Diamonds are a girl's best friend, unless that girl is on the Arizona softball team. In that case, it's rings.
On Sunday, the No. 1 Wildcats (51-3, 15-2) wrapped up their eighth Pacific 10 Championship with a 3-0 victory over Oregon State, one day after winning their 50th game of the season for the 14th time in team history.
Without head coach Mike Candrea, who took the year off to lead Team USA, the UA raced out to its best start ever this season. But should the Wildcats not win the national championship later this month, the year will be considered a "waste."
"We could go 60-0, and if we lose our last game, then the year is a waste," said acting associate head coach Nancy Evans. "That's how we look at it - we have one goal and one thing we are working for all year, and that is a national championship."
Arizona enjoyed the longest season-opening winning streak in school history - 34 games - and also went the longest before losing its second, 46 games. Sophomore pitcher Alicia Hollowell (38-2) said the Wildcats didn't think about those records, focusing more on winning the Pac-10 and NCAA title.
"Honestly, I don't think we really paid attention to that," Hollowell said. "Those other records we break and everything are just bonuses."
The Wildcats clinched the league title a weekend early. They still have games at No. 3 UCLA and No. 6 Washington this weekend, followed by the NCAA Regionals the weekend after that.
Candrea said he thinks the team has done "outstanding," and credited the interim coaching staff of Ray, Evans and his son, Mikel, for doing a fantastic job.
Ray said the Wildcats will probably need to beat another Pac-10 team to win the national title. In 20 of the 22 national title games, at least one Pac-10 team has competed, and both championship game berths have gone to Pac-10 teams 10 different times. That number includes UA's last appearance, in 2002, when the Wildcats lost to California.
Ray said that winning the Pac-10 is more difficult than winning the national championship. Seven of the eight Pac-10 teams are ranked, all of which should make the NCAA tournament.
Ray said the team is batting, pitching and fielding well of late, including during the weekend sweep of the Oregon schools.
"We just need to continue this for the next couple weeks," Ray said.
The road to their 17th World Series in a row will run through Tucson. Last week, the UA was chosen as one of eight hosts for the NCAA Regionals May 20-May 23. Up to five of the games will air on College Sports Television on the same weekend CSTV's documentary on the Wildcats premieres.
The field for the NCAA tournament will be unveiled Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPNews.
On Monday, non season ticket holders can purchase what is left of the tickets for the regionals at the UA.
The winner of each of the eight double-elimination regionals advances to the College World Series on Memorial Day weekend, starting on May 27 and ending Memorial Day. ESPN and ESPN2 will televise the World Series.