Utah Softball Heads to NCAA Regionals

The Utah softball team capped off a successful regular season last week, defeating the no. 3 ranked Oregon Ducks in Eugene. It marked the first time in 17 tries Utah had defeated the Ducks and was also the highest ranked opponent Utah has beaten away from Salt Lake City since coach Amy Hogue took over in 2008.

The win capped off an excellent regular season for the Utes, who finished 32-19 and ranked no. 25 in the USA Today/Coaches Poll. The ranking at the end of the regular season is just the third time the program has ended the year in the rankings. Utah also finished last season ranked 25, so in combination with this season, it is the first time Utah has finished ranked in consecutive seasons.

The next stop for Utah softball is Kentucky. Utah will take part in the NCAA regionals in Lexington Kentucky where they will begin postseason play this Friday. The four teams in the region are #1 seed Kentucky, #2 seed Utah, #3 seed Illinois and #4 seed Butler. Utah and Illinois will play in the first game with Kentucky and Butler playing game two immediately after. The winners will play each other Saturday as will the losers. The format is double elimination. The winner of the region will move on to Super Regionals.

You can catch Utah softball on Friday at 1pm MT. All games can be streamed through ESPN3.