[Schroeder71]

http://www.calbears.com/sports/w-sof.../teamcume.html

Cal is outscoring its opposition by six runs per outcome after 34 games.

http://www.pac-12.org/portals/7/imag...TML/lgsumm.htm

Cal has a one game lead in the loss column over ASU & UCLA. The Bears are number one in pitching ERA by a wide margin. The team is collectively 2nd in batting average, tied for 3rd in home runs & #2 in stolen bases. And, finally, Cal's defense (fielding percentage) has solidified in the third spot. Overall, the Bears have the balance of a potential championship team. GO BEARS!

[Schroeder71]

http://www.pac-12.org/Softball/Tabid...ll-Awards.aspx

Cal swept the Pac Nine softball awards for the second consecutive week with another series sweep. Jo Henderson was Pitcher of the Week, again, this weekend. Jamia Reid was the Player of the Week. GO BEARS!

[RichyBear]

Cal has the 2 top pitchers (statistically) in the Pac 9. Arioto leads the Pac in HRs, J. Reid in SBs.
Cal also has the 2 top hitters (batting average), but they had 12 total at bat between them.
I agree the fielding is much better than the last few years. The infield made some great plays against washington yesterday. IMO, with the infield of 2 years ago, Cal would have lost at least 1 game yesterday.
In the last 2 weeks, Cal played 6 games against top 10 teams and won all 6 games. Gearhart only lost 1 game befor facing Cal, and an ERA a little over 1.00, Cal scored 17 runs off her and beat her twice. Inglesby hadn't lost a game befor this weekend, Cal beat her twice.
This might be the first time since 2002 or 2003 that Cal has good hitters all through the lineup. I remember when Cal had good hitters in the first 6 or 7 sports, but the 8th and 9th hitters were batting around .200.

[youngbear1992]

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softbal...s_softball_rpi

Cal was #3 last week and is now #1. Strangely, Oregon is #7 and Washington is #10. I guess losing to Alabama really moves a team up. Tennessee is down to a more reasonable #12.

Here's the top 25

1 California Pac-12 33-1 4-1 23- 0- 0 6-0 0-0
2 Alabama Southeastern 35-1 11-0 6- 0- 0 18-1 0-0
3 Florida Southeastern 31-4 10-2 8- 1- 0 13-1 0-0
4 Texas Big 12 31-2 5-0 7- 2- 0 19-0 0-0
5 Arizona State Pac-12 32-4 1-1 3- 1- 0 28-2 0-0
6 Louisiana-Lafayette Sun Belt 30-1 4-1 8- 0- 0 18-0 0-0
7 Oregon Pac-12 23-7 2-2 17- 3- 0 4-2 0-0
8 Oklahoma Big 12 30-4 4-1 15- 3- 0 11-0 0-0
9 Louisville Big East 29-2 5-2 11- 0- 0 13-0 0-0
10 Washington Pac-12 32-4 4-3 21- 1- 0 7-0 0-0
11 Hawaii Western Athletic 29-3 4-0 5- 0- 0 20-3 0-0
12 Tennessee Southeastern 27-8 7-3 9- 2- 0 11-3 0-0
13 Texas A&M Big 12 25-10 4-1 7- 7- 0 14-2 0-0
14 Georgia Southeastern 29-7 5-2 4- 1- 0 20-4 0-0
15 DePaul Big East 18-11 2-5 14- 5- 0 2-1 0-0
16 South Florida Big East 33-5 4-0 8- 3- 0 21-2 0-0
17 Florida State Atlantic Coast 32-6 4-3 9- 2- 0 19-1 0-0
18 Missouri Big 12 28-5 3-2 9- 3- 0 16-0 0-0
19 Arizona Pac-12 23-9 0-3 11- 4- 0 12-2 0-0
20 LSU Southeastern 27-8 5-2 3- 3- 0 19-3 0-0
21 UCLA Pac-12 25-7 5-0 13- 6- 0 7-1 0-0
22 Michigan Big Ten 24-10 4-3 15- 7- 0 5-0 0-0
23 North Carolina Atlantic Coast 24-9 4-2 12- 4- 0 8-3 0-0
24 Auburn Southeastern 26-12 6-5 6- 3- 0 14-4 0-0
25 Oregon State Pac-12 26-10 5-3 19- 6- 0 2-1 0-0

