Latest USA Today/NFCA Top-25 poll: No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Stanford, No. 12 Washington, No. 18 Arizona, No. 19 California, and No. 24 Oregon. 

The league’s All-Conference awards were announced on Tuesday. UCLA’s Maya Brady was voted the Pac-12 Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, Stanford’s NiJaree Canady was tabbed the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year, Arizona’s Tayler Biehl and Oregon’s Paige Sinicki are the Co-Defensive Players of the Year, UCLA’s Kaitlyn Terry was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, and UCLA head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez is the Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the second straight year. Utah’s Abby Dayton is this season’s Pac-12 Batting Champion after hitting a league-high .444.

The Pac-12 Tournament gets underway Wednesday, May 8 with No. 8 seed Oregon State takes on No. 9 seed Arizona State at 7 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. MT on Pac-12 Network. The Beavers won two of three over the Sun Devils back in March. Arizona State is 90-43 all-time against Oregon State. The winner will go on to face No. 1 seed UCLA on Thursday at 4 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. MT.

Thursday features four games, the first beginning at 10 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. MT between No. 3 seed Oregon and reigning tournament champion No. 6 seed Utah. The Ducks took the regular-season series, outscoring the Utes, 32-14, including a 20-3 win in the opener, Oregon’s most runs scored in a game since 2015.

It’s a Battle of the Bay in game two on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. PT / 1:30 p.m. MT, as host No. 2 seed Stanford takes on No. 7 seed California. The Cardinal advanced to the semifinals a season ago, while the Golden Bears fell to eventual champion Utah in the quarterfinal. 

No. 4 seed Washington faces No. 5 seed Arizona at 6:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. MT to wrap up Thursday’s play. The Huskies have won five of their last six against the Wildcats.

Quick Hits

• The Pac-12 (.753) has the third-highest non-conference Division I winning percentage among all other leagues, trailing just the SEC (.853) and the Big 12 (.778).
• Three Pac-12 teams rank in the top-25 nationally in batting average: No. 14 Arizona - .329, No. 17 Washington - .323 & No. 23 UCLA - .317. Three also rank in the top-25 in fielding percentage: No. 2 Arizona - .982, No. 3 Washington - .981 & No. 23 Oregon - .975.
  • The Wildcats and Ducks are two of seven teams nationally who rank in the top-25 in both batting average and fielding percentage (also, Boston U, Duke, Florida, Oklahoma and UIW), showing their dominance both offensively and defensively.
• Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year NiJaree Canady leads NCAA DI in ERA (0.53) and her 10.7 K/7 ranks third. 
  • Her ERA is on pace to be the best by a Pac-12 pitcher since 2002 (UCLA’s Keira Goerl - 0.48).
• Player of the Year Maya Brady ranks in the top 10 in various UCLA career records: Runs scored: No. 4 - 215; Doubles: No. T-10 - 45; Home runs: No. 2 - 69; RBU: No. 2 - 239; Slugging percentage: No. 2 - .760.
• Oregon’s Kai Luschar and Washington’s Brooklyn Carter are both averaging 0.57 stolen bases per game, which ranks in the top 25 of NCAA DI.
  • Both these teams rank in the top 50 in the same category: No. 22 Oregon - 1.83, No. 46 Washington - 1.51.
• Pac-12 statistical rankings:
  • Hits per game: No. 3 - 7.91
  • Runs per game: No. 4 - 5.18 
  • Home runs per game: No. 4 - 1.01
  • RBI per game: No. 5 - 4.66
• Five Pac-12 players rank in the top 50 nationally in batting average: No. 10 Utah’s Abby Dayton - .444, No. 24 Oregon’s Kai Luschar - .425, No. 33 Arizona’s Regan Shockey - .420, No. 37 Utah’s Haley Denning - .418, No. 47 California’s Tatum Anzaldo - .412.
• The Pac-12 has placed five or more teams in every NFCA top-25 poll this season.

Rankings Rundown

• USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Poll: No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Stanford, No. 12 Washington, No. 18 Arizona, No. 19 California, and No. 24 Oregon. 
• D1Softball: No. 5 UCLA, No. 6 Stanford, No. 14 Washington, No. 16 Arizona, No. 22 Oregon and No. 24 California.
• Softball America: No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Stanford, No. 15 Washington, and No. 22 Arizona.
• ESPN.com/USA Softball: No. 6 UCLA, No. 8 Stanford, No. 11 Washington, No. 19 Arizona, No. 22 Oregon and RV California.
• NCAA RPI Rankings (through 5/6): No. 6 Stanford, No. 10 UCLA, No. 21 California, No. 23 Arizona, No. 25 Washington, No. 31 Oregon, No. 42 Utah, No. 71 Oregon State and No. 85 Arizona State.

