Schedule // Standings // Pac-12 Statistics // NCAA Statistics // Record Book

SAN FRANCISCO - Conference play begins this weekend with three-game sets for eight of the league's nine teams, with No. 2 UCLA visiting California, Oregon State at Utah, No. 21 Oregon heading up I-5 to face No. 10 Washington and No. 17 Arizona meeting No. 22 Arizona State in Tempe.

No. 12 Stanford is in Kansas for a non-conference matchup at No. 23 Wichita State on Thursday and then will play four games on Friday and Saturday at the Jayhawk Invitational against South Dakota State (twice), host Kansas, and Central Arkansas.

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.

RANKINGS ROUNDUP: Six of the league's nine teams are nationally ranked and appear in the latest USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll, while Utah is receiving votes.

• UCLA, which spent a week at No. 1 earlier this season, is No. 2 for the fourth time this season. The Bruins won their first 17 games of the season before suffering their first loss to Oklahoma on Feb. 26. UCLA has won all six of its game since, including five at last weekend's Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton. 
• UCLA is followed by No. 10 Washington, No. 12 Stanford, No. 17 Arizona, No. 21 Oregon and No. 22 Arizona State.
• The Pac-12's six nationally-ranked teams are the second most in the country, trailing only the 13-team SEC, which has nine.
• 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.
• ESPN.com/USA Softball: #2 UCLA, #8 Stanford, #11 Washington, #19 Oregon, #20 Arizona, #24 Arizona State, RV Utah, RV California.
• D1Softball: #2 UCLA, #5 Stanford, #15 Washington, #19 Oregon, #20 Arizona.
• Softball America: #2 UCLA, #7 Stanford, #16 Washington, #19 Arizona, #21 Oregon.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: Through the season's first four weeks, Pac-12 programs have combined to go 148-38 (.796), the second-best winning percentage in the country (SEC - .808).

• Last season, Pac-12 teams went 228-68-1 (.769) in non-league games, the second-best mark in the country behind the SEC (342-97; .779).
• The Pac-12 is 15-14 against NFCA-ranked opponents this season. After winning just one of its first seven, the league has gone 14-8 (.636) against ranked foes since.

WEEKLY AWARDS: For the second time this season, Stanford's NiJaree Canady was named D1 Softball National Freshman of the Week for her performances at the Cardinal's home DeMarini Invitational, while Arizona's Olivia DiNardo was selected as the Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week.

• Canady threw her second no-hitter against Villanova on March 3 and struck out 18, just one short of the program record and the third-highest single-game total in the NCAA this season. She racked up 30 strikeouts and walked only one in 13.0 innings at the event, has not allowed a run this season in 44.0 innings and is tied for the national lead with a 0.00 ERA.
• Pac-12 players have won six of the 12 national awards handed out by D1 Softball in the season's first four weeks, the most among all leagues. The publication also recognizes a Player and Pitcher of the Week.
• DiNardo hit .857 with 12 hits in 14 at-bats, including five doubles, seven RBI, a 1.214 slugging percentage and a 2.109 OPS at the Hillenbrand Invitational. She went 10-for-her-last-10 to close out the weekend.
• It's the second NFCA National Player of the Week from the Pac-12 this year. UCLA's Maya Brady won the honor following the season's opening week.
• The pair also collected Pac-12 weekly honors, with DiNardo voted the Player and Freshman of the Week and Canady the league's Pitcher of the Week.

