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

SAN FRANCISCO - A Top 25 matchup in Seattle and a pair of games broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPNU highlight this weekend's schedule, as Pac-12 softball heads down the stretch of its regular season.

Following a home sweep of then-No. 5 Stanford, the road doesn't get any easier for No. 22 Utah. The Utes, half a game ahead of the Huskies for second place in the Conference standings, are at No. 9 Washington for three beginning on Friday at 7 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Mountain and Pac-12 Washington.

Winners of six in a row, Utah is 29-8 overall and off to the program's best 37-game start since 1994 (29-8). Already 11-4 in Conference, the Utes have won double-digit Pac-12 games for the first time since 2017 (13-9). Their record for Pac-12 wins in a season in 13 (2017, 2016). Utah was picked eighth in the Pac-12 preseason coaches' poll.

The Utes took two of three from Washington in Salt Lake City last season, but UW has won eight in a row in the series at home. Utah's last win at Husky Softball Stadium came in an NCAA Super Regional on May 27, 2017, 9-8.

In addition to that battle at the top of the Pac-12 standings, a couple of league games will receive national ESPN broadcasts this weekend. On Friday night, No. 17 Oregon hosts Arizona on ESPNU at 7:30 p.m. PT and on Saturday, Arizona State's game at No. 2 UCLA will be on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. PT.

Oregon, currently tied for fourth in the league with No. 8 Stanford at 8-7, is coming off of its first sweep of Arizona State in Tempe since 2016. UCLA, which has the nation's third-longest active winning streak at 12 games, has a 2.5-game lead at the top of the Conference standings and, with a sweep of the Sun Devils and pending results between Utah and Washington, has an opportunity this weekend to clinch a share of its 12th regular-season Pac-12 title.

The Conference's final series of the weekend pits No. 8 Stanford against rival California on The Farm for three games broadcast on Pac-12 Networks. Stanford bounced back from its three losses in Salt Lake City with a 1-0 victory at BYU on Monday behind a combined shutout from NiJaree Canady and Alana Vawter. The Cardinal is still fourth nationally in Adjusted RPI and boasts the nation's top strength of schedule.

The Pac-12 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.

USA SOFTBALL COLLEGIATE PLAYER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS: Five from the Pac-12 were named to USA Softball's list of 25 finalists for the 2023 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year on Wednesday in Maya Brady (UCLA), NiJaree Canady (Stanford), Megan Faraimo (UCLA), Baylee Klingler (Washington) and Alana Vawter (Stanford). 

• Pac-12 student-athletes have won the honor six times previously since it began in 2002, most recently by UCLA's Rachel Garcia in 2018 and 2019.
• Each of the three Pac-12 schools represented on the list of finalists have a previous winner. In addition to Garcia, Stacey Nuveman won for the Bruins in 2022, Washington's Danielle Lawrie took home back-to-back awards in 2009 and 2010, and Stanford's Ashley Hansen won in 2011.
• The Top 25 Finalists will be narrowed down to 10 athletes on May 3, followed by the Top 3 Finalists set to be released on May 17. The 2023 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year will be revealed prior to the Women’s College World Series.

WBSC WORLD CUP ROSTER: On April 14, a national-best eight players from the Pac-12 were named to USA Softball's first U.S. Women’s National Team (WNT) roster of the 2023 season that will compete at the WBSC World Cup from July 11-15 in Fingal-Dublin, Ireland.

• Ali Aguilar (Washington), Sis Bates (Washington), Maya Brady (UCLA), Ally Carda (UCLA), Megan Faraimo (UCLA), Hannah Flippen (Utah), Baylee Klingler (Washington) and Gwen Svekis (Oregon), will be led in Ireland by Team USA and UW head coach Heather Tarr.
• UCLA and Washington lead all programs with three players apiece on the 16-person roster.
• Competing in Group A, the U.S. will be joined by world-ranked No. 3 Chinese Taipei, No. 9 Australia, No. 16 Great Britain, No. 17 Ireland and No. 43 Botswana.

WOMEN'S PRO FASTPITCH DRAFT: Led by first-round picks Baylee Klingler and Megan Faraimo, a total of five Pac-12 softball student-athletes were selected in Monday's 2023 Women's Professional Fastpitch Draft in Oklahoma City.

