ERIC M. JUKELEVICS/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA sophomore Leneah Manuma slides into second base earlier this month against UCLA at Hillenbrand Stadium. The Wildcats take on Oklahoma State tonight in Oklahoma City, followed by a matchup with Oklahoma tomorrow.

Mike Candrea's Arizona softball teams have never been strangers to the playing fields of ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

This season, their first trip to the site of the College World Series just comes a little earlier than usual.

In what likely will not be No. 1 UA's last visit to Oklahoma City this year, the Wildcats take on Oklahoma State (26-15) tonight and face No. 9 Oklahoma (36-10) tomorrow as part of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Softball Challenge.

Candrea agreed to the non-conference matchups several years ago and the two-game set will give a freshman-laden squad the chance to play on a field that every UA team for the past 14 seasons has finished the season on.

"The event will give us some good non-conference games, but they're not at the best time," said Candrea before his team left for its current 10-day road swing. "I committed to it a couple of years ago not knowing what our conference schedule would be like, so you make a commitment and you stick to it.

"It makes for a little longer road trip, but it will be a good experience and it'll be a very busy week."

According to several players and coaches, the trip will also allow the Wildcat freshmen the chance to get used to the stadium's unusual field conditions before May's College World Series.

"It's an opportunity to play at that stadium and the playing surface is a little different," assistant coach Larry Ray said.

But for junior transfer Lovie Jung - who twice played at Hall of Fame Stadium as a Fresno State Bulldog - the beautiful complex in Oklahoma City covers up somewhat of an ugly playing field.

"It'll be nice for the younger girls because it's not one of the best fields in the nation," Jung said. "The stadium's great but the playing field is really not that good."

Coming off a three-game sweep in Oregon, Arizona will face a Sooners team tomorrow that very nearly prevented the Wildcats from appearing in last year's national championship game.

Trailing the 2000 NCAA champions heading into the seventh inning, sophomore catcher Mackenzie Vandergeest delivered a game-tying home run that propelled UA to the extra-inning victory.

While the Wildcats (38-5 overall, 7-1 Pacific 10 Conference) would rather save their Oklahoma City magic for the end of May, this weekend will give them the chance to stack up against some of the nation's best outside of the Pac-10.

"With so many young kids, it was a good move on coach's part to schedule it," Ray said. "I think it'll turn out to be a good thing - it's definitely going to test us."