After three straight weekends on the road and a mid-week conference game against ASU Wednesday, Arizona softball head coach Mike Candrea gave his No. 2 Wildcats yesterday off from practice.
"We took a mental-health, get-away-from-the-game break," Candrea said. "I just felt like the break would be more advantageous to us than coming out here and having a quick practice."
The Wildcats (28-3, 3-1 Pacific 10 Conference) take on No. 12 Oregon State (25-6, 4-0) today at 7:30 p.m., and Oregon (22-11, 2-2) tomorrow at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Hillenbrand Stadium.
The Wildcats' game tomorrow will be shown on ESPN 2, and its Sunday matchup will be broadcast on ESPNU.
The start of Pac-10 play has been bumpy for the team so far, but Arizona has emerged with only one loss in its first four games, 6-3 to No. 3 California Sunday.
Against No. 20 ASU, in a series the Wildcats have dominated the last few seasons, they squeaked by with a 1-0 win, with their only run coming in the first inning.
"This team has found a way to win and found a way to win close games and that's good," Candrea said.
Oregon and Oregon State both finished with sub-.500 records in the Pac-10 last season at 10-11 and 4-17, respectively.
In the powerhouse conference, the Oregon schools are usually the least of Arizona's worries, as teams like UCLA, Stanford, California and Washington always being in or around the top 10 in the national polls.
But this year, Oregon State and Oregon have come out and won some big games.
In the opening weekend of Pac-10 play, Oregon State defeated defending national champion UCLA 2-1 in eight innings and then got a two-game sweep over No. 17 Washington 7-3 and 9-0.
Beavers first baseman Vanessa Iapala was named Pac-10 Player of the Week after going 4-for-7 with three RBIs over the weekend. She has the second-best average on the team at .356 and leads the team with nine doubles.
Sophomore pitcher Brianne McGowan was named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week after throwing all three victories in the opening weekend of conference play.
She also helped herself offensively, hitting a pair of home runs and getting four RBIs against Washington.
Oregon State is riding a 19-game winning streak after defeating Oregon 2-1 in Corvallis Wednesday.
Oregon opened its first weekend of play with almost as much success as the Beavers, sweeping UCLA 3-1 and 2-1, but losing to Washington 4-3.
Freshman leftfielder Lovena Chaput went 3-for-6 with two RBIs and a home run in the two games against the Bruins. She leads the Ducks with 33 hits this season and is batting .340.
Junior pitcher Amy Harris leads all Oregon pitchers with a 1.11 ERA in 22 appearances this season. She has 11 wins in 15 starts with 11 complete games.
"It's not surprising," Candrea said about Oregon and Oregon State's conference records. "I think right now the Pac-10 is solid one through eight."