Softball Pac-12 Conference

Pac-12 Softball Weekly Rundown - April 26, 2023

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

SAN FRANCISCO - A Top 25 matchup in Salt Lake City highlights this weekend's schedule, as Pac-12 softball continues down the stretch of its regular season.

No. 2 UCLA is at No. 23 Utah for a trio of games broadcast on Pac-12 Networks and a chance to clinch the Pac-12 regular-season title outright. The Bruins, which have won 17 games in a row, have already secured a share of the championship with a sweep of Arizona State last weekend. UCLA needs just one victory to be outright champions and wrap up the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Pac-12 Softball Tournament.

The Utes are the only team that has a chance to catch UCLA. Utah would need to sweep the Bruins this weekend and the Ducks next weekend to earn a share of the regular-season championship. Doing so would give the Utes the tiebreaker over the Bruins and the top seed at the Pac-12 Tournament.

The Bruins, 18-3 in league, are four games clear of second-place and No. 10 Washington at 14-7. The Bruins wrap up their Conference slate this weekend, while Washington is on its Pac-12 bye and finishes next weekend at No. 9 Stanford and Utah has six Pac-12 games remaining.

Just 2.5 games separate second-place Washington from the fifth-place Cardinal (10-8), so jockeying for Tournament seeding will continue in earnest with two regular-season weekends remaining.

In addition to UCLA at Utah, No. 14 Oregon, which has won nine straight, will look to continue its solid stretch at California, Arizona hosts Oregon State looking to snap a 13-game Conference losing, and Arizona State hosts Stanford in an attempt to stop its seven-game Pac-12 skid.

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 April 19 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 Womens 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. Womens 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 the 2023 Women's Professional Fastpitch Draft on April 17 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: Seven 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. 9 Stanford, No. 10 Washington, No. 14 Oregon and No. 23 Utah. With 13 points, California is second among a group of eight teams receiving votes, while Arizona is third with eight points.
  • At No. 14, the Ducks have risen to their highest spot in the poll this season and best since they were No. 14 on April 5, 2022.
  • 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, #10 Washington, #13 Oregon, #19 Utah, RV California, RV Arizona, RV Arizona State.
  • D1Softball : #2 UCLA, #10 Stanford, #11 Washington, #17 Oregon, #18 Utah.
  • Softball America : #2 UCLA, #10 Stanford, #11 Washington, #13 Oregon, #16 Utah.

RPI CHECK-IN: In the most recent update through games as of April 25, the Pac-12 is the nation's No. 3 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 second-highest total among all leagues (SEC). The Bruins are followed by No. 3 Stanford, No. 13 Washington, No. 18 Oregon, No. 26 Utah and No. 27 California.
  • Also in the top 50 are No. 44 Arizona and No. 47 Arizona State.
  • The Cardinal owns the nation's top strength of schedule, while Oregon State is second.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: Through the season's first 11 weeks, Pac-12 programs have combined to go 176-42 (.807) against non-league foes, the best non-conference winning percentage in the country ahead of the SEC (.802; 297-73-1).

  • 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 31-10, the Utes are off to their best 41-game start to a season since 2017 (32-9).

  • With just two Pac-12 series remaining, the Utes still have a chance to share the regular-season title with UCLA if they were to win their last six Conference games. Two weekends ago, 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 six games remaining, Utah's 12 Conference wins are tied for its third-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 stayed in the NFCA rankings at No. 23 this week, its fifth appearance in that poll this year.

BRUINS LEADING: Following a loss at Oregon on March 24, UCLA has reeled off 17 consecutive wins, including 14 in Conference, to bolt to the top of the Pac-12 standings at 18-3 with a four-game lead over Washington.

  • The Bruins' 14-game league winning streak is the longest active streak in the country among Power 5 programs. No. 1 Oklahoma is second with wins in 12 Big 12 contests in a row. UCLA's overall 17-game winning streak is third in the country behind only Oklahoma (34) and Boston U. (23).
  • The Bruins have already clinched a share of their 12th Pac-12 regular-season title and need just one more victory to win it outright.
  • Maya Brady is batting .449 with 15 home runs and 53 RBIs this season and is one of only two players in the country with those numbers along with Clemson's Valerie Cagle (.483, 18 HR, 53 RBIs). Brady leads the Pac-12 in batting average, hits (62), total bases (122), extra-base hits (27) and slugging percentage (.884), and ranks second in home runs and RBIs.

STANFORD'S STRONG START: No. 9 in the latest NFCA rankings, the Cardinal has been a top-10 program in seven 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 fourth in the nation in ERA (1.49), eighth in shutouts (17), third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.97) and 11th 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 34-10, the Cardinal is off to its best 44-game start to a season since 2011 (34-10).

WEEKLY AWARDS: Oregon collected both Pac-12 Player and Pitcher of the Week awards following its first sweep of Arizona since 2018.

