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SAN FRANCISCO - The Pac-12's pair of top-10 teams, No. 2 UCLA and No. 10 Arizona, will have five of the league's nine games against NFCA-ranked opponents this week when the pair travels to Florida for the TaxAct Clearwater Invitational at the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater.

ESPN Events’ owned-and-operated annual softball tournament features 16 teams, including three that advanced to last season's Women's College World Series in the Bruins, Wildcats and Oklahoma State. In addition to contests against Nebraska (Thursday) and Louisiana (Sunday), UCLA will face No. 15 Alabama, No. 6 Florida State and No. 8 Virginia Tech in three consecutive games on Friday and Saturday. Arizona will play the No. 6 Seminoles on Thursday and No. 8 Hokies on Saturday and also face Texas A&M (Friday), Mississippi State (Friday) and Indiana at the event (Sunday). Each game will be carried by an ESPN entity - ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN+

While the Bruins and Wildcats are in Clearwater, No. 19 Stanford has a pair of true road games at No. 13 Georgia as part of the Red & Black Showcase at 12:30 p.m. PT on Friday and 10 a.m. PT on Saturday. Utah, which is 5-0 to begin the season and receiving votes in the NFCA poll for the first time since 2021, also has a pair of true road games at No. 18 LSU as part of the Tiger Classic on Friday at 5:30 p.m. PT and Saturday at 2 p.m. PT. All four of those meetings will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

After starting on the road for just the second time since 1990, No. 22 Arizona will play at home this weekend with five games at the Littlewood Classic. Oregon State is also in the field, and will open with two games in Tempe on Thursday and Friday against Illinois State and BYU on Thursday and Friday before shifting to Phoenix to close out the tournament against Portland State, Weber State and Grand Canyon. Pac-12 Oregon will carry the Sun Devil and Beaver games from Farrington Stadium on Thursday.

Elsewhere in the Conference, No. 12 Washington is in Texas for the Houston Classic and will also play at McNeese on Monday, No. 24 Oregon is at San Diego State for the Campbell/Cartier Classic and California is at Long Beach State for the Wilson Invitational.

The Conference is coming off of a season in which each of its nine programs finished with a record of .500 or better, seven earned NCAA Tournament berths, and three advanced to the Women's College World Series.

IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: Six of the league's nine teams are nationally ranked and appear in the latest USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll, which another two are receiving votes.

• UCLA checks in at No. 2 and is followed by No. 10 Arizona, No. 12 Washington, No. 19 Stanford, No. 22 Arizona State and No. 24 Oregon. Oregon State and Utah are among a group of 14 teams receiving votes.
• The Pac-12's six nationally-ranked teams are the second most in the country, trailing only the 13-team SEC, which has eight.
• Seven Conference teams were in the USA TODAY/NFCA preseason poll, the first time since 2013 and 12th time overall that the Pac-12 has had seven ranked teams to open the season, which tied the league's second-most all-time. All eight Pac-10 softball programs were in the preseason Top 25 in 2001.

CATS CRUSH: Arizona was the only ranked team to run-rule each of its opponents during the season's opening weekend, needing just five innings to beat Long Beach State (9-1 and 9-1), Kansas (15-2) and NC State (15-1 and 15-1) at the Candrea Classic in Tucson.

• The Wildcats lead the nation in batting average (.520), on-base percentage (.587) and scoring (12.60 runs per game).
• They're the only team in the country batting over .500 after the season's first week.
• Arizona has scored a total of 63 runs in their five wins, but only 10 via four home runs.

NO HITS, NO RUNS: At the other end of the spectrum, the Pac-12 had a number of sterling pitching performances in the circle last weekend.

• UCLA and Utah each tossed four shutouts and are tied for the national lead in that category along with Auburn, Grand Canyon, Nebraska and Texas A&M.
• Three Pac-12 hurlers tossed no-hitters last week - Taylor Tinsley (UCLA) against CSU Bakersfield on Feb. 11, NiJaree Canady (STAN) against Liberty on Feb. 12 and Megan Faraimo (UCLA) against San Diego on Feb. 12.

NATIONAL WEEKLY AWARDS: It was nearly a clean sweep for the Pac-12 with last week's NFCA and D1 Softball national awards.

