Tough challenge awaits No. 25 BYU this weekend in Oregon

PROVO, Utah – In the final Power-5 matchups of the season, No. 25 BYU softball will travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on No. 1/3 Oregon and Oregon State, facing the Ducks on Thursday and the Beavers on Friday and Saturday.

BYU Game Notes

The Cougars (21-9, 0-0 West Coast Conference) will start the trip off with a matchup against Oregon (29-0, 5-0 Pac-12) on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. PDT in Eugene. BYU will then play Oregon State (16-13, 1-5 Pac-12) at 1 p.m. PDT on Friday and at 12 p.m. PDT on Saturday.

The game against the Ducks will be streamed live on the Pac-12 Network. All three games will have live stats available on the BYU softball schedule page.

BYU Storylines

• In 2017, BYU is 2-3 against the Pac-12. The two wins were against Washington and Utah, while the losses came against Arizona and in a doubleheader at UCLA.
• After defeating No. 11/13 Utah last week, BYU now has three wins over ranked opponents in 2017. The Cougars also picked up victories over then-No. 13 Washington and then-No. 11 Georgia.
• The Cougars are ranked for the fifth week of the season, the most a BYU softball team has been ranked in a single season. They checked into the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll at No. 25. The highest BYU has been ranked in 2017 is No. 23.
• For the sixth time this season, BYU softball won WCC Pitcher of the Week, this time with senior McKenna Bull earning her fourth nod. She picked up two wins last week with a 1.40 ERA while totaling 22 strikeouts and just four walks. Her win against No. 11/13 Utah was her third of the year against a top-25 opponent. Against Dartmouth, she threw 10 strikeouts enroute to becoming BYU’s career wins leader. As a team, the Cougars have taken at least one of the weekly awards every week so far in 2017, including sweeps of both player and pitcher of the week in weeks two and four.

Opponents Outlook

No. 1/3 Oregon (29-0, 5-0 Pac-12)

• The Ducks are the last undefeated division I team in the nation, picking up nine wins against ranked teams along the way.
• They are ranked first in the nation in batting average (0.372) and on-base percentage (0.470), along with being in the top five nationally in scoring (7.83), slugging percentage (0.557) and ERA (1.08).
• BYU trails in the series history 9-4 against Oregon. The Cougars have never won in Eugene, losing seven times, the last in the 2015 NCAA Eugene Regional. BYU last defeated Oregon in Provo, a 6-5 win in 2014.
   

Oregon State (16-13, 1-5 Pac-12)

• The Beavers are 15-13 so far in 2017, winless at home in four tries. They picked up a win at No. 21/24 Arizona State on Monday for their first ranked win of the year.
• Oregon State will play at Portland State on Wednesday before the matchup with BYU during the weekend.
• In the series history with the Cougars, the Beavers hold the 10-3 advantage, including a perfect 3-0 in Corvallis. BYU last played Oregon State in 2015, picking up a dominant 14-5 win.