KEVIN B. KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA freshman shortstop Kristie Fox fields a grounder during the Wildcats' 3-1 win Wednesday night at Hillenbrand Stadium. Fox and the top-ranked Arizona squad welcomes Pac-10 foes Cal and Stanford Tucson this weekend.

Arizona softball looks to keep its undefeated home record intact as California and Stanford come to Hillenbrand Stadium this weekend.

The Wildcats (46-2, 10-1 Pacific 10 Conference) face No. 5 Cal (38-10, 5-7) today in their final Pac-10 meeting. The two teams faced each other last at California on April 17 and April 18 - two of the closer contests the UA has played all season, as both were

eighth-inning Arizona victories, 2-0 and 3-2.

The Golden Bears, who are sitting in fifth place in the conference standings, are coming off the long road trip they had last weekend, when they beat the team ahead of them in the standings, No. 8 Washington, but dropped two to the team just below them, No. 4 UCLA.

While the Wildcats came out on top in both games against Cal, junior third baseman Jackie Coburn said the games were a little too close for comfort and that she hopes the offense gets started earlier in this game.

"We know what we need to do against Cal. We need to adjust earlier to their pitching," Coburn said. "This weekend is going to be huge for us to prove we don't need extra innings to put them away."

Acting head coach Larry Ray cited Cal's pitching as the reason for the close contests.

"Cal has excellent pitching, and that's why the score was so low. I think it's going to be who makes a mistake (that determines the game)," he said.

Cal has a pair of aces in Kristina Thorson and Kelly Anderson. Thorson's opponents are hitting just .165 and her ERA is at 0.98. Thorson has posted an 18-3 record this season and has walked just 18 batters in 150.2 innings.

Anderson's record is 20-7 with an ERA of 1.33. Opponents are hitting .221 against her.

Tomorrow and Sunday's games against No .7 Stanford (38-12, 8-4) will mark the fourth and fifth meetings between the Wildcats and the Cardinal this season. The Wildcats are 3-0 against Stanford this season, though two of the meetings were non-conference matchups.

The Wildcats finished the Cardinal off 8-0 in six innings the last time the two teams met, April 16 in Stanford, Calif.

Stanford is tied with Oregon for second in the conference. The Cardinal beat UCLA and swept a two-game set against Washington, all on the road.

The Wildcats will pay close attention to Stanford shortstop Lauren Lappin, this week's national player of the week. Lappin hit .471 (8-for-17) in five games last week. She was perfect from the field with 10 putouts and 10 assists.

While Ray said he is happy that the team has been so successful against Stanford this season, he realizes the effect that success can have on the team's

mentality when facing the Cardinal again.

"The players might not recognize it as much, but I know as a coach, you're wary of games like that," he said. "In a long season, it is difficult to get up for some games."