CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona third baseman Jackie Coburn throws to first during the sixth inning of Arizona's 6-3 loss to the Bears Sunday afternoon at Hillenbrand Stadium. The Wildcats take on in-state rival ASU at 7 p.m. in Tempe.

A storied rivalry shows off a facelift tonight in Tempe.

At 7, the No. 2 Arizona softball team plays the first of four games this week against No. 20 ASU.

The Wildcats (28-3, 2-1 Pacific 10 Conference) play No. 12 Oregon State (24-7, 3-0) Friday and Oregon Saturday and Sunday at Hillenbrand Stadium.

Arizona claims a slim advantage (86-72) in the all-time series with ASU (25-9, 1-2) but fields and faces a team with few links to those of years past.

The Sun Devils ride a pair of potent underclassmen - freshman utility player Mindy Cowles (.333, 10 home runs, 30 RBIs) and sophomore first baseman Sharee Zaleski (.277, 10 home runs, 26 RBIs) - as the Wildcats have moved away from their power-hitting past.

But even differences have a way of bringing opinions together.

"All the conference games are rival games," said ASU head coach Linda Wells. "To me, they're kind of all the same. Every one is a rivalry."

"I think it's always going to be the same kind of rivalry that it's always been," said Arizona senior outfielder Candace Abrams. "I think it'll take a little different step this year, but it'll always be good."

The departed Wendy Allen and Mackenzie Vandergeest accounted for 22 of Arizona's 66 home runs last season, leaving players such as sophomores Caitlin Lowe (.516, two home runs, 15 RBIs) and Kristie Fox (.392, eight home runs, 44 RBIs) to provide the firepower in an offense predicated on smart play at the plate.

As a result, Arizona leads the Pac-10 in batting with No. 3 California (.313), while ASU (.267) sits at the bottom of that list.

Still, the Sun Devils have found success this season combining big pitching with bigger hits.

Freshman Katie Burkhart (10-4, .81) gets the start tonight, three days after completing a four-hit shutout in ASU's 2-0 win over No. 9 Stanford Sunday.

In addition to Cowles and Zaleski, outfielder Valerie Sevilla matches a .321 average with a Pac-10-high 10 doubles.

Junior pitcher Alicia Hollowell (19-2, .72), who allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings Sunday against Cal, said facing the Sun Devils brings the usual slate of challenges.

"They're a good team," she said. "No matter what, when ASU plays us, it's a good game. I'm just going to go there and read the hitters and see what I see."

The Wildcats make the trek to Farrington Stadium, where ASU has lost the majority of its games (five).

"We pack their stands when we go there," Abrams said. "We bring most of the fans, so it makes it more fun and gives us a little bit of an edge."

The advantage seems to go to ASU, whose young, emerging stars bring talents rarely seen.

Wells disagrees.

"We haven't seen them, either," she said. "(Our) new kids haven't seen Hollowell. I just think it's kind of 'line up and play.'"

Senior first baseman Crystal Farley said not having experience against Burkhart and Cowles, who also carries a 1-1 record with a 1.58 ERA in five appearances on the mound, matters little so early in the conference season.

"We just had this whole first couple of months where we went against pitchers we didn't know about," she said. "We'll go up there (tonight), learn a lot from our first at-bat, and then capitalize - if not on the first (at-bat), then on the second or third."

Conserving energy may be the teams' biggest challenge: ASU plays four games in five days to end a weeklong homestand.

To that end, Hollowell said Arizona already has a strategy to keep from dwelling on the past - not to mention what lies ahead.

"We're just going to do well," she said. "It's Pac-10 time, and we're out to win every game."