CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. – Week three of the 2020 season sees Bethune-Cookman going back to California for its annual trip to the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic where the Wildcats will face two nationally ranked team and another two who were in last year's NCAA postseason.
 
BCU opens play Thursday against Oregon, currently ranked 15^th in the NFCA poll. Last year, the Wildcats pulled off a stunning 5-3 victory over the Ducks. Also on Thursday, BCU plays Texas A&M, a 2017 WCWS participant.
 
Friday's lone game is against #2 Washington, who lost to UCLA in the semifinals of last year's WCWS.
 
On Saturday, BCU will face BYU and San Diego.
 
HOME AGAIN: Seven Wildcats hail from California.
 
HEAD COACH LAURA WATTEN: "It's always an honor to play in the Mary Nutter. Obviously, we have so many student-athletes from California. And we are always the smallest school in the tournament that has so many traditional powers and top 25 programs. We take it as an honor to not only play in the tournament, but to represent Bethune-Cookman University, the MEAC and HBCUs collectively."
 
BCU UPDATE: The Wildcats (1-9) are coming off an 0-5 weekend at the Disney Diamond 9 Classic, dropping two games to Appalachian State and others to Lehigh, Georgia Southern and Saint Joseph's. … Newcomers Samantha Kelley and Haley Parks lead the team with .250 averages, followed by Quianah Mitchell at .241… Sasha Killings and Yvonne Siordia each have two doubles and a home run … Both Victoria Guzman and Destiny Enriquez have had strong starts to the season with ERAs of 1.79 and 2.92 respectively.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: Oregon (9-0) is one of only five unbeaten teams left in the nation and is fifth in runs per game … Texas A&M (8-3) and BCU met in the 2012 postseason … Washington (10-1) is hitting .386 as a team and is coming a weekend it beat three ranked teams – Florida State, South Carolina and Texas Tech and lost to another (Alabama) … BYU (5-4) has made the tournament 16 times in the 20-year history of the program … San Diego (5-5) is playing the U.S. Olympic team the night before its plays BCU.
 
WEEKEND COVERAGE: FloSports is offering pay-per-view coverage of each game … Visit our official twitter feed @BCUsoftball for links to live stats and in-game updates plus the team Instagram account (/bcusoftball) for behind the scenes access.