Conference Notebook

• Arizona: Regan Shockey ranks third nationally among all NCAA DI freshmen with a .420 batting average, which is the third best in the Pac-12. Shockey’s mark is on pace to be the sixth highest batting average by a Wildcat freshman in Arizona history. 
• Arizona State: The Sun Devils pace the Pac-12 with 15 triples, their most as a team since at least 2010. Kayla Lissy leads the squad with four.
• California: Elon Butler and Lagi Quiroga are both tied for the Pac-12 lead in home runs with 16 apiece. The Golden Bears rank eighth nationally with 1.48 home runs per game, and their 77 home runs on the year not only leads the league but are the second most hit in a season in program history, trailing the 2012 squad who hit 84.
• Oregon: Elise Sokolsky led the then-No. 21 Ducks past then-No. 6 Stanford on Sunday with a complete-game shutout, allowing just two hits while striking out six. The redshirt sophomore is the first Duck to throw a 1-0 shutout against a NFCA top-six team since Jessica Moore shut out No. 1 California on April 21, 2012.
• Oregon State: The Beavers are eying their first-ever Pac-12 Tournament win after falling to No. 2 seed Washington a season ago. The last time Oregon State battled it out in the postseason on The Farm, they swept Stanford in the Super Regionals to reach the 2022 Women’s College World Series. Sarah Haendiges tossed 4.1 scoreless innings in the clincher.
• Stanford: The Cardinal have 50 homers this season, their most since 2008 when they hit 53. Stanford is led by Aly Kaneshiro, who has 10 this year and needs two more to break into the top-10 in Cardinal season history. 
• UCLA: The Bruins are 29-1 when scoring five or more runs in a game this season, with that lone loss coming against then-No. 8 Washington (6-5). UCLA ranks second in the Pac-12 with 6.09 runs per game.
• Utah: Haley Denning is the NCAA DI active leader in hits with 305, and fourth in at-bats at 782, both of which are Utah program records. Her .393 career batting average is on pace to be a Ute record, with the leader Hannah Flippen (2014-17) having an average of .392.
• Washington: The Huskies are one of seven teams in NCAA DI to post a batting average of .320 and an ERA of 2.52 or better (also Boston U, Duke, Grand Canyon, Oklahoma, Southeastern La. and Texas). Washington is on pace to have its lowest team ERA since 2019 when it had a 1.47, and its highest batting average since 2020 (.365).

Watch List

• 11 Pac-12 players are on USA Softball’s Top 50 “Watch List” for Player of the Year: Maya Brady, UCLA; NiJaree Canady, STAN; Megan Grant, UCLA; Stevie Hansen, ORE; Taryn Kern, STAN; Mariah Lopez, UTAH; Ruby Meylan, WASH; Sharlize Palacios, UCLA; Carlie Scupin, ARIZ; Allie Skaggs, ARIZ; Jordan Woolery, UCLA. 

Watch List

• 11 Pac-12 players are on USA Softball’s Top 50 “Watch List” for Player of the Year: Maya Brady, UCLA; NiJaree Canady, STAN; Megan Grant, UCLA; Stevie Hansen, ORE; Taryn Kern, STAN; Mariah Lopez, UTAH; Ruby Meylan, WASH; Sharlize Palacios, UCLA; Carlie Scupin, ARIZ; Allie Skaggs, ARIZ; Jordan Woolery, UCLA. 

Additions & Returners

• Every Pac-12 program was ranked in the top-45 of Extra Inning Softball’s 2023 team recruiting rankings: No. 7 Washington, No. 8 UCLA, No. 9 Arizona, No. 13 Oregon, No. 31 Stanford, No. 33 Arizona State, No. 34 California, No. 44 Oregon State, No. 45 Utah.
• The Pac-12 returns 12 First-Team All-Conference members from a season ago: Tatum Anzaldo (CAL); Aliya Belarde (UTAH), Brady (UCLA), NiJaree Canady, (STAN), Abby Dayton (UTAH), Megan Grant (UCLA), Dakota Kennedy (ARIZ), Mariah Lopez (UTAH), River Mahler (STAN), Ruby Meylan (WASH), Allie Skaggs (ARIZ) and Jordan Woolery (UCLA).
• Six 2023 NFCA All-Americans will suit up for Pac-12 teams this year: Brady, Grant, Taryn Kern, Lopez, Woolery & Meylan.
  • Stanford added 2023 NFCA Second Team All-American Kern this offseason, who transferred in from Indiana.

PowHER of the PAC

• All nine Pac-12 softball programs are led by female head coaches.
• Six of nine are leading their alma maters: Jessica Allister, STAN; Amy Hogue, UTAH; Kelly Inouye-Perez, UCLA; Caitlin Lowe, ARIZ; Chelsea Spencer, CAL; Heather Tarr, WASH.

Preseason Coaches Poll

• Stanford received seven first-place votes and 63 total points to finish atop the 2024 preseason coaches poll for the first time in Pac-12 history. Reigning regular-season champion UCLA was second with 54 points, while Utah came in third with 49 points and one first-place vote. Washington grabbed the remaining first-place vote and 45 points to finish fourth. 2023 Pac-12 Player of the Year and Batting Champion Brady of UCLA headlined the 20-member Preseason All-Pac-12 Team. 

2024 Pac-12 Softball Tournament

• Stanford’s Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium will host the 2024 Pac-12 Softball Tournament, which takes place from May 8-11. 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 41 NCAA softball championships all-time, 17 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). The Pac-12 sent six teams to the NCAA Tournament a season ago, with three teams advancing to the Women’s College World Series, the most of any other conference. 

2024 Pac-12 Softball Tournament (subject to change) 

Pac-12 Standings (Full Standings)

Pac-12 Softball Weekly Awards