WCWS Berth On The Line In Berkeley
May 22, 2012
SEATTLE - No. 1 seed Cal and No. 16 seed Washington will meet in Berkeley, Calif., Saturday and Sunday for the NCAA Super Regionals with the winner to advance to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City next weekend.
The Huskies (39-17) won the Seattle Regional, going 3-0 with wins over Harvard (twice) and Texas Tech. Cal (54-5) went 4-1 having to go through the loser's bracket and beat Arkansas twice in the championship game. Both games, and game three if necessary, will be on ESPN2. Saturday's game is at 7 p.m. PT and Sunday's at 4 p.m. followed by game three.
Mike Brown and Alyssa Olveda will be calling all the games live via all-access on www.gohuskies.com for free. Live stats are free provided by Cal on the website as well.
The UW and Cal met on the second week of the Pac-12 season in Berkeley with the Golden Bears taking the series, 3-0. All three games were close, 2-1, 5-3 and 6-4.
This will be just the third meeting between the Huskies and Golden Bears in the postseason and first in Super Regionals. The UW is 2-0 in those games vs. Cal winning 9-7 in 1996 and 3-0 in 1999 both at the WCWS.
This is the fourth-straight year the UW will compete in the Super Regionals. The Huskies advanced to the WCWS in two of those years; 2009 and 2010 winning the 2009 National Championship.
The Huskies were ranked No. 18 in both national polls two weeks ago and finished 18 in the regular season polls. The UW was as high as No. 3 in the country in the polls after starting the season 32-1.
The UW currently sits 18 in the latest RPI. In 2012 regular season, the Huskies ended with a 36-17 record and earned an at-large berth into the tournament.
This is the 19th-straight postseason appearance for the UW. The Huskies are 83-36 all-time in the NCAA tournament. Since UW started the program in 1993, the Huskies have won 14 Regionals and have been to the Women's College World Series 10 times; tied for fourth in all-time WCWS Appearances. Coach Tarr has an impressive 40-16 postseason record.
Scouting No. 1/1 Cal
Cal is ranked No. 1 in both polls and the No. 1 overall seed in the 2012 NCAA Tournament with a 54-5 record. This is the first time since 1993 that Cal has hosted postseason, when Sacramento State and Long Beach State traveled to Berkeley. In that Cal Regional, Long Beach State beat Cal 2-1 to advance to the WCWS. The year before, the Bears hosted San Jose State and beat the Spartans 6-1 to earn a trip to Oklahoma City. The first and only other time the Bears have hosted postseason played was in 1990, when San Jose State and UNLV made the trek to Berkeley with the Running Rebels winning it all by beating Cal 2-1. This year, Cal hosted Iona, Arkansas and Boston U, defeating Iona, falling to Arkansas, beating BU in the loser's bracket and Arkansas twice in the championship to advance. Cal is 16-3 at home this season. They are led by Jamia Reid with 47 stolen bases and a .395 average. Valerie Arioto has been one of the top pitchers/hitters all year in the country. She is batting .387 with 22 home runs, a .968 slugging percentage and 87 walks. In the circle, she is 20-3 with a 1.32 ERA. Jolene Henderson is the other ace in the circle with a 34-2 record, 1.16 ERA and 284 strikeouts.
Pac-12 Teams In The NCAA Tournament
Pac-12 schools have been dominant in the tournament. In the last six consecutive years, a Pac-12 school was crowned national champions. Since the inaugural NCAA tournament season in 1982, the Pac-12 has sent a team to the final series 28 of 30 years with a combined 23 national championship titles (UCLA-11, Arizona-8, Arizona State-2, Washington-1, Cal-1). The only other teams that have won the title came from the Big 10 (Michigan), the Big 12 (Oklahoma, Texas A&M), the WAC (Fresno State), and the Big West Conference (Cal State Fullerton). This year, five Pac-12 schools made Super Regionals: UW, Cal, Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon as UCLA, Stanford and Oregon State lost in Regional play.
Ticket Information
All-session passes for the Berkeley Super Regional will go on sale on Tuesday, May 22 at 9 a.m.. Fans are strongly encouraged to purchase all-session passes as soon as they go on sale because if the all-session passes sellout, day-of, individual game passes will not be available.
Fans can purchase tickets by stopping by the Athletic Ticket Office in Berkeley, calling 800-GO-BEARS and online by clicking here.
Berkeley Super Regional Ticket Prices:
All-Session Chairback: $35
All-Session Adult Bleacher: $25
All-Session Senior/Youth(12 Grade and Under)/Student Bleacher: $15
Become A Husky Fan On Social Media
Fans can follow the Husky softball team and receive updates throughout the off-season on the UW Softball Twitter page by logging on to www.twitter.com/UWSoftball. Head coach Heather Tarr has her own account, follow her at www.twitter.com/CoachTarr. The Huskies can also be found on Facebook via the Washington Softball fan page at www.facebook.com/UWHuskySoftball.
