Ducks Open 2023 Season at Puerto Vallarta Challenge
THIS WEEK
No. 24/22 Oregon opens the 2023 campaign at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge Thursday through Sunday. All games will be streamed live by FloSoftball. The Ducks begin play Thursday against Maryland (6:30 p.m. PT). Action continues with two games Friday - Wisconsin (10:30 a.m. PT) and No. 3 Oklahoma State (4 p.m. PT). Oregon will then play Ole Miss Saturday (1 p.m. PT) and North Dakota State Sunday (6:30 a.m. PT).
SERIES-AT-A-GLANCE Streak Last Mtg
Maryland: Ducks lead, 3-0 UO +3 2017
Wisconsin: Ducks lead, 9-0 UO +9 2017
Oklahoma State:, OSU leads, 14-9 OSU +4 2020
Ole Miss: Ducks lead, 2-1 UO +1 2022
North Dakota State: Ducks lead, 5-0 UO +5 2022
DUCKS IN THE POLLS
Oregon opens the 2023 season ranked No. 24 in the NFCA Coaches' Poll and No. 22 in the ESPN/USA Softball Poll. It is Oregon's 40th consecutive appearance in the polls, dating back to the 2020 preseason poll. The Ducks also earned preseason ranking from Extra Inning Softball (17) and D1 Softball (No. 23).
NONCONFERENCE SUCCESS UNDER LOMBARDI
Under head coach Melyssa Lombardi, Oregon has posted some of the best non-conference records in program history. Three years ago in 2020, before the season was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ducks were 22-2 through 24 games. That was at the time, the second-best 24-game record in program history. In 2021, the Ducks did that one better, going 23-1 through 24 games. Last season, the Ducks went 19-3 prior to the opening of conference play. Overall, Oregon is 81-14 in nonconference regular season games under Lombardi.
RESERVED SEASON TICKETS SELL OUT
Oregon sold out of reserved season tickets for the 2023 season on Jan. 17 - a full two months prior to the March 17 home opener with Stanford. Single-game reserved tickets have already sold out for the Ducks' games versus UCLA on March 25-26 and less that 15 reserved tickets remain for the series opener on March 24. Additionally, fewer than 100 reserved tickets remain for Oregon's games against Stanford (March 18-19), Arizona (April 22-23) and Utah (May 6). General admission season and single-game tickets for all games remain on sale (www.goducks.com).
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
Last season, Oregon played the second-most difficult schedule in the nation. In 2023, the Ducks will play six of the eight teams that reached the 2022 Women's College World Series – Florida, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Oregon State and UCLA. In all, Oregon has 29 games against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament a year ago. In addition to the six WCWS teams, the Ducks' 2023 opponents who played in the 2022 NCAA
Tournament are Wisconsin, Ole Miss, LMU, San Diego State, Fullerton, Missouri, Minnesota, Arizona State, Washington and Stanford.
20-20
All six Ducks who reached the 20-RBI plateau in 2022 return for 2023. Ariel Carlson led the way with 42, followed by Allee Bunker (41), Vallery Wong (29), Paige Sinicki (28), KK Humphreys (26) and Hanna Delgado (24). That list doesn't include Terra McGowan who had 15 RBI in half a season last year.
A LEAGUE OF HER OWN
Allee Bunker is the only player in the nation who has hit 10 or more home runs each of the last two seasons, while striking out seven times or fewer.