  • The Ducks' Terra McGowan was voted Player of the Week after hitting .750 (6-for-8) and slugging 1.375 with two doubles, a home run, six RBIs and five runs scored.
  • Oregon's Morgan Scott was voted Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week for her 11 2/3 innings of work without allowing an earned run. She struck out 11 and walked none en route to a 2-0 record.
  • Stanford's NiJaree Canady was selected as Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the second time this season after tossing 15 2/3 innings, allowing only eight hits and two earned runs (0.89 ERA). She's one of two Cardinal to win multiple Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards ( Alana Vawter - 2021).
  • Nationally, Pac-12 players have collected five of the NFCA's 22 weekly awards thus far (player, pitcher). Utah's Mariah Lopez (Feb. 14, April 18) has won two Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week awards this season, while UCLA's Megan Faraimo received the honor 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 33 national awards (player, pitcher, freshman) handed out by D1 Softball.

QUICK HITTERS

  • ARIZONA: The Wildcats are seventh nationally in scoring, averaging 6.91 runs per game.
    • Freshman Olivia DiNardo is fourth in the Conference with a .408 batting average. She is 46th in the NCAA and is sixth among the country's freshmen in that category.
  • ARIZONA STATE: Senior infielder Jordyn VanHook is tied for fifth in the nation with 18 home runs after launching just five in her first three seasons. Half of her 36 hits in 2023 have gone over the fence. She is second in the NCAA in home runs per game (0.44).
  • CALIFORNIA: Cal's Conference-leading 59 home runs are third on the team single-season record list. The Bears' 64 home runs as a team (2013) are the second most all-time and the school single-season record is 84 in 2012. Cal's 131 extra-base hits (59 HR, 67 2B, 5 3B) lead the Pac-12 with Washington (124) in second and Arizona (119) 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: Over the weekend against Arizona, Allee Bunker became the only player in program history to be ranked in the UO career top five in hits, doubles, runs and RBIs. She's now third in hits (269), second in doubles (45) and fifth in runs (157) and RBIs (156).
    • Oregon is on a season-best nine-game winning streak. The Ducks' pitching staff has a 0.97 ERA in that span.
  • OREGON STATE: With 53 career home runs, Frankie Hammoude has set the school record ( Tarrah Beyster - 52 - 1997-2000).
  • STANFORD: Stanford is tied for eighth nationally with 17 total shutouts in its first 44 games. Last year, the Cardinal tied for fourth in the country with 21 shutouts in 61 games.
    • NiJaree Canady has only given up three earned run in 69 1/3 innings and leads the country with a 0.30 ERA this season.
    • Fellow first-year River Mahler is fifth in the Conference in batting average (.402) and eighth among all NCAA freshmen.
  • UCLA: Megan Faraimo is 32 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 (T2nd, 53) and Jordan Woolery (5th, 43).
  • UTAH: The Utes are eighth in the country in batting average, hitting .330 as a team, and 10th in scoring, averaging 6.59 runs per game. Utah's 2.15 steals per game average is 18th nationally and its 88 total stolen bases are just four shy of the school record of 92 set in 1994.
  • WASHINGTON: With a 15-4 record this season, first-year pitcher Ruby Meylan is tied for 42nd nationally in total victories and is fourth in the Conference. Meylan's win total is tied for third in the NCAA among freshmen.

STAT LINES

  • NCAA Top-10 Team Rankings: Batting Avg. - UCLA (3rd, .345), Arizona (5th, .335), Utah (9th, .328); ERA - Stanford (4th, 1.49), UCLA (7th, 57); Fielding % - Arizona (2nd, .983), Washington (6th, .981); OBP - UCLA (9th, .423), Arizona (10th, .418); Scoring - Arizona (6th, 6.91), Utah (10th, 6.52); Shutouts - UCLA (5th, 18), Stanford (8th, 17); Strikeout-to-walk ratio - UCLA (2nd, 5.56); Stanford (3rd, 4.97); Winning % - UCLA (2nd; .915).
  • NCAA Top-10 Individual Rankings: ERA - NiJaree Canady, STAN (1st, 0.30); Hits allowed per seven innings - NiJaree Canady, STAN (1st, 2.32); Home runs - Jordyn VanHook, ASU (5th, 18); Home runs per game - Jordyn VanHook, ASU (2nd, 0.44); RBIs - Allie Skaggs, ARIZ (3rd, 57), Maya Brady, UCLA (9th, 53), Megan Grant, UCLA (9th, 53); RBIs per game - Allie Skaggs, ARIZ (6th, 1.24), Ellessa Bonstrom, UTAH (10th, 1.18); Sacrifice flies - Megan Grant, UCLA (10th, 5), Julia Jimenez, UTAH (10th, 5); Saves - Marissa Schuld, ASU (10th, 5), Morgan Scott, ORE (10th, 5), Ruby Meylan, WASH (10th, 5); Slugging % - Maya Brady, UCLA (9th, .884), Jordyn VanHook, ASU (10th, .865); Strikeout-to-walk ratio - NiJaree Canady, STAN (4th, 8.36); Strikeouts - Megan Faraimo, UCLA (7th, 200); Strikeouts per seven innings - NiJaree Canady, STAN (1st, 11.8); Total bases - Maya Brady, UCLA (3rd, 122); Toughest to strikeout - Baylee Klingler, WASH (7th, 34.0); Triples - Taylor Gindlesperger, STAN (9th, 6); Victories - Megan Faraimo, UCLA (1st, 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 Conferences softball head coaches as the leagues 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 Conferences 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 Acua (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 nations 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 Womens 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:

