The Pac-10 didn’t start sponsoring women’s sports until almost 15 years after Title IX passed in the fall of 1986. That’s four years after the Arizona Wildcats and UCLA Bruins played the first game of what would become the most storied rivalry in the sport of softball. On Friday, the teams begin their final series as members of the same conference.
When the rivalry began, the sport wasn’t yet under the aegis of the NCAA. Women played under the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) until 1982. The two teams began their time as members of the same league in 1980 when both were part of the Western Collegiate Athletic Association which became the Pacific West for one year in 1985-86.
The next year marked something big in Arizona softball history. It was the inaugural year of Mike Candrea’s 36-year tenure at the head of the program. UCLA already had four national titles by that time—one in the AIAW and three in the NCAA.
It wouldn’t be long before the Wildcats started adding some hardware of their own. The run started in 1991. There were five titles in the 1990s. Many fans think there should be a sixth but for the UCLA recruiting scandal that ended with the Bruins’ 1995 title being vacated. It was a title they took against the Wildcats, keeping Arizona from having five straight national championships.
The two teams have been either champions or runners-up a combined 32 times in the 42 years the NCAA has sponsored the sport. The Wildcats had to go through the Bruins for five of their eight titles. The Bruins’ 1992 title and vacated 1995 title both came against the Wildcats.
Does all of that end after Sunday?
Not if Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe has anything to say about it.
“I know we’re gonna play them a ton in the future, too, and it’s just going to be in a different capacity,” Lowe said. “So, yeah, sad to see this be the last. We just got the Pac-12 tournament rolling and for this to be the last one, it’s a bummer. But at the same time, we’re making sure that we continue those relationships with a lot of our rivals, and I think we’ve developed a lot of rivalries throughout the top to bottom with the Pac-12. So, we’re making sure we get those games in pre-conference, and it won’t be the last time that we see them.”
In some ways, it could be a blessing in disguise. Arizona can play its former conference mates during the major tournaments early in the season. Whether it’s the Mary Nutter Classic in Cathedral City, Calif. or the Clearwater Invitational in Florida, the Western teams will no longer have to avoid each other in big events. They also can play in the smaller on-campus tournaments like the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe or the Candrea Classic in Tucson.
The ability to have high-level competition within easier travel distances could take the place of long trips to Tallahassee, Fla. or Tuscaloosa, Ala in the nonconference portion of the schedule. Unlike teams in the eastern part of the country, Pac-12 teams have not had the advantage of major-conference opponents in their own part of the country. By and large, the only major conference opponents within reasonable distance were in their own league.
Whatever the future holds, the players are trying not to stress about the current occasion.
“I do [think about it] a little but try not to go too deep into it because I know…it is this historic matchup always but I’m just trying to think like it’s another Pac-12 weekend,” freshman centerfielder Regan Shockey said. “Gotta grind. Not make it too big than it is really.”
There are things at stake in the series that have nothing to do with historic matchups, anyways. The Wildcats headed into three games that could potentially push them high enough in RPI to earn a top 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That would mean hosting regionals.
As of Apr. 25, Arizona (31-13-1) is No. 21 in the RPI. The Wildcats are 4-9 against teams in the RPI top 25 and have only lost one game to a team outside the top 50. That was a 3-2 loss at Oregon State that came in extra innings of the first game of an unusual doubleheader. The Beavers currently sit at No. 79.
The team heads into Westwood on a four-game winning streak. It has lost just two games in the month of April.
UCLA is riding high right now, too. It just completed a road sweep of Stanford to take over first place in the league standings. While the first game ended on a controversial call, the Bruins backed up that win with two more, including a second win over Cardinal ace NiJaree Canady.
The Wildcats will need to prove they can beat tough pitching. They have scored seven or more runs in seven of their 11 games in April, but they will be facing two strong young pitchers including reigning Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week Taylor Tinsley.
Freshman Kaitlyn Terry (1.97 ERA) and sophomore Tinsley (1.99 ERA) are ranked second and third in the Pac-12, respectively. While the Bruins have missed three games against the better offensive teams in the Pac-12 due to weather, they have been effective against other teams near the top in several offensive categories.