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2018 PAC-12 SOFTBALL // INTRODUCTION 2 0 1 7 – 2 0 1 8 3 PAC-12 CONFERENCE BUILT ON A FIRM FOUNDATION of academic excellence and superior athletic performance, the Pac-12 Conference re- newed its undisputed claim as the Conference of Cham- pions® in 2016-17, be- coming the first conference to win 500 NCAA Champi- onships. Beyond the court's and fields, the Pac-12's accomplishments extend into the classrooms across 12 campuses, and out- side its traditional geographic footprint into new cor- ners around the world. En route to becoming the first conference to win 500 NCAA Championships, the Pac-12 led the na- tion in 2016-17 with 13 NCAA crowns. This haul adds to the an incredible 158 NCAA team titles since 1999-2000 and 300 since 1981-82, the start of women's sports sponsorship, an average of over nine per year. Even more impressive has been the breadth of the Pac-12's success with champion- ships coming in 29 different men's and women's sports. The Pac-12 has led or tied the nation in NCAA Championships in 51 of the last 57 years, the only exceptions being in 1980-81, 1988-89, 1990- 91 and 1995-96 when the Conference finished sec- ond, and only twice finished third in 1998-99 and 2004-05. For the 12th-consecutive year, the Pac-12 had the most or tied for the most NCAA titles of any conference in the country, winning at least six ev- ery year since 2000-01. No other conference has won double-digit NCAA crowns in a single year, the Pac-12 doing so nine times, including a record 14 in 1996-97. Spanning over a century of outstanding athletics achievements, The Pac-12 has claimed 501 NCAA Championships (297 men's, 174 women's, 30 com- bined), nearly 200 more than the next league. It was also the first to win 400 championships then surpassed 450 when Colorado and Utah joined the league in 2010-11. Pac-12 members have won 297 NCAA team championships on the men's side, 81 more than the next-closest conference. Men's NCAA crowns have come at a phenomenal rate for the Pac-12 - 16 basketball titles by six schools, 54 tennis titles, 47 outdoor track & field crowns, and 28 baseball titles. Pac-12 members have won 25 of 47 NCAA titles in volleyball, 43 of 48 in water polo, 30 in skiing, and 24 in swimming & diving national championships. Individually, the Conference has produced an impressive number of NCAA individual champions. Over 2,000 (2,290) individual crowns have been won by Pac-12 student-athletes over the years with 1,359 by male student-athletes. Student-athletes have also captured 185 individual titles at combined championships (ie., skiing and fencing). On the women's side, the story is much the same. Since the NCAA began conducting women's cham- pionships 36 years ago, Pac-12 members have claimed at least four national titles in a single sea- son on 26 occasions, including a current streak of 17-consecutive years, dating back to 2000. Overall, the Pac-12 has captured 174 NCAA women's titles, easily outdistancing the SEC, which is second with 100. Pac-12 members have dominated a number of sports, winning 23 softball titles, 23 tennis crowns, 15 volleyball titles, 18 of the last 28 trophies in golf, and 15 in swimming & diving. Pac-12 women student-athletes shine nationally on an individual basis, as well, having captured an unmatched 743 NCAA individual crowns, an aver- age of over 20 championships per season, including 30 in 2016-17. The Pac-12's excellence is further proven in the annual Division I Learfield Sports Directors' Cup competition, the prestigious award that hon- ors the best overall collegiate athletics programs in the country. STANFORD won an unprecedented 23rd-consecutive Directors' Cup in 2016-17 to lead the Conference. Five Pac-12 member institutions ranked among the top-15 Division I programs, and a remarkable six institutions were in the top 20: No. 1 STANFORD, No. 3 USC, No. 8 OREGON, No. 9 UCLA, No. 12 CALIFORNIA and No. 20 WASHING- TON. At least five member institutions have been ranked in the top 20 in all but one year of the Direc- tor's Cup program, with seven appearing in the top 20 on five different occasions (1998, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2006). 2016-17 REVIEW The Conference's 13 NCAA titles came in the form of a record 10 women's crowns, two men's and one combined (skiing - UTAH). Seven members claimed at least one NCAA title and, of the six in- stitutions in the country to have won multiples titles, three were from the Pac-12. STANFORD was one of just two schools in the nation to claim four championships. The Cardinal extended its streak of winning an NCAA title to 41 years, holding up the national championship trophy in men's soccer, women's swimming and diving, women's water polo, and women's volleyball. The OREGON women made history completing the first- ever "Triple Crown," winning women's national titles in cross country and both indoor and outdoor track and field. USC also took home a pair of champi- onships winning women's soccer and its second- straight beach volleyball title. ARIZONA STATE won a record eighth NCAA women's golf title, CALIFORNIA won its 14th men's water polo national championship, defeating the Trojans in overtime, while UTAH won its first skiing crown since 2003, and WASHINGTON also made history en route to claiming its fourth NCAA title in women's rowing, the first program in the 21-year history of the NCAA Rowing Championship to sweep all three grand finals. In addition to the 13 national championships, the Pac-12 also had runners-up in nine NCAA Champi- onship events: men's cross country (STANFORD), men's water polo (USC), skiing (COLORADO), men's swimming and diving (CALIFORNIA), women's swimming and diving (CALIFORNIA), men's golf (OREGON), rowing (CALIFORNIA), women's ten- nis (STANFORD) and women's water polo (UCLA). Overall, the Conference had 38 teams finish in the top four at 24 NCAA Championship events, includ- ing at least three teams in the top four in women's golf, and men's and women's water polo. Participation in the postseason was a common occurrence for the Pac-12 in 2016-17. Of the 23 sports sponsored by the Conference, 21 witnessed at least half its teams participating in NCAA or other postseason action. The men sent 64 of a possible 100 teams into the postseason (64.0 percent), while the women sent 88 of a possible 126 teams (69.8 percent). Six Pac-12 football teams earned bowl bids, producing a 3-3 record. Pac-12 Champion WASH- INGTON provided the Conference with a College Football Playoff semifinalist for the second time in three years. The Huskies won their first-ever Pac- 12 Football Championship Game, defeating South Champion COLORADO, 41-10, at Levi's® Stadium. USC had a dramatic 52-49 victory over Penn State in the Rose Bowl giving the Pac-12 eight of the last 10 Rose Bowl victories in which it was pitted against the Big Ten. UTAH edged Indiana in the Foster Farms Bowl, 26-24. STANFORD got a big defensive stop on North Carolina's attempt at a two-point con- version with 0:25 remaining in the game and pulled out a 25-23 victory in the Hyundai Sun Bowl. After posting the first 10-win season since 2001, Colora- do made its first bowl appearance in nine seasons at the Alamo Bowl. WASHINGTON STATE participated in the third-lowest scoring game in Holiday Bowl his- tory but fell, 17-12. Four Pac-12 men's basketball teams earned postseason bids, including regular-season co- champions ARIZONA and OREGON. Pac-12 teams went 10-4 in the NCAA Tournament, buoyed by the Ducks' run to the NCAA Final Four, their first since 1939. It also marked the fourth-consecutive year a league team has advanced to the Elite Eight, the only conference in the country to accomplish the feat. Joining the Wildcats and the Ducks in the Big Dance were UCLA and USC. CALIFORNIA, COLO- RADO and UTAH participated in the postseason in the NIT. For the first time in the Conference's 101-season history, three teