An in-depth look at the three teams in Oregon's Women's College World Series quartet

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — For the first time since 2018, the Oregon Ducks are headed to the Women's College World Series. After advancing through both the regionals and super regionals at Jane Sanders Stadiums, the Ducks will now hit the road for Oklahoma City, looking to capture the first national championship in program history.

The WCWS splits the eight teams that made it out of their super regionals into two different groups of four, who will compete in a double-elimination tournament similar to the regional round to determine the two teams who will meet for the national title next week. Having taken No. 1 Texas A&M's spot in the tournament due to Liberty's regional upset, the Ducks have drawn a relatively favorable draw. Oregon will be joined in its group by No. 9 UCLA, No. 12 Texas Tech, and Ole Miss, while the other group will feature No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Texas, and No. 7 Tennessee.

With games kicking off on Thursday, the Ducks will take on the Bruins in their first matchup at 6:30 PM, with the winner taking on the winner of Texas Tech and Ole Miss, and the loser taking on the other loser in an elimination game. Oregon took two out of three from UCLA at The Jane in a pivotal Big Ten regular season series, but the Ducks haven't faced Texas Tech since 2019 or Ole Miss since 2023. Let's take a look at each of the three teams in Oregon's group of the bracket, breaking down how they got here and highlighting who the Ducks need to be worried about on each side of the ball.

No. 9 UCLA Bruins (54-11, 17-5 Big Ten)

The Ducks will open their journey in the WCWS with a familiar team in the Bruins, one they beat back in April in a series that effectively decided the Big Ten regular-season title. UCLA stumbled down the stretch after its loss to Oregon, dropping a three-game series to Northwestern to close the regular season to finish tied for second with Nebraska in the conference standings. At the Big Ten Tournament, the Bruins ran into the same Michigan team that ended the Ducks' conference tournament run early, falling 2-0 in the championship game as the Wolverines' combination of Lauren Derkowski and Erin Hoehn shut their bats out just like they had done to the Ducks. UCLA was the other Big Ten team to host a regional besides Oregon, sweeping through UC Santa Barbara and San Diego State in just three games, all of which it would end early via run-rule. The Bruins then headed on the road to South Carolina, dropping the first game before walking off the second on a Jordan Woolery home run and shutting out the Gamecocks 5-0 behind 5 ⅔ scoreless frames from Kaitlyn Terry.

Hitter to Watch: Jordan Woolery - 3B

Although this is a tough one to pick between Woolery and first baseman Megan Grant — who leads the Bruins with 25 homers this season — we'll go with Woolery here due to the impact she's already made on this postseason. As mentioned above, with her team one out away from seeing its season end, Woolery came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning trailing 4-3 to South Carolina, and crushed a two-run homer to end things in walk-off fashion. While her regular season numbers were certainly spectacular, she's raised her level in the postseason, slashing .429/.485/.964 since the start of the Big Ten Tournament. Together this season, the combination of Woolery in the three-hole and Grant hitting cleanup has formed one of the deadliest righty-lefty duos in the country, one that reached base 12 times in 20 plate appearances against the Ducks in April.

Pitcher to Watch: Kaitlyn Terry - RHP/LF

Over the course of the postseason, UCLA's three-headed monster in the circle has essentially become two, with freshman Addisen Fisher only making two appearances since the end of the regular season. This has left Terry and junior Taylor Tinsley to handle the majority of the innings, which they have done remarkably well. Across 22 ⅓ frames since the end of the regular season, Terry has held opponents to just a 2.19 ERA and a 0.896 WHIP, with an extremely efficient 4.8 strikeout-to-walk ratio. She ran into her first trouble of the playoffs in UCLA's first game against South Carolina, allowing five runs in just 1 ⅔ innings to take her first loss in over a month, but bounced back to close out the Gamecocks with 5 ⅔ shutout frames in the deciding game on Sunday. 

No. 12 Texas Tech Red Raiders (50-12, 20-4 Big 12)

The Red Raiders have put together their best season in program history for one reason: junior pitcher NiJaree Canady, whom we will get into more later. The 2024 USA Softball Player of the Year signed the first seven-figure NIL contract in the history of the sport when she transferred from Stanford over the offseason, and has delivered in every way, leading Texas Tech to its first conference title (regular season and tournament) in program history while taking the Red Raiders deeper than they've ever been in the postseason. After claiming the top seed in the conference, Texas Tech blitzed through the Big 12 tournament, outscoring opponents by a combined score of 26-0 as Canady tossed all but 2 ⅓ innings. The Red Raiders then swept through Brown and Mississippi State in their Lubbock Regional before they had to head on the road to Tallahassee, where Canady held No. 5 Florida State to just one run, pitching all 14 innings to lead her team to the WCWS.