• Lasting six rounds with four selections per round, the 24-pick event featured the Pac-12's five all chosen within the first 16 picks.
• Klingler, the 2022 Pac-12 Player of the Year, went No. 2 overall to the Texas Smoke, while Faraimo, the Conference's reigning Pitcher of the Year, was chosen fourth overall by the USSSA Pride. The Pac-12 was the only league with multiple first-round selections.
• Faraimo's UCLA teammate, Brooke Yanez, was also chosen by the USSSA Pride in the third round with the 12th overall pick. In the fourth round, California's Makena Smith went to the Smash It Sports Vipers with pick No. 15 overall and was follow one selection later by Oregon's Allee Bunker, who was taken 16th overall by the USSSA Pride.

RANKINGS ROUNDUP: Eight of the league's nine teams are receiving votes in the latest USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll, including five the in the top 25.

• UCLA, which spent a week at No. 1 earlier this season, is No. 2 and followed by No. 8 Stanford, No. 9 Washington, No. 17 Oregon and No. 22 Utah. With 22 points, Arizona leads a group of eight teams receiving votes, while California is fifth with seven points and Arizona State is seventh with two.
• At No. 17, the Ducks have risen to their highest spot in the poll this season and best since they were No. 17 on April 12, 2022. Utah also has its best ranking since checking in at No. 21 on Feb. 13, 2018.
• 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, #9 Washington, #16 Oregon, #18 Utah, RV Arizona, RV California, RV Arizona State.
• D1Softball: #2 UCLA, #10 Stanford, #12 Washington, #17 Utah, #19 Oregon.
• Softball America: #2 UCLA, #9 Stanford, #11 Washington, #14 Oregon, #15 Utah.

RPI CHECK-IN: In the most recent update through games as of April 18, the Pac-12 is the nation's No. 2 conference according to the NCAA's Adjusted RPI rankings, but boasts the country's top strength of schedule.

• Led by No. 2 UCLA, the Pac-12 has six of the nation's top 30 in Adjusted RPI. The Bruins are followed by No. 4 Stanford, No. 13 Washington, No. 19 Oregon, No. 26 Utah and No. 27 California.
• Also in the top 50 are No. 43 Arizona and No. 47 Arizona State.
• The Cardinal owns the nation's top strength of schedule, while Oregon State is second and UCLA is seventh.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: Through the season's first 10 weeks, Pac-12 programs have combined to go 173-42 (.805) against non-league foes, the best non-conference winning percentage in the country ahead of the SEC (.795; 285-73-1).

• 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 16-15 against NFCA-ranked opponents in non-conference games this season. After winning just one of its first seven, the league has gone 15-9 (.625) against ranked non-conference foes since.

UTAH MAKING NOISE: At 29-8, the Utes are off to their best 37-game start to a season since 1994 (29-8).

• With just three Pac-12 series remaining, the Utes are alone in second place with an 11-4 league mark. Last weekend, Utah swept then-No. 5 Stanford, the last two in walk-off fashion, for its first three-game sweep of a top-five opponent in program history.
• With nine games remaining, Utah's 11 Conference wins are its fourth-most in its 12 season as a member of the Pac-12 (13 - 2016, 2017; 12 - 2015).
• Utah started by winning its first two Pac-12 series as a Conference member for the first time, including the program's first series victory over Arizona since 2017.
• Utah moved up in the NFCA rankings to No. 22 this week, its fourth appearance in that poll this year and best ranking since being No. 21 on Feb. 13, 2018.

BRUINS LEADING: Following a loss at Oregon on March 24, UCLA has reeled off 12 consecutive wins, including 11 in Conference, to bolt to the top of the Pac-12 standings at 15-3 with a 2.5-game lead over Utah.

• The Bruins' 11-game league winning streak is the longest active streak in the country among Power 5 programs. No. 1 Oklahoma is second with wins in nine Big 12 contests in a row. UCLA's overall 12-game winning streak is tied for third in the country with Central Arkansas and behind only Oklahoma (31) and Boston U. (13).
• Should the Bruins sweep ASU this weekend and Washington either sweep or take two of three from Utah, UCLA could clinch a share of its 12th Pac-12 regular-season title.
• Maya Brady is batting .448 with 15 home runs and 48 RBIs this season and is one of only three players in the country with those numbers along with Clemson's Valerie Cagle (.485, 18 HR, 52 RBIs) and Marshall's Autumn Owen (.466, 16 HR, 60 RBIs). Brady leads the Pac-12 in batting average, hits (56), total bases (114), extra-base hits (26) and slugging percentage (.912), and ranks second in home runs and RBIs.

