The Oregon Ducks softball team is back in the Women's College World Series for the fifth time in seven years.
The top-seeded Ducks open the eight-team, double-elimination tournament at 9 a.m. PDT Thursday (TV on ESPN) against a familiar foe, the No. 8 seed Arizona State Sun Devils.
Oregon has won its opener just once in the Ducks' past four trips to Oklahoma City, so getting past the Sun Devils would give UO a big boost to begin the tournament. The Ducks took two of three games from ASU and outscored the Sun Devils 14-5 when they played their Pac-12 series in Tempe in April.