[youngbear1992]

30 of 30 first place votes. Now that's respect! UW drops to #4. Texas moves up to #3.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colle...=1aaita7fzkjz4

[HairOfTheBear]

Originally Posted by youngbear1992

30 of 30 first place votes. Now that's respect! UW drops to #4. Texas moves up to #3.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colle...=1aaita7fzkjz4

USA TODAY/NFCA Division I softball poll
April 2, 2012

Rank (1st-place votes) W/L Pts Last wk

1 California (30) 33-1 750 1
2 Alabama 35-1 720 2
3 Texas 31-2 671 6
4 Washington 32-4 646 3
5 Oklahoma 30-4 612 7
6 Florida 31-4 608 4
7 Arizona State 32-4 587 5
8 Louisiana-Lafayette 30-1 519 8
9 Georgia 29-7 501 9
10 Tennessee 27-8 476 10
11 Missouri 28-5 459 12
12 Louisville 29-2 404 11
13 UCLA 25-7 361 14
14 Stanford 27-8 345 13
15 Hawaii 29-3 336 16
16 Texas A&M 25-10 298 15
17 Arizona 23-9 276 19
18t South Florida 33-5 236 21
18t Oregon 23-7 236 17
20 Michigan 24-10 171 20
21 Florida State 32-6 149 22
22 Baylor 22-12 106 18
23 North Carolina 24-9 96 23
24 LSU 27-8 82 NR
25 Oregon State 26-10 32 NR

Dropped out: No. 24 Auburn, No. 25 New Mexico.

Others receiving votes: Auburn 29, Tulsa 21, DePaul 11, Iowa 3, New Mexico 3,
Purdue 3, Fresno State 2, Georgia Tech 1.

[OldBlue1999]

Originally Posted by youngbear1992

http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softbal...s_softball_rpi

Cal was #3 last week and is now #1.

I was looking at this over the weekend and one thing really jumped out at me: Cal's road/neutral/home records compared to the other teams in the top 5. All of the others have loaded up on home games to compile their records. ASU has played 30 of their 36 games so far at home! Alabama and Texas have played over half their games to date at home. By contrast, Cal has only played 6 home games so far (it was only 3 when I was looking at last week's RPI).

For them to have compiled the record and individual statistics they have this year is impressive. The fact that they've been able to do it even while traveling around the country is amazing.

[AndyHogan14]

Originally Posted by OldBlue1999

I was looking at this over the weekend and one thing really jumped out at me: Cal's road/neutral/home records compared to the other teams in the top 5. All of the others have loaded up on home games to compile their records. ASU has played 30 of their 36 games so far at home! Alabama and Texas have played over half their games to date at home. By contrast, Cal has only played 6 home games so far (it was only 3 when I was looking at last week's RPI).

For them to have compiled the record and individual statistics they have this year is impressive. The fact that they've been able to do it even while traveling around the country is amazing.

With them not able to host NCAA tournament games, that experience will really help them come May/June.

[youngbear1992]

Bears take all 20 first place votes on the ESPN poll too. Cal is the clear-cut #1 and probably will stay there for a while.

http://www.calbears.com/sports/w-sof...040312aaa.html

Slow to update, but latest ESPN poll should be here soon:
http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/softbal...omusa_softball

Regarding the road record, it is very impressive. The remaining schedule is extremely favorable (not that this teams needs the advantage). The Bears play host to ASU, Arizona, and UCLA and go on the road for Utah, Oregon, and OSU. We play ASU to end the season, which is great competition just before Regionals (and a loss wouldn't hurt rankings/seeding much). What an amazing season this is turning out to be.

Go Bears!

[Schroeder71]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/ra...GESOFTBALLPOLL

Cal is 10-1 (loss to Hawaii in 10 innings) against top 25 teams and 12-1 against teams receiving votes (add DePaul & Syracuse)...The Bears will still have 15 more league battles against ranked teams: three games each vs ASU (home), UCLA (home), Oregon (away), Arizona (home) & Oregon State (away). GO BEARS!