Softball set for another shot at championship

The top-ranked Arizona softball team was picked as the No. 1 NCAA softball seed and will begin its NCAA Region 1 play tomorrow at home.

UA's Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium will host Arizona against Colorado State (35-13), Minnesota (35-18-1) against California State Northridge (26-21), Texas A&M (35-20) against Boston College (33-20) and South Carolina (38-18) against Princeton (23-19-1).

The Wildcats take the field at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow against the No. 8 seed, Colorado State.

The winner of this Region 1 double-elimination tournament earns a place in the eight-team Women's College World Series, May 22-26 in Oklahoma City.

Under Candrea, the Wildcats hold an all-time record of 976-189, are 46-6 in the NCAA Regional and hold a 43-18 College World Series Record.

The team needed just one win in its final three-game home series in order to clinch its seventh Pacific-10 Conference Title.

But the Wildcats topped that by winning two games, squeaking past No. 2 UCLA and splitting their doubleheader with Washington.

Both games were won in the bottom of the seventh inning by sophomore third baseman Jackie Coburn, who has struggled offensively for most of the season.

"That was my fourth at bat and I told everyone that I wanted to do something and end this game," Coburn said after she lifted Arizona to a 7-5 win with a blast over the right-field wall Friday night against the Bruins. "I wasn't expecting that, but it felt great. I've been struggling and the team's been supportive for my ups and downs."

Coburn's two-out, two-run homer clinched the team's Pac-10 Conference title and was done in front of a Hillenbrand Stadium record crowd of 3,227 people.

๗ Lindsey Manroel

Baseball makes final push toward playoffs

With two series left in head coach Andy Lopez's second season at Arizona, his team is two wins away from its first regional berth since 1999.

Two weeks from now, the Wildcats hope to have accomplished both of their preseason goals ๗ winning the Pacific-10 Conference and earning a regional berth ๗ at which time they'll focus on a new number: One, as in No. 1 in the country. That would be an honor Arizona will only earn if it makes it through regionals to Omaha, Neb., site of the College World Series. But after exceeding expectations all year long, the players think anything is possible for this year's squad.

"I think we're going to make the Series this year," senior Wes Zlotoff said. "We have a legitimate chance."

Lopez ๗ who knows better than anyone what it takes to win a title after leading Pepperdine to the 1992 CWS championship ๗ said he likes his team's chances.

"We've played well for a long stretch, and if you keep playing well you can win," Lopez said. "I don't believe (Pepperdine) was the best team in the nation in 1992; I believe we were playing the best at the end. The best team doesn't always win ๗ it's the team that's playing the best."

But first, the Wildcats (33-17, 11-7 Pac-10) face Oregon State this weekend at home. Though the conference cellar-dwelling Beavers (21-24, 5-13) don't pose much of a threat on paper, Lopez said he knows the importance of every conference series, especially those late in the season.

"I think anytime you play in the Pac-10, it's going to be a test," he said. "Every weekend's going to be a tough weekend ๗ you've just got to grind it out."

The real test comes next weekend, when Arizona travels to Tempe for the annual three-game donnybrook with bitter rival Arizona State (44-9, 10-5). This year, with Arizona contending for the first time in recent memory ๗the Wildcats trail ASU by half a game for second going into this weekend's games ๗ the series has new meaning for the players in cardinal and navy.