Senior Class Winning Percentages
Arizona State has compile a list of the 2012 seniors' win percentages across the country and UW's four seniors of Jenna Clifton, Kimi Pohlman, Taylor Smith and Nikia Williams rank 7th with a 7.70 winning percentage.
1. Alabama 212-39 = .845
2. Florida 216-41 = .840
3. Missouri 200-47 = .810
4. Louisiana Lafayette 193-46 = .808
5. Arizona State 199-48 = .806
6. Georgia 192-54 = .780
7. Washington 177-53 = .770
8. Tennessee 188-56-1 = .767
9. Oklahoma 179-55 = .765
10. California 181-56 = .764
11. Notre Dame 175-56 = .758
12. UCLA 167-59 = .739
13. Arizona 179-65 = .734
Huskies Win Seattle Regional
The Huskies had a week off between the end of Pac-12 play and NCAA Regionals. On Selection Sunday the UW found out it would be the No. 16 overall seed and host NCAA Regionals for the third-straight season. Also in the Seattle Regional would be Harvard, Maryland and Texas Tech. Harvard would advance to the championship game to face the Huskies for the second time but the UW finished a 3-0 sweep with three shutouts to take the Regional Championship. Shawna Wright, Nikia Williams and Kimberlee Souza were the big hitters on the weekend. All three UW pitchers, Kasey Stanchek, Bryana Walker and Kaitlin Inglesby combined for 21 shutout innings.
Three Huskies Named To All-Pacific Region
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced their All-Region team and three Huskies were included in the Pacific Region selections. Senior Nikia Williams represents UW on the first-team, while senior Kimi Pohlman and sophomore Kaitlin Inglesby were awarded second-team honors. A two-time All-American selection, Williams (Mission Viejo, Calif.) has earned All-Region honors for the fourth consecutive year. Pohlman (Sammamish, Wash.) has earned All-Region honors for the third time in her Husky career while this is Ingelsby's (Portland, Ore.) first All-Region selection. A total of 263 players representing 129 different institutions comprise this season's regional teams, including first and second teams for each region. The all-region teams were chosen by NFCA member coaches from each region, and all the honorees will now be eligible for selection to one of three 2012 NFCA Division I All-American teams. In addition, conference pitchers and players of the year not selected to the regional teams were added for All-America consideration. Just five of the 129 teams that received an award this season had each of their six nominees selected to an all-region team. No. 2 Arizona State, No. 3 Alabama, No. 7 Louisiana-Lafayette, No 12 Oregon and No. 15 UCLA all placed six student-athletes on one of their respective region's two teams. Alabama was the only team this year to place all six of its nominees on its respective region's first team. Louisiana-Lafayette and No. 5 Tennessee followed closely behind the Tide with five first-team choices each. The 2012 NFCA Division I All-America teams will be announced at 4 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, May 30, on NFCA.org.
Six Huskies Earn All Pac-12 Honors
Six UW softball players were honored by the Pac-12 and named to all-conference team. Senior Kimi Pohlman and sophomore Kaitlin Inglesby were named to the first team, senior Nikia Williams earned second-team honors and sophomore Victoria Hayward and freshmen Kylee Lahners and Kimberlee Souza earned honorable mention. Pohlman (Sammamish, Wash.) was also a first-team selection last year, a second-team honoree in 2010 and earned all-freshman honors in 2009. She was one of 25 finalists for the USA Softball Player of the Year this season and in Pac-12 play had 13 runs, 23 hits, four doubles, a triple and seven stolen bases. The sophomore pitcher, Inglesby (Portland, Ore.), earned first-team honors this year after being named second-team and all-freshman team a year ago. She was also one of the 25 finalists for the USA Softball Player of the Year and named national player/pitcher of the week and earned Pac-12 weekly honors. She led the team in conference play in batting (.379), doubles (five), home runs (five), RBI (24), total bases (45) and slugging percentage (.682). Williams, along with Pohlman, has earned all-conference honors all four seasons. The Mission Viejo, Calif., native earned first-team honors last year, second-team in 2010 and all-freshman honors in 2009. Williams was one of the top 50 Preseason Selections for USA Player of the Year this season. In the Pac-12, Williams was tied for second on the team batting .333 with three home runs and 19 walks. This is the first all-conference honor for Hayward (Mountain View, Calif.) who tied with Williams for a .333 batting average in Pac-12 play. She also had 26 hits, eight stolen bases and a perfect fielding percentage. Lahners earned honorable mention and all-freshmen honorable mention. The Laguna Hills, Calif., native was solid for UW at second base, leading a young group of infielders. She had two doubles and a home run in conference play. Souza was named to honorable mention on the all-freshmen team. Starting at shortstop for UW in all 23 conference games, the Waialua, Hawai'i., native had 12 hits, two doubles, a triple and a home run.
