Thanks to a resounding one season turn-around and many of the team's biggest wins in recent memory, first-year head coach Mike White has quickly re-established Oregon as one of the nation’s most exciting softball teams.

A ESPN-TV national audience got a first-hand taste of the upstart Ducks who claimed their first-ever Super Regional bid to cap an amazing 2010 campaign. The Ducks shocked the NCAA Tournament's eighth seed, Georgia Tech, with 11-2 and 4-3 eight-inning regional wins on the Yellow Jackets' own turf to advance to Columbia, Mo., to play seventh-seeded Missouri.

In months prior, Oregon scored eight wins in the ‘Conference of Champions’ — its most since White's previous Duck stint as an assistant coach in 2003 and ’04 (10). UO also beat five different Pac-10 teams – No. 1 Washington, No. 3 Arizona, No. 9 Arizona State, No. 13 California (3 times), OSU (2) – for the first time since topping all seven rivals in ‘04.

Among those wins, Oregon’s 4-0 win over Washington was its first win over a top-ranked team since it beat Arizona at home in 2004, and its two ninth-inning comebacks (7-6, 8-6) and its 1-0 shutout of California marked its first season series sweep of the Bears dating back to 1979. The Ducks also ranked top 20 for most of the season and climbed as high as 16th nationally.

Glancing at the year-end national rankings, the Ducks stood 33rd nationally among teams in batting (.299), 34th in slugging (.460) and 47th in home runs per game (0.89). In the Pac-10, Oregon pitchers paced the Pac-10 in saves (6) and ranked second in strikeouts per inning (1.34) with a new school record (470) that easily topped the former mark set by his former staff in 2004 (394, 432.2 innings). At the plate, UO hitters also posted their second-best ever season totals in batting (.299) and slugging (.460).

On the individual front, freshman pitcher Jessica Moore reset the school season strikeouts mark (238), while freshman right fielder Samantha Pappas also racked up top-10 school season marks in RBI (third, 48), total bases (seventh, 107), slugging (seventh, .641) and home runs (eighth, 11), and freshman left fielder Allie Burger achieved similar honors in triples (sixth, 4).

At season’s end, Pappas was rewarded as the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and an All-Pac-10 and All-Pacific Region First-Team honoree. Moore was an All-Pac-10 and All-Region Second-Team pick, and Burger was a fellow honoree on the latter squad, while all three were tabbed to the All-Pac-10 Freshman Team. At various points during the campaign, the trio were all honored as Pac-10 Players or Pitchers of the Week, as was junior infielder Monique Fuiava.

Before his current Duck tenure, White was already well-known in softball circles as an International Softball Congress (ISC) Hall of Fame pitcher and 30-year coaching veteran. Duck fans will also fondly remember his two-season stint as an assistant coach in 2003-04 when his Duck pitchers and catchers helped Oregon advance to the NCAA regional final both campaigns.

In that prior Duck stint, the Ducks lowered their ERA from 3.01 the season prior to his arrival to 2.12 and 1.68, respectively, while its strikeout totals of 347 and 394 – the best two in school history – far outdistanced its 223 total from 2002.

Several pupils shined immediately under his tutelage as freshman Amy Harris set a single-season strikeout record (180) his first season, while senior Andrea Vidlund led the nation in saves and set a Pac-10 record (11). The next year, newcomer Ani Nyhus was an All-Pac-10 First Team and NCAA Regional All-Tournament choice and two-time conference pitcher of the week. The junior college transfer notched 20 wins (25-12), rewrote the program’s single-season strikeout record (202) and pitched a no-hitter vs. Utah State. Catcher Jenn Poore was also an All-American and All-Pac-10 Second Team honoree in ’04 and drafted into the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) league.

Since then, he has continued to live in Eugene with his family and has remained active as an assistant coach for one of the nation’s top programs at Marist High School during the 2008-09 seasons. The program ended 2009 ranked 22nd nationally by USA Today and won consecutive 4A state titles after identical 29-1 seasons. He has also coached the Northwest Thunder and Northwest Bullets Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA) youth club teams and served as a private instructor for various elite players of all levels.

As a player, White starred as a top pitcher on U.S. National Teams before he retired in 2007. A New Zealand native, he became a U.S. citizen in 1994 and helped guide the USA to a bronze medal in the 2000 World Championships when he went 2-0 with a 0.89 ERA and 19 strikeouts. In 1999, the U.S. won the silver medal at the Pan Am Games, and he was 3-2 with a 0.68 ERA and 35 strikeouts. He also played on three silver medal Pan-American Games teams in 1995, 1999 and 2003.

He enjoyed another successful stint with the American team in 2004 and played in his sixth quadrennial International Softball World Tournament. Altogether, he has helped teams claim two gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze in his four trips with New Zealand and two with the United States. Among other honors, the multiple Amateur Softball Association  of America (ASA) MVP pitcher and All-American helped lead teams to five ASA national titles and five ISC World Club Championships, and was the 2002 ASA Player of the Year.

The Wellington, New Zealand native (11/19/61) earned his bachelor of arts degree in marketing and management from Mount Mercy College (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) in 1989. He is married to the former Lisa Revers, and the couple have three daughters; Nyree (11/2/92), Kenzie (8/30/95) and Sidney (4/14/97).