eight innings and 11 strikeouts out of starter Kris Bubic and two home runs at the plate from Quinn Brodey. This regional started on Thursday because of the presence of BYU, which does not play on Sundays.

As one would expect with being the top team in the country, Oregon State baseball raked in numerous Pac-12 year-end awards, with Luke Heimlich being named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year, Nick Madrigal earning Pac-12 Player and Defensive Player of the Year and Pat Casey bringing home Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors.

Check out the Pac-12 honors for USC baseball in this USCTrojans.com link.

Jon Wilner reports that the Task Force on Intercollegiate Athletics is not expected to recommend that Cal cut sports when the group’s findings are presented to campus leadership later in June.

According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Chris Haynes, Steve Kerr may coach Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday. Kerr’s Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-91 in Game 1 Thursday night in Oakland with Mike Brown at the helm as Kerr remains sidelined with effects from back surgery nearly two years ago.

Thuc Nhi Nguyen features UCLA baseball pitcher Jon Olsen, who has done a nice job in the Bruins’ rotation as the Sunday starter. Head coach John Savage and friends open regional play Friday against Texas in Long Beach.

Jeff Metcalfe takes a look ahead at what’s next for Arizona State baseball after the worst season in program history, a disappointing 23-32 campaign that marked the first time in 55 years that the Sun Devils did not reach 30 wins in a season.

On Wednesday, it was announced that Oregon men’s basketball will face UConn in its PK80 Invitational opener. Tyson Alger of The Oregonian/OregonLive has more details.

Jeff Nusser of CougCenter.com analyzes the great offseason for Ernie Kent and Washington State men’s basketball. The program has made some really nice strides since March.

Check out some Derrick White highlights for Colorado men’s basketball as he hopes to hear his name called in the 2017 NBA Draft (Pac-12 Networks).

Check out Bill Connelly’s 2017 Utah football season preview (SB Nation). The Utes have overachieved by the numbers the last three seasons in large thanks to their ability to win close games.