This week in Pac-12 softball

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PREVIEWING THE WEEKEND: This week in Pac-12 softball kicks off with non-conference action on Wednesday. Arizona hosts a five-game non-conference showdown beginning with New Mexico State while the Bay Area schools welcome Golden State opponents in Saint Mary’s and Pacific. Pac-12 play starts up again with the Conference-leading Ducks heading to Corvallis on Friday as well as Utah traveling to Cal. Washington heads to Tempe to face Arizona State in a top-25 showdown. UCLA will welcome Stanford for a three-game series beginning on Saturday.

AROUND THE LEAGUE: ARIZONA’s Katiyana Mauga and WASHINGTON’s Ali Aguilar each rank in the top-20 nationally in home runs per game. Mauga ranks 19th with a .35 average, while Aguilar ranks second at .53. Aguilar is second nationally in RBI’s per game at 1.67 and OREGON STATE’s Natalie Hampton sits 11th at 1.32. Fellow Beaver Meehra Nelson ranks ninth in the country in saves at 4.0.

BATTING PROWESS: Four Conference teams rank in the top-25 in batting average in the nation.  OREGON ranks second in the nation at .369 and WASHINGTON comes in at No. 3 nationally at a mark of .368.  OREGON STATE lands at No. 15 (.338), while ARIZONA STATE (No. 14, .338) rounds out the Pac-12 presence.

RPI RELEASED: OREGON and WASHINGTON headline the Pac-12’s presence in the latest RPI release. The Ducks come in at No. 6, while the Huskies are at No. 7. UCLA improved to No. 15, ARIZONA lands at No. 18. ARIZONA STATE registers at No. 24 with UTAH right behind at No. 25. OREGON STATE comes in at No. 27, CALIFORNIA No. 38 and STANFORD at No. 110.

THIS WEEK IN PAC-12 SOFTBALL

WRIGHT’S RECORD: Odds are Arizona head coach Mike Candrea will break Margie Wright’s NCAA record as the all-time leader in career victories at some point this season. Margie Wright won 1,457 games from 1980-2012 coaching for Illinois State and Fresno State. Candrea’s 1,451 career victories are six shy of Wright’s mark. While Michigan’s Carol Hutchins holds 1,458 career victories, each of Candrea’s 1,451 career victories have come at Arizona.

IN THE RANKINGS: Five league team make appearances in the national top-25 polls this week. OREGON ranks sixth and seventh in the USA Today/NFCA Division I poll and ESPN.com/USA Softball polls. WASHINGTON ranks No. 12/t12 in respective polls. UCLA jumps to No. 13 and No. 15, while ARIZONA remains at No. 18/17 and ARIZONA STATE at No. 20/21. UTAH receives votes in both pollings, while CALIFORNIA does so in the USA Today/NFCA and OREGON STATE in the ESPN.com/USA Softball.

BERG TAPPED FOR JWNT: Oregon State head softball coach Laura Berg has been selected as the head coach for the 2017 USA Softball Junior Women’s National Team, the Amateur Softball Association of America and USA Softball announced on March 2. Berg, USA Softball’s only four-time Olympian and fourth-year skipper of the Beaver softball team, will lead the USA Softball JWNT at the World Baseball Softball Confederation Junior Women’s World Championship, slated to be held in Clearwater, Fla. in July of 2017.

SENIOR CLASS AWARD CANDIDATES: Seniors Allexis Bennett of UCLA and Kayla Bonstrom of STANFORD are two of the 30 candidates for the 2016 Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.