QUICK HITTERS

• ARIZONA: A Wildcat has led [or co-led] the Pac-12 in home runs in nine consecutive seasons. In five of those years, Arizona also had the runner-up. The Wildcats have hit at least 100 home runs seven times in school history. Only one other school in the country has more than three 100-plus home run seasons. Arizona has five of the top nine home run hitters in NCAA history.
• ARIZONA STATE: After getting shutout three times in the first 16 games last season, ASU has scored a run in 56 consecutive games, its longest streak since a 75-game stretch that spanned the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Entering the weekend, ASU ranks tied for 13th in the country by scoring 7.00 runs per game, and has scored at least eight runs in a game 10 times while going for 10-plus on three occasions.
• CALIFORNIA: Cal's 73 extra-base hits (32 HR, 37 2B, 4 3B) lead the Pac-12.
• OREGON: Stevie Hansen enters the weekend tied for the NCAA lead in victories with 11 and after dropping her first two decisions of the season, she has won 11 in a row. During that streak, Hansen has a 0.75 ERA with 58 strikeouts and seven walks in 56.1 innings. She has allowed just six earned runs during that span with a .162 opponent batting average. Among her wins were three straight against then-No. 19 Northwestern, No. 3 Florida and No. 24 Missouri.
• OREGON STATE: For the second time in program history, the Beavers made an appearance at the Women’s College World Series in 2022. OSU reached the NCAA Tournament five times under head coach Laura Berg. As a program, the Beavers have made 15 total postseason appearances.
• STANFORD: The Cardinal owns the nation's longest active winning streak at 17 games.
• UCLA: The Bruins closed out their preseason tournament schedule with a 23-1 record. UCLA posted six wins over ranked opponents, including three within the NFCA poll's top 10.
• UTAH: The Utes' nine shutouts this season are more than they posted in all of 2022 and only three times in 20 games have they allowed an opponent more than two runs. Opponents have only managed a .189 batting average against Utah so far in 2023.
• WASHINGTON: After starting the season with 21 games away from Husky Softball Stadium, UW will play at home for the first time this season when it hosts Oregon. 

STAT LINES

• NCAA Top-10 Team Rankings: Batting Avg. - Arizona (8th, .363), Arizona State (9th, .353); ERA - Stanford (5th, 1.27); Fielding % - Stanford (2nd, .989); Home runs/game - Arizona State (2nd, 2.00), California (5th, 1.52); OBP - Arizona (5th, .453); Scoring - Arizona (4th, 8.24); Shutouts - Stanford (3rd, 12), Washington (3rd, 12), UCLA (6th, 10), Utah (7th, 9); Slugging % - Arizona State (2nd, .670); Stolen bases/game - Utah (6th, 3.05); Strikeout-to-walk ratio - UCLA (3rd, 7.85), Stanford (6th, 6.72), Washington (10th, 5.03); Triples/game - Stanford (9th, 0.48); Winning % - UCLA (1st; .958); Stanford (9th, .905).
• NCAA Top-10 Individual Rankings: ERA - NiJaree Canady, STAN (1st, 0.00); Ruby Meylan, WASH (9th, 0.45); Hits - Maya Brady, UCLA (3rd, 35); Hits allowed per seven innings - NiJaree Canady, STAN (1st, 1.43); Home runs - Jordyn VanHook, ASU (1st, 13); RBI - Maya Brady, UCLA (7th, 28), Megan Grant, UCLA (9th, 27), Allie Skaggs, ARIZ (9th, 27); Runs/game - Haley Denning, UTAH (8th, 1.30); Saves - Marissa Schuld, ASU (6th, 3), Haylei Archer, CAL (9th, 3); Slugging % - Jordyn VanHook, ASU (1st, 1.250), Yannira Acuna, ASU (10th, 0.983); Stolen bases - Haley Denning, UTAH (2nd, 21); Strikeouts - Megan Faraimo, UCLA (2nd, 109); Strikeouts per seven innings - NiJaree Canady, STAN (3rd, 12.6), Megan Faraimo, UCLA (6th, 12.1); Total bases - Jordyn VanHook, ASU (1st, 70), Maya Brady, UCLA (3rd, 67), Yannira Acuna (8th, 58); Toughest to strike out - Baylee Klingler (1st, 73.0), Savannah Pola, UCLA (2nd, 71.0), Ellessa Bonstrom, UTAH (8th, 52.0); Victories - Megan Faraimo, UCLA (1st, 11), Stevie Hansen, ORE (1st, 11), Ruby Meylan, WASH (8th, 9); Walks allowed per seven innings - Alana Vawter, STAN (5th, 0.24).

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).

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (Full Schedule) 

CONFERENCE STANDINGS (Expanded Standings) 

PAC-12 SOFTBALL WEEKLY AWARDS

NATIONAL WEEKLY HONORS