The final week of the Pac-12 softball regular season begins Friday and storylines abound. From individual accolades to Pac-12 Tournament seeding, a lot will be determined in the closing games.

Here are some things to keep an eye on.

Another Triple Crown?

Last season, Washington's Baylee Klingler became the first Pac-12 softball player since 1994 to win the Conference's Triple Crown. It could happen again this season, only this time it's UCLA's Maya Brady in the running.

The Bruins’ star outfielder-turned-shortstop currently leads the Pac-12 with a .454 batting average while ranking second in home runs (16) and RBI (58). Brady trails Arizona State's Jordyn VanHook by two homers and Arizona's Allie Skaggs by three RBI.

UCLA has already concluded its conference slate, so it wraps up the regular season with home games against Loyola Marymount and San Diego State, a caliber of competition that could work in Brady's favor.

Can Oregon keep winning? 

The Ducks are flying high right now, reeling off 13 straight wins heading into their final regular-season series vs. No. 24 Utah. Their pitching trio of Stevie Hansen, Morgan Scott and Raegan Breedlove has posted a 1.17 ERA over that stretch. Meanwhile, catcher Terra McGowan and utility Allee Bunker were voted the Pac-12 Player of the Week the last two weeks thanks to their hot bats.

Tied with Washington in second place, the Ducks have a chance to secure their highest finish in the Pac-12 since 2018 when they won the Conference, and have put themselves in position to be among the 16 teams to host an NCAA Regional, currently ranking 13th in the latest NFCA poll and 16th in RPI.

A series win over the Utes could cement the Ducks' case. A deep run in the inaugural Pac-12 Softball Tournament in Tucson next week wouldn't hurt, either.

Freshmen making their last impression 

The Conference has several strong candidates for Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, one of whom may very well be the National Freshman of the Year, too. These youngsters are that good.

Stanford's NiJaree Canady leads the entire country in ERA (0.39), hits allowed per seven innings (2.60) and strikeouts per seven innings (12.3).

UCLA's Megan Grant is tied for third in the Pac-12 in RBI (54) and fourth in homers (12) while playing sound defense at multiple positions. First baseman Jordan Woolery isn't far behind with 10 homers and 45 RBI while hitting .405, the third-best mark in the Pac-12.

Washington pitcher Ruby Meylan is 15-4 with six saves, a 2.11 ERA and 167 strikeouts, the second-most in the conference.

Many more names could be mentioned, so good luck to the coaches who have to vote for the winner. Maybe one can create some separation in the final week of the regular season.

Four of the top five seeds up for grabs

Regular-season champion UCLA is the only team that has secured its seed in the Pac-12 Softball Tournament. Seeds 2-5 will be some combination of No. 9 Washington (14-7), No. 13 Oregon (14-7), No. 6 Stanford (13-8) and No. 24 Utah (12-9).

The fun part? Oregon hosts Utah and Washington visits Stanford, the latter of which will air on the ESPN family of networks.

The Huskies are in the driver's seat for No. 2 seed, already owning head-to-head tiebreakers over the Ducks and Utes. Utah owns the tiebreaker over Stanford and Stanford owns the tiebreaker over Oregon.

There are two scenarios of a three-way tie. If Stanford and Utah each win two of three this weekend, Stanford, Washington and Oregon would tie for second place and be seeded in the Pac-12 Tournament in that order, according to the Conference's tiebreaking procedures, which you can find here.

If Utah sweeps Oregon and Stanford goes 2-1 vs. Washington, then Utah, Stanford and Washington would tie for second and be seeded in that order.

Which teams will avoid Game 1?

The Pac-12 Softball Tournament opens with a standalone game between the No. 8 and 9 seeds on Wednesday. Not only does that mean those teams have to win a game to reach the quarterfinals, it also means the winner has to face a red-hot UCLA team that has won 21 games in a row.

In other words, the four teams at risk of finishing eighth and ninth — California (7-13-1), Arizona (5-16), Arizona State (5-16), and Oregon State (4-16-1) — want to avoid that at all costs.

We could get lost in the weeds discussing every possible seeding scenario, but here is what you need to know:

Cal holds the head-to-head tiebreakers over Arizona State and Oregon State, so it needs just one win at Arizona to secure the 6-seed or an OSU win over ASU to earn the 7-seed.

Arizona owns the head-to-head tiebreakers over ASU and OSU and can claim the 6-seed by sweeping Cal.

ASU needs to win at least one more game than Arizona this weekend to earn the 7-seed.

To avoid playing Wednesday, the Beavers have to win at least two games vs. ASU and have Cal sweep Arizona, or they have to sweep ASU and have Arizona lose at least two games vs. Cal. Oregon State has no path to the 6-seed due to Cal holding the head-to-head tiebreaker because of the Bears' win over top-seeded UCLA.