• UCLA's Maya Brady was named Louisville Slugger/NFCA Player of the Week, while Utah's Mariah Lopez was Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week. Brady was also the D1 Softball Player of the Week and Washington Ruby Meylan was the D1 Softball Freshman of the Week. Oklahoma State's Kelly Maxwell, the D1 Softball Pitcher of the Week, was the only non-Pac-12er honored.
• Brady went 13-for-16 with 14 RBI and four home runs in UCLA's season-opening weekend. In that stretch, she broke a 24-year-old UCLA record with 11 consecutive base hits after going 4-for-4 with two home runs in game one versus San Diego on Sunday, 6-for-6 in two games on Saturday and 1-for-1 versus CSU Bakersfield on Friday.
  • She is fourth nationally in batting average (.812), second in hits, tied for first in home runs (4) and tied with Arizona's Carlie Scupin for first in RBI (14).
• Lopez posted a 3-0 mark  with 21 strikeouts, did not issue a walk and scattered five hits in 14.1 innings of work in wins over Stonehill, Northern Colorado and UC San Diego.
• Meylan made her college debut and threw 14.0 innings over four games, finishing 2-0 with a save and the Mark Campbell Invitational. She allowed seven hits and no earned runs while striking out 16 and walking only one batter.

powHER OF THE PAC: All nine Pac-12 softball programs are led by female head coaches.

• The Pac-12 is one of just two leagues in the country that features exclusively female head coaches (Ivy League).
• Six of the nine are leading their alma maters - Jessica Allister (STAN), Amy Hogue (UTAH), Kelly Inouye-Perez (UCLA), Caitlin Lowe (ARIZ), Chelsea Spencer (CAL) and Heather Tarr (WASH).

PRESEASON PAC-12 COACHES POLL: For the third consecutive season, UCLA was voted by the Conference’s softball head coaches as the league’s preseason favorite for the upcoming campaign.

• The Bruins, which have made seven straight trips to the Women's College World Series, collected all eight available first-place votes and totaled 64 points to top the annual poll. It's the first time since 2016 (Oregon) that a Pac-12 team has garnered every available first-place vote. Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
• Stanford was second with 54 points, and followed closely by Washington (53 points), which picked up the remaining first-place vote. Coming off its first Super Regional appearance since 2011, the Cardinal boasts its highest-ever position in the preseason poll. Stanford had been picked third twice previously, in 2002 and 2006. 
• Oregon collected 39 points and Arizona 30 to round out the top portion of the rankings. Oregon State was sixth (25 points), California seventh (21 points), Utah eighth (20 points) and Arizona State ninth (18 points).

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS: The Pac-12 returns six NFCA All-Americans from a season ago, including the league's reigning Player (Baylee Klingler, WASH) and Pitcher (Megan Faraimo, UCLA) of the Year. In addition to Klingler (first-team All-American) and Faraimo (second-team AA), also back are Arizona State's Yannira Acuña (second-team AA), Arizona's Allie Skaggs (second-team AA), California's Makena Smith (third-team AA) and Utah's Ellessa Bonstrom (third-team AA).

PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE: The Conference's six returning All-Americans are also featured on the first-ever Preseason All-Pac-12 Team, which was voted on by the league's head coaches. UCLA has a league-high five players on the team in Maya Brady, Faraimo, Aaliyah Jordan, Sharlize Palacios and Brooke Yanez. Washington is second with four (Madison Huskey, Klingler, Lindsay Lopez, Sami Reynolds). 

TOP 100: Eighteen Pac-12 stars from all nine league programs were included in D1Softball.com's Preseason Top 100 Player Rankings, led by Washington's Baylee Klingler, who last season became the Conference's first triple crown winner since 1999 and just third all-time. UCLA landed six players on the list, which tied for the second-most in the country. Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon State and Washington placed two apiece, while California, Oregon, Stanford and Utah each have one.

WATCH LISTS: Seven Pac-12 student-athletes appear on the USA Softball Top 50 Collegiate Player of the Year watch list, the third-most in the country (SEC - 18, Big 12 - 11) - Maya Brady (UCLA), Megan Faraimo (UCLA), Frankie Hammoude (OSU), Baylee Klingler (WASH), Sharlize Palacios (UCLA), Carlie Scupin (ARIZ), Alana Vawter (STAN).

PAC-12 SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT: Arizona's Hillenbrand Stadium will serve as the host site for the inaugural Pac-12 Softball Tournament, which is set to make its debut from May 10-13, 2023. The four-day event will begin with a play-in game between the eighth and ninth-place teams in the regular-season standings on Wednesday. That winner will advance to an eight-team, single-elimination bracket with the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship being contested on the following three days. The winner of the Pac-12 Softball Tournament will receive the Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: The nation’s most successful softball conference, Pac-12 programs have combined to win 24 of the 40 NCAA softball championships all-time, 18 more than the next closest league, and all nine Pac-12 teams have made appearances in the Women’s College World Series. Of the 13 different programs to have won an NCAA softball championship, five are from the Pac-12: UCLA (12), Arizona (8), Arizona State (2), California (1) and Washington (1).

MORE PAC-12 SOFTBALL:

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• These Pac-12 softball transfers could be difference-makers in 2023

UPCOMING SCHEDULE (Full Schedule) 

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

PAC-12 SOFTBALL WEEKLY AWARDS

NATIONAL WEEKLY HONORS