STANFORD'S STRONG START: No. 8 in the latest NFCA rankings, the Cardinal has been a top-10 program in six consecutive polls, its longest top-10 run since nine straight weeks from Feb. 23 to April 20, 2010.

• Stanford had a 21-game winning streak snapped at Oregon on March 18. The Cardinal entered that series against the Ducks with eight consecutive shutouts and an Allee Bunker RBI double in the third inning of game one on March 17 snapped a 56-inning scoreless streak.
• The Cardinal is fifth in the nation in ERA (1.48), tied for sixth in shutouts (17), fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.21) and 10th in fielding percentage (.979).
• The Cardinal's 21-game winning streak was its longest since winning 28 in a row from Feb. 7 - March 23, 2009.
• At 32-9, the Cardinal is off to its best 41-game start to a season since 2011 (32-9).

WEEKLY AWARDS: For the second time this season (Feb. 14), Utah's Mariah Lopez was named Wilson/NFCA National Pitcher of the Week for her performances in wins last week over Stanford, Weber State and BYU.

• Lopez pitched in four of Utah's five games last week and collected three victories while posting a 0.89 ERA in 23 2/3 innings and racking up 29 strikeouts against only four walks.
• She was also selected Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week, the first such honor of her career, Utah's fifth all-time and first since Miranda Viramontes on March 20, 2017.
• In addition to Lopez, UCLA's Maya Brady was voted Pac-12 Player of the Week and first-year Bruin Megan Grant was tabbed Pac-12 Freshman of the Week.
• Brady homered in all three games at then-No. 24 Arizona and led UCLA with seven RBIs in its third consecutive Pac-12 series sweep. Her fourth career Pac-12 Player of the Week award and second this season (Feb. 13), Brady is the seventh Bruin to collect four career Pac-12 Player of the Week awards (Stacey Nuveman - 9; Lisa Fernandez - 6; GiOnna DiSalvatore - 4; Rachel Garcia - 4; Stephany LaRosa - 4; Natasha Watley - 4).
• Grant recorded the first multi-homer game and first grand slam of her career in game three against Arizona to match a season high with five RBIs. She picked up a hit in each games last weekend to stretch her streak to 14 games, the longest by a UCLA freshman since Briana Perez in 2018 (21).
• Nationally, Pac-12 players have collected five of the NFCA's 20 weekly awards thus far (player, pitcher). In addition to Lopez, UCLA's Megan Faraimo was named Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week for the second time in her career on March 21. Offensively, UCLA's Maya Brady and Arizona's Olivia DiNardo were named Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Players of the Week on Feb. 14 and March 7, respectively.
• Pac-12 players have also won six of the 30 national awards (player, pitcher, freshman) handed out by D1 Softball.

QUICK HITTERS

• ARIZONA: Arizona paces the Conference in a number of offensive categories, including slugging (.549), on base percentage (.427), runs (303) and RBIs (276) and is second in batting (.342), hits (379), home runs (54) and walks (144). The Wildcats are fourth nationally in scoring, averaging 7.21 runs per game.
  • Freshman Olivia DiNardo is second in the Conference with a .436 batting average. She is tied for 20th in the NCAA and is second among the country's freshmen in that category behind Duke's D'Auna Jennings (.445).
• ARIZONA STATE: Senior infielder Jordyn VanHook is tied for sixth in the nation with 16 home runs after launching just five in her first three seasons. Nearly half of her 34 hits in 2023 have gone over the fence. She is second in the NCAA in home runs per game (0.42).
• CALIFORNIA: Cal's Conference-leading 56 home runs are fourth on the team single-season record list. The Bears hit 57 home runs as a team in 2022, ranking third in school history. With 1.37 home runs per game, Cal ranks 10th in the country. Cal's 123 extra-base hits (56 HR, 63 2B, 4 3B) lead the Pac-12 with Arizona (116) in second and Washington (115) in third.
  • The Golden Bears took down then-No. 2 UCLA on March 11, 8-0, for their first win over a top-five team since 2012. They took two of three from Arizona State March 24-26, their first series win against the Sun Devils since 2012.
• OREGON: Allee Bunker is third in program history in hits (266), second in doubles (45), fifth in RBIs (155) and tied for sixth in runs (154). With two more runs, Bunker would become the only player in program history ranked in the career top five in hits, doubles, runs and RBI.
• OREGON STATE: With 53 career home runs, Frankie Hammoude has set the school record (Tarrah Beyster - 52 - 1997-2000).
• STANFORD: Stanford is tied for sixth nationally with 17 total shutouts in its first 41 games. Last year, the Cardinal tied for fourth in the country with 21 shutouts in 61 games.
  • NiJaree Canady has only given up one earned run in 58 innings and leads the country with a 0.12 ERA this season.
  • Fellow first-year River Mahler is fourth in the Conference in batting average (.411) and sixth among all NCAA freshmen.
• UCLA: Megan Faraimo is 52 strikeouts away from becoming just the third player in UCLA history to record 1,000 strikeouts in a career. In the 1,000 K club are Anjelica Selden (1,441; 2005-08) and Keira Goerl (1,095; 2001-04).
  • Two of the Conference's top five in RBIs are UCLA freshmen in Megan Grant (3rd, 47) and Jordan Woolery (T5th, 40).
• UTAH: The Utes are seventh in the country in batting average, hitting .336 as a team, and ninth in scoring, averaging 6.78 runs per game. Utah's 2.24 steals per game average is 12th nationally and its 83 total stolen bases are just nine shy of the school record of 92 set in 1994.
• WASHINGTON: With a 14-3 record this season, first-year pitcher Ruby Meylan is tied for 36th nationally in total victories and is fourth in the Conference. Meylan's win total is tied for the NCAA lead among freshmen with Texas Tech's Sage Hoover, Boston University's Kasey Ricard and Jacksonville State's Jaliyah Holmes.

