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Provo • BYU's reward for winning its seventh consecutive softball conference championship is a trip to Eugene, Ore., to take on No. 2 overall seed Oregon on its home field in the opening round of the NCAA Softball Championships.
Coach Gordon Eakin's team got an automatic bid to the tournament by virtue of winning the West Coast Conference championship. Fresno State and North Dakota State will also be in attendance at the Eugene Regional, which will be played on Howe Field.
North Dakota State will meet Fresno State at 3 p.m. MDT on Thursday, while the BYU-Oregon game will begin about 6 p.m. MDT.
The Cougars went 13-2 in WCC play, 39-12 overall, and routed Loyola Marymount 10-2 on Saturday in Los Angeles to win the WCC title for the second year in a row. BYU has won seven consecutive league titles in four different conferences.
The Cougars are led by pitcher McKenna Bull, who improved to 34-7 — a school record for wins in a season — in the win over the Lions.
Oregon, the Pac-12 champion, is hosting a regional for the fourth straight year. The Cougars were also in the Eugene Regional in 2012 and 2013.
BYU is 4-8 all time against Oregon, but the Cougars won the last matchup between the Western powers in Provo last season, 6-5.