After a few anxious moments, Ducks hear call they expected.

Byline: Shawn Miller The Register-Guard

Shortly after noon on Sunday at the Casanova Center, the Oregon softball team began watching the NCAA Regional Selection Show with something of a choosy attitude.

There was an "Oh, no" when fifth-seeded Tennessee's bracket was revealed, followed by a sigh of relief when Oregon wasn't on that list. A few raised eyebrows and under-the-breath comments were exchanged throughout the beginning of the broadcast.

But soon the atmosphere turned anxious. Recalling that the Oregon soccer team unexpectedly was left out of the postseason last fall, the softball team held its figurative breath as the brackets began to run out. An attitude of, "we'll go anywhere, as long as we are in," began to surface.

"I am really close to some of the soccer girls, and they came today," center fielder Sari-Jane Jenkins said. "I was there when they went through their experience."

At one point, assistant coach J. Gaudreau sat up straight and was about to cheer, before she finished reading the complete team name: Oregon State.

However, in the second-to-last bracket, the anxious Ducks were selected - allowing the players to cheer and breathe normally.

Oregon (42-17) will play Penn State (26-23) to begin the Columbia Regional on Friday at 1 p.m. PDT. Host South Carolina (34-23) and 15th-seeded North Carolina State (41-19) are also in the three-day, double-elimination regional.

"This bracket is totally winnable for us. It's just a matter if we come to play or not," said shortstop Jenn Salling, a finalist for USA Softball's Collegiate Player of the Year award. "Penn State, I would say they are probably the toughest we are going to see throughout the whole bracket.

"I like it because we don't really know what to expect, whereas the Pac-10 Conference you know everything about everybody. You know where to pitch everybody. I like going into this not knowing that much."

Oregon, which missed the postseason last year for the first time during coach Kathy Arendsen's tenure, has not advanced beyond regional play since 1989 - when it set a school record for victories with 54. In their last three appearances, the Ducks lost in the so-called "if" games by a combined five runs.

"This is probably one of our better brackets out of my four years here that we've been able to draw," senior second baseman Suzie Barnes said. "We definitely know the feeling of getting that far into the 'if' game, through the losers' bracket. We just need to face these teams head on, stay on top and in the winners' bracket."

Now that the Ducks - winners of three games in a row before losing the season finale on Saturday at California - are playing close to their best softball of the season, finally have momentum and are almost completely healthy with the return of ace Alicia Cook, they could be the hottest team in the bracket, Arendsen said.

"I like our chances," she said. "I think we are more confident and we're definitely hitting the ball a heck of a lot better. I think it all revolves around that we have a lot of confidence on the mound."

The winner of the Columbia bracket will play the champion of the Evanston bracket, hosted by second-seeded Northwestern - national runner-up to Arizona last season.

Each of the eight Pac-10 teams was selected, including the defending national champion Wildcats with the top overall seed. Washington is the sixth seed, Arizona State is the seventh and UCLA is the 12th. Oregon State is in ninth-seeded Michigan's bracket, Stanford is with 10th-seeded LSU and California with 11th-seeded Alabama. The Wildcats, Bruins and Cardinal will all host their regions.

A Pac-10 team has won the Women's College World Series in 16 of the past 19 years.