EUGENE, Ore. – The Drake University softball team is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 seasons. Drake (43-10), which swept the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles, opens the tournament Thursday against BYU (35-20) at 5 p.m. CST in the Eugene Regional at Jane Sanders Stadium. Host Oregon (47-7), the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, and Albany (30-24), the America East champions are the other teams in the regional and will play at 7:30 p.m. CST. Every game of the three-day regional will be broadcast on ESPN3. The four teams will battle in a double-elimination format with the regional winner advancing to next weekend's Super Regionals.
 
Eugene Regional Schedule (all times central)
Thursday, May 17
Game 1: BYU vs. Drake – 5 p.m.
Game 2: Oregon vs. Albany – 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 18
Game 3: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner – 5 p.m.
Game 4: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser – 7:30 p.m.
Game 5: Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Winner – 10 p.m.
Saturday, May 19
Game 6: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner – 6 p.m. (Elimination)
Game 7: Repeat 6 (If Necessary) – 8:30 p.m. (Elimination)
 
Recap
Drake, which has won 28 of its last 29 games, including a program-record 24 game winning streak, is making its third-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament after it dominated the MVC regular season with a 24-1 overall record. The Bulldogs then defeated Valparaiso and Southern Illinois on their home field, Buel Field, to win the program's fourth MVC Tournament title and claim the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Drake's 19 road wins are the most by a Division I team this season.
 
Drake led the MVC in batting, pitching and fielding holding the top mark in team batting average (.289), earned run average (1.19) and fielding percentage (.971). The Bulldogs rank in the top 5 of nearly all of the subcategories in batting, pitching and fielding. Drake took the most walks (190) and stole the most bases (89), struck out the most hitters (435), held a team ERA that was nearly 1.50 lower than next team and committed the fewest errors (42). Nationally, Drake's ERA is third behind Oregon (1.19) and Washington (1.15).
 
Drake in the NCAA
Drake returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008 with the program's first trip in 1994. Both of those postseason berths where earned by winning the MVC Tournament. The Bulldogs are 0-4 all-time in the NCAA tournament as they lost Hawaii and Kansas in 1994 and to DePaul and Western Illinois in 2008.  
 
Against the Field
Drake and BYU have previously played twice (2004, 2008) with the Cougars winning both games. Both games were neutral contests with the first taking place in Las Cruces, N.M. and the second in Tempe, Ariz. The Bulldogs and the Ducks have also played twice (2005, 2016) with both games taking place in Las Vegas. Oregon won both games. Drake and Albany have never played before.
 
Quick Hits
Nicole Newman (Madison, Wis.) dominated from the circle during the MVC tournament, claiming the MVP award. In the semifinals versus the Crusaders, Newman tossed her third career no-hitter and just the fourth-ever in the MVC tournament, striking out 15. She then followed that performance with a complete game against the Salukis where she allowed one run on two hits with 10 strikeouts. Newman, who already has the most strikeouts in Drake history, improved to 21-3 this season and is three wins away from tying the program's all-time record held by Laurie Bowden (1990-93), who won 66 games. She is one win away from No. 2 in all-time wins as Jenna DeLong (2008-11), who Newman moved past for the top spot in all-time career strikeouts, had 64 victories. Newman, who missed nearly all of the 2017 season due to injury, has collected numerous awards in 2018. She was named MVC Pitcher of the Year for the second time, won eight MVC Pitcher of the Week awards, was selected to the All-MVC First Team by the league's coaches for the third time and was named one of the Top 25 Finalists for the 2018 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award.
 
Joining Newman on the MVC All-Tournament Team was Tasha Alexander (Eddyville, Iowa), Macy Johnson (Winterset, Iowa) and Kelsey Wright (Olathe, Kan.). Alexander crushed a two-run home run in the title game, Johnson went 3-for-4 in the two games with two runs scored and two walks and Wright went 2-for-3 against SIU and her RBI double scored the game's first run.
 
The tournament awards added to an impressive hardware haul for the Bulldogs, who dominated the MVC end of season awards. Along with Newman's top pitcher award, Mandi Roemmich was named MVC Player of the Year, the first time a Bulldog has been named the league's MVP and the Drake coaching staff of head coach Rich Calvert and Tina DeAngelo and Kasey Griffith was the top coaching staff in the MVC. In addition, 10 Bulldogs were selected to the All-MVC First and Second Teams and the MVC All-Defensive Team as voted by the league's coaches.
 
Drake received votes in each of the past four ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 and USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches polls.