Oregon coach Mike White celebrates during Oregon's series against Kentucky.

Top-seeded Oregon is back in the Women's College World Series for the sixth time in program history, and the fourth time in five years. The Ducks will need to win a minimum of five games to return from Oklahoma City with the ultimate prize.

To open play, the Ducks (52-8) will take on Arizona State (48-11) on Thursday at 9 AM. Like every game in the 2018 NCAA WCWS, the game will be carried on the ESPN family of networks. The opening game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Oregon has reached the semifinals twice (in 2014 and 2017). They own a 6-10 record in Oklahoma City under coach Mike White.

The Ducks and Sun Devils met three times in Pac-12 play with Oregon taking two of three (5-0, 9-1, 0-4) in Tempe in early April on its way to a Pac-12 championship.

This is the third straight WCWS appearance which has opened against a Pac-12 foe for the Ducks. They lost the previous games to Washington (2017) and UCLA (2015).

Oregon punched its ticket to Oklahoma City with a come-from-behind Super Regional series win over No. 16 Kentucky. The Wildcats forced the Ducks' back against the wall with a 9-6 at Jane Sanders Stadium on Thursday, but Oregon fought back to dominate Games 2 and 3 with 6-1 and 11-1 victories respectfully.

The Ducks top pitcher Megan Kleist, who edged out ASU ace Giselle Juarez for Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year, struggled agains the Wildcats allowing a season-high seven runs in the opening game loss. Miranda Elish pitched the final two games, and now holds a 0.69 ERA in four postseason starts.

The Sun Devils swept No. 9 South Carolina with a pair of 5-2 wins this past weekend. Juarez hurled a two-hitter in the Sun Devils first win, and Breanna Macha turned in a strong showing in the second game to hold the Gamecocks to two runs despite 12 base runners.

Oregon won all three of its Eugene Regional games over Albany (4-0) and Drake (5-0, 3-0). The Ducks have now won 27 consecutive regional games.

ASU was equally dominant, taking one from New Mexico State (2-0) before blowing out Ole Miss (7-1, 9-0) in two games to win the Tempe Regional.

Should Oregon defeat Arizona State, they would play on Friday at 4 PM against the winner of No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Washington. If they lose, they'd play the loser of that game on Saturday at 9 AM. Either game would be carried on ESPN.

Below is the entire schedule for the 2018 NCAA Women's College World Series:

Thursday, May 31

Game 1: No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 8 Arizona State | 9:00 am PT | ESPN

Game 2: No. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 5 Washington | 11:30 am | ESPN

Game 3: No. 2 Florida vs. No. 7 Georgia | 4 p.m. | ESPN

Game 4: No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 6 Florida State | 6:30 p.m. | ESPN

Friday, June 1

Game 5: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2 | 4 p.m. PT | ESPN

Game 6 : Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4 | 6:30 p.m. | ESPN

Saturday, June 2

Game 7 (elimination game): Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2 | 9:00 am PT | ESPN

Game 8 (elimination game): Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4 | 11:30 a.m. | ESPN

Game 9 (elimination game): Loser of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 7 | 4 p.m. | ESPN

Game 10 (elimination game): Loser of Game 6 vs. Winner of Game 8 | 6:30 p.m. | ESPN

Sunday, June 3

Game 11 (elimination game): Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 9 | 10:00 a.m. PT | ESPN

Game 12 (elimination game): Winner of 6 vs. Winner of Game 10 | 12:30 p.m. | ESPN

Game 13 (if necessary): 4 p.m. | ESPN

Game 14 (if necessary): 6:30 p.m. | ESPN

Women’s College World Series Finals (Best of 3)

Monday, June 4

Game 1: 4 p.m. | ESPN



Tuesday, June 5

Game 2: 5 p.m. | ESPN

Wednesday, June 6

Game 3 (if necessary): 5 p.m. | ESPN