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Top 3 teams in the nation square off in Tucson

Arizona center fielder Nicole Giordano has a lot more on the line than a chance at the Pacific 10 Conference championship Friday when the Wildcats face Washington.

A win by No. 2 UA would also allow the junior to regain family bragging rights over her older sister and Husky catcher, Jeanine.

"We never really had a rivalry, its always been she's always there supporting me and hoping I do really good, but this year since we are one and two, I think it's a big time rivalry, this time," Giordano said. "We are a lot more competitive this year than we have been the last two years."

Jeanine and the top-ranked Huskies have gotten the best of Nicole and her Arizona teammates this season, though, as Washington has won all four meetings between the two powerhouses.

"I can't imagine playing against my sister, it would be awesome, it is just fun because you are both doing something you love and you get to compete against each other so it makes it great," UA senior second baseman Katie Swan said. "Instead of bragging rights, I think it is more of a win-win situation for the parents."

According to Frank and Cathy Giordano, though, the experience of watching their two daughters play against each other is gut-wrenching and can be described as a lose-lose situation.

"It is horrible, ridiculous, I don't wish it on my worst enemy," Cathy Giordano said. "No matter who wins, you lose."

Cathy Giordano's friends remind her not to complain, though, as she has two daughters playing for top two teams in the nation, both with excellent chances of winning the College World Series.

"It is really hard for them and my mom just voices her opinion all the time, 'oh this is so difficult on me,'" Giordano said. "My mom's very dramatic but she hates us playing against each other."

Frank and Cathy Giordano try to attend as many of their daughters games as possible, but have seen more of Jeanine's game this year since she is a senior.

The parents can easily be noticed this weekend, however, as they sit between both the Washington and Arizona cheering sections, while routing for both daughters.

"Her parents are really good about it, they wear a U of A shirt and they'll wear a Washington hat or if they have a Washington shirt, they'll wear a U of A hat," Swan said.

Even though Cathy and Frank Giordano have a tough time routing when their daughters play each other, Nicole and Jeanine are all business when they step on the playing field.

Known as the more competitive of the two sisters, Nicole knows how important the a victory against Washington is to the UA team, as the Huskies are currently two games ahead of the Wildcats in the Pac-10 standings.

Though she desperately wants to beat Washington, it is hard for Nicole to route against her sister.

"I just hope she hits it hard but right at somebody," she said. "I mean it's sad, I hope she doesn't get a hit but I just want her to have a good at-bat but I don't want her to get on, it's really hard."

The same can be said for Jeanine when she squares off against Nicole.

"It is hard sometimes, I always want her to do good, always, always," Jeanine Giordano said. "She wants her team to win and I want my team to win."

The sibling rivalry hasn't not increase the tension for the game between the top two team, though, as the players are more focused on the game itself and what's at stake, rather than who is playing who.

"The good thing about Arizona is we always have a good game against them, so it fires us up," Jeanine Giordano said.

Sophomore Jennie Finch will pitch for the Wildcats (47-7 overall, 10-4 Pac-10) against the Huskies (50-5, 12-2), and will be seeking revenge too, as Washington handed her, her first loss of the season, a 2-0 defeat on April 16, in Seattle.

"(The game), it's huge if we want a chance at winning the Pac-10 title," Finch said. "We just need to come out and score runs, up there (at Washington) was not a good experience with umpires and everything else and now we get them to come here and play in our house."

Arizona will need to produce offensively if they are to have a chance at upsetting Washington. The Wildcats have not scored more than three runs in any of their last six games and are 3-3 in the span.

"We just need to become more consistent, we did not swing the bats well with runners on base (last weekend against Oregon)," UA head coach Mike Candrea said.

Finch thinks the Arizona offense is ready to emerge from the doldrums this weekend.

"Our bats are just waiting to come alive and we are hitting the ball but it's not in a chain reaction," she said. "I think definitely this weekend it is the time for it to come along, I thought it would be Oregon but it wasn't."

Even with a win against the top-ranked Huskies, the Wildcats face another powerhouse in UCLA, the defending national champions.

Arizona and the No. 3 Bruins are tied for second place in the Pac-10 and a sweep by either team would surely drop the losing team out of contention for the championship race.

The Wildcats have had success against UCLA (35-8, 10-4) this season, as they came from behind to defeat the Bruins 6-4, on April 14 in Los Angeles.

Still the Wildcats believe they are the underdog against UCLA because they went 1-3 in conference play against them last season.

"It is kind of like revenge for last year, we went 1-3 against them last year in Pac-10," Giordano said. "I think that this year we have a much better team and a lot more confidence in ourselves and we know that we have already shown that we can beat them."

Junior Becky Lemke will pitch Saturday's night game which starts at 6 and Finch will pitch the following day at 1 p.m.

If the Wildcats can get a three-game sweep of Washington and UCLA, Arizona will find themselves in prime position for a Pac-10 crown and will have clearly established themselves as the top team in the nation heading into the NCAA Regionals and College World Series.

"This is definitely the semifinal and championship game of the World Series and that's how we need to treat it this weekend, like each game is the championship game because I think both teams will be pumped up to play us," Giordano said.