STAT LINES

• NCAA Top-10 Team Rankings: Batting Avg. - UCLA (3rd, .343), Arizona (4th, .342), Utah (7th, .336); ERA - Stanford (5th, 1.48), UCLA (8th, 1.59); Fielding % - Arizona (3rd, .982), Washington (5th, .982), Stanford (10th, .979); Home runs/game - California (10th, 1.37); OBP - Arizona (6th, .427), UCLA (10th, .418); Scoring - Arizona (4th, 7.21), Utah (9th, 6.78); Shutouts - Stanford (6th, 17), UCLA (6th, 17); Strikeout-to-walk ratio - UCLA (2nd, 5.82); Stanford (4th, 5.21); Winning % - UCLA (2nd; .907).
• NCAA Top-10 Individual Rankings: ERA - NiJaree Canady, STAN (1st, 0.12); Hits allowed per seven innings - NiJaree Canady, STAN (1st, 2.17); Home runs - Jordyn VanHook, ASU (6th, 16); Home runs per game - Jordyn VanHook, ASU (2nd, 0.42); RBIs - Allie Skaggs, ARIZ (3rd, 57); RBIs per game - Allie Skaggs, ARIZ (5th, 1.36), Ellessa Bonstrom, UTAH (9th, 1.22); Sacrifice flies - Megan Grant, UCLA (9th, 5), Julia Jimenez, UTAH (9th, 5); Saves - Marissa Schuld, ASU (6th, 5), Morgan Scott, ORE (6th, 5), Ruby Meylan, WASH (6th, 5); Slugging % - Maya Brady, UCLA (9th, .912); Strikeout-to-walk ratio - NiJaree Canady, STAN (5th, 8.50), Megan Faraimo, UCLA (7th, 8.18); Strikeouts per seven innings - NiJaree Canady, STAN (1st, 12.3); Total bases - Maya Brady, UCLA (4th, 114); Triples - Taylor Gindlesperger, STAN (7th, 6); Victories - Megan Faraimo, UCLA (1st, 22); Walks allowed per seven innings - Alana Vawter, STAN (6th, 0.67).

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).

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. Limited tickets are still available by visiting pac12.me/SBTix.

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). 

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:

• In Season
  • 1 thing we've learned about each Pac-12 softball team through midpoint of conference play (April 14)
  • 4 Pac-12 softball storylines to watch heading into second half of conference play (April 11)
  • Previewing the Stanford-UCLA softball series, a battle of top-10 teams (March 30)
  • Off to best Pac-12 start, Utah softball has Women's College World Series aspirations in 2023 (March 21)
  • Pitching, defense and freshmen fueling Stanford softball's nation-best winning streak (March 16)
  • These Pac-12 freshmen have shined bright to begin the 2023 softball season (Feb. 20)
• Preseason
  • 1 thing to know about all 9 Pac-12 softball teams entering the 2023 season
  • 1 must-watch non-conference matchup for every Pac-12 softball team
  • 1 freshman to know from each Pac-12 softball team in 2023
  • 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