Hitter to Watch: Lauren Allred - 1B

Although this could also likely go to Canady, who has taken on much more of a two-way role at Texas Tech than she did at Stanford, leading the Red Raiders with a 1.174 OPS and 11 home runs despite ranking eighth in plate appearances, we'll take the opportunity to highlight someone else here. Allred has broken out with Texas Tech after struggling through an injury-riddled second season with Louisiana in 2024, joining Canady as one of two Texas Tech hitters with at least 100 plate appearances and an OPS over 1.000 this season. She was held hitless against Florida State, but finished 5-for-10 at the plate in Texas Tech's regional, driving in eight runs with a double and a homer. Additionally, the Red Raiders' 104 steals this season trail only Oregon and Alabama among power conference teams, with Allred's 10 swipes making her one of five players to reach double digits this season.

Pitcher to Watch: NiJaree Canady - RHP/DH

Canady has arguably been the best player in the country since she was a freshman at Stanford, and she's only continued to improve since landing in Lubbock over the off-season. As mentioned above, she's quadrupled her career plate appearance total this year, taking on more of a full-time two-way role, but in the circle, she's remained as dominant as ever. In just a single season, she has nearly single-handedly turned this program around, taking them from an eighth-place Big 12 finish and a 6.10 ERA that just barely placed them as one of the top 300 schools in the country to both regular season and Big 12 Tournament titles and a 1.79 ERA that only trails Tennessee for the best in the nation. After leading the Cardinal to the WCWS in both of her seasons at Stanford, Canady has continued to dominate this postseason, bringing her career marks to a 1.20 ERA, 0.795 WHIP, and 6.7 K/BB ratio across 122 NCAA Tournament innings.

Ole Miss Rebels (42-19, 11-13 SEC)

Finally, we have the only team to make it to this year's WCWS without receiving a national seed. Ole Miss finished its gauntlet of an SEC schedule with a sub-.500 record, but has gotten hot at the right time, taking out No. 12 Arizona in the regionals before pulling off an upset of No. 4 Arkansas to reach the WCWS for the first time in program history. In a stacked SEC that featured nine of the 16 national seeds — including seven of the top eight — the Rebels won just two of their seven conference series, only defeating Missouri (6-18 SEC) and Georgia (7-16 SEC). But in the SEC Tournament, Ole Miss pulled off an extra-innings upset of Florida — currently the No. 3 national seed — before battling and ultimately falling to Texas in the quarterfinals. That resume was enough to send them to the Tucson Regional, where they would beat one of the best non-power conference teams in Grand Canyon before taking two of three games to upset Arizona. The Rebels then traveled to Fayetteville to face another tough test in No. 4 Arkansas, but for three games, they held SEC Player of the Year Bri Ellis homerless as she finished just 1-for-7 at the plate, and Ole Miss escaped with its first super regional win in program history.

Hitter to Watch: Lexie Brady - C

Brady has been one of the best backstops in the country this season, ranking as the seventh most valuable player at the position by wins above replacement according to Synergy. It's rare to see a batter at such a demanding defensive position lead their team's offense, but that's exactly what Brady has done this season, pacing the Rebels in on-base percentage (.480), slugging (.757), and home runs (17). She has always walked at a high rate and hit for power (13 homers in 2024), but has taken her game to another level as a senior, raising her batting average by 85 points while dramatically cutting down on her strikeout rate to walk as many times as she has fanned this season. Brady has continued to play a key part in the Rebels' lineup through the postseason, with an OPS over 1.100 since the end of the regular season and a seventh-inning homer to put an exclamation point on their win over Arkansas.

Pitcher to Watch: Brianna Lopez - LHP

Although pitching hasn't necessarily been a strong suit for this team throughout the regular season, Lopez has emerged as the Rebels' most consistent presence in the circle through the postseason. With a 2.94 ERA on the season, she is the only one of Ole Miss' primary hurlers to post a mark under three while the Rebels have gone 7-1 in her starts since the end of the regular season. In 36 postseason innings between the SEC and NCAA Tournaments, she's posted a 3.69 ERA, but that has come with a 1.861 ERA and only 30 strikeouts to 27 walks. She's come through with big moments, like 5 ⅔ innings of three-run ball to eliminate Arizona, but just like all of Ole Miss' pitchers has seen her fair share of ups and downs throughout the season. Lopez's biggest strength has been her ability to suppress the long ball this year, but her combination of a high walk rate and a low strikeout rate has resulted in plenty of balls in play, where Oregon can take advantage with speedsters like the Luschar sisters and Paige Sinicki.