UPCOMING SCHEDULE ( Full Schedule )

Wednesday, April 26
California at Saint Mary's WCC Network 3 p.m. PT
#9 Stanford at Fresno State Mountain West Network 6 p.m. PT
Washington at Seattle U ESPN+ 6 p.m. PT
Thursday, April 27
#14 Oregon at Pacific WCC Network 4 p.m. PT
Friday, April 28
#14 Oregon at California California Live Stream 3 p.m. PT
#2 UCLA at #23 Utah Pac-12 Los Angeles
Pac-12 Mountain 		5 p.m. PT
Oregon State at Arizona Arizona Live Stream 6 p.m. PT
#9 Stanford at Arizona State Arizona State Live Stream 6 p.m. PT
Saturday, April 29
#14 Oregon at California California Live Stream 1 p.m. PT
#2 UCLA at #23 Utah Pac-12 Los Angeles
Pac-12 Mountain 		1 p.m. PT
#9 Stanford at Arizona State Arizona State Live Stream 5 p.m. PT
Oregon State at Arizona Arizona Live Stream 6 p.m. PT
Sunday, April 29
#2 UCLA at #23 Utah Pac-12 Los Angeles
Pac-12 Mountain 		11 a.m. PT
Utah Valley at #10 Washington Pac-12 Washington 11 a.m. PT
Oregon State at Arizona Arizona Live Stream noon PT
#14 Oregon at California California Live Stream noon PT
#9 Stanford at Arizona State Arizona State Live Stream noon PT
Monday, May 1
#2 UCLA at BYU BYUtv noon PT

CONFERENCE STANDINGS ( Expanded Standings )

Teams Pac-12 Record Overall Record
#2 UCLA 18-3 44-4
#10 Washington 14-7 33-10
#23 Utah 12-6 31-10
#14 Oregon 11-7 31-11
#9 Stanford 10-8 34-10
California 7-10-1 30-14-1
Arizona State 5-13 21-20
Oregon State 3-14-1 12-25-1
Arizona 3-15 25-21

PAC-12 SOFTBALL WEEKLY AWARDS

Player Pitcher Freshman
Feb. 13 Maya Brady, UCLA Megan Faraimo, UCLA Taylor Tinsley, UCLA
Feb. 20 Jordyn VanHook, ASU NiJaree Canady, STAN NiJaree Canady, STAN
Feb. 27 Devyn Netz, ARIZ Stevie Hansen, ORE Ruby Meylan, WASH
March 6 Olivia DiNardo, ARIZ NiJaree Canady, STAN Olivia DiNardo, STAN
March 13 Ellessa Bonstrom, UTAH Brooke Yanez, UCLA Megan Grant, UCLA
March 20 Ellessa Bonstrom, UTAH Megan Faraimo, UCLA Abby Dayton, UTAH
March 27 Madison Huskey, WASH Megan Faraimo, UCLA Alana Johnson, WASH
April 3 Aaliyah Jordan, UCLA Megan Faraimo, UCLA Elon Butler, CAL
April 10 Sami Reynolds, WASH Alana Vawter, STAN Abby Dayton, UTAH
April 17 Maya Brady, UCLA Mariah Lopez, UTAH Megan Grant, UCLA
April 24 Terra McGowan, ORE Morgan Scott, ORE NiJaree, Canady, STAN

NATIONAL WEEKLY HONORS

Award - Recipient
Feb. 14 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Player of the Week - Maya Brady, UCLA
Feb. 14 Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week - Mariah Lopez, UTAH
Feb. 14 D1 Softball Player of the Week - Maya Brady, UCLA
Feb. 14 D1 Softball Freshman of the Week - Ruby Meylan, WASH
Feb. 21 D1 Softball Freshman of the Week - NiJaree Canady, STAN
Feb. 27 D1 Softball Player of the Week - Devyn Netz, ARIZ
Feb. 27 D1 Softball Pitcher of the Week - Stevie Hansen, ORE
March 7 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Player of the Week - Olivia DiNardo, ARIZ
March 7 D1 Softball Freshman of the Week - NiJaree Canady, STAN
March 21 Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week - Megan Faraimo, UCLA
April 18 Wilson/NFCA Pitcher of the Week - Mariah Lopez, UTAH