EUGENE — Melyssa Lombardi is headed back to Oklahoma.

Oregon (28-19) is the No. 2 seed in the Norman Regional and will open play against Boston University (52-4-1) at 2:30 p.m. Friday on ESPN+. Host No. 2 seed Oklahoma (49-6), the three-time reigning national champion and Lombardi’s former school, faces Cleveland State (22-24) in the second game of the double-elimination regional at 5 p.m. Friday on ESPNU.

“I think for us postseason is postseason; anywhere we go, whether it’s to Norman or to any other regional it’s postseason and it’s going to be tough,” Lombardi said. “We’re caught up in ourselves. We’re caught up in getting ready to go play. We’re caught up in our first opponent, which is Boston University. I think that’s the biggest thing right now is for us to get prepared for them.”

The winners of Friday’s games will play in the winner’s bracket game to begin Saturday’s slate of games, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s regional final. The losers of Friday’s games will play an elimination game on Saturday. The winner of that game will play the loser of the winner’s bracket game from earlier in the day in another elimination game Saturday night, with the winner advancing to the regional final.

An OU alum, Lombardi was an assistant coach at Oklahoma from 1997-2018 under coach Patty Gasso, winning four national championships with 12 Women’s College World Series in that time. The Sooners made Super Regionals each of the last nine seasons with Lombardi on staff, with seven WCWS appearances in her last eight seasons.

“I have a lot of friends and family that’s back in Oklahoma still; I’m excited to get to see them,” Lombardi said. “Definitely have I’m sure some favorite restaurants that we’ll hit while we’re there. Obviously the familiarity, Norman is extremely familiar to me. I’m excited to take my team and get out there and go compete in the Norman regional.

“I spent a lot of my life there. I think of coach Gasso and what she’s done for me, I think of that program and what it’s done for me and I’m so grateful. Looking forward to the opportunity.”

It will also be a reunion for former Oregon infielder Alyssa Brito, who began her career at UO in 2021 before transferring to Oklahoma. Ariel Carlson, Raegan Breedlove, Hanna Delgado, Tehya Bird and Val Wong played with Brito that season and Delgado was also on her club team.

“A great athlete, very versatile,” Lombardi said of Brito, who is hitting .415 with 16 home runs and 53 RBIs. “Had a lot of power. The will to win, very competitive.”

It will be the first game for Lombardi and the Ducks at the new Love’s Field, which opened earlier this year. The 4,200-seat facility is the largest on-campus softball stadium in the country and Oklahoma led the nation with an average attendance of 4,078 this season.

“I know when the stadium was built I was really, really excited,” Lombardi said. “That was a long time coming. The stadium took a long time to get there. Being a former player and obviously a former coach I was excited to see that happen. I can’t say enough about that stadium, the fact that it’s finally here for them.”

It’s the 24th NCAA Tournament appearance for the Ducks, who are 82-53 all-time in the postseason, including 60-24 in regional play, with 10 Super Regional appearances.

Oregon won the Fayetteville Regional last year before losing to Oklahoma State in the Stillwater Super Regional.

“I think we all feel the most confident because we have so much experience now,” Wong said. “We know how to go farther than a regional. So we’re taking what we learned from last year and our years past into this year and I think we’re all excited to go into this Norman regional and to get out of it and go wherever we go for supers.”

Should Oregon advance to a Super Regional it is paired with the Tallahassee Regional, which includes host No. 15 seed Florida State, UCF, Auburn and Chattanooga. The winners of the Norman and Tallahassee Regionals will play a best-of-three series between May 23-26.

The Ducks entered Selection Sunday No. 31 in adjusted RPI and No. 34 in RPI. Oregon went 4-11 against RPI top 25 teams this season, including 1-4 against top 10 teams, and 12-16 against RPI top 50 teams.

Oregon enters Regional play having lost three of its last four games after being eliminated by Utah in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament.

“I personally love postseason because I think we get to leave everything that happened in the regular season in the past and we get to play very present and play for each other and play for the people around you,” Carlson said. “I think that’s going to be the message for the team going forward is to not take a moment for granted because we’re fighting for our season.”

Oklahoma has been a national seed for each of the past 17 seasons and advanced to the WCWS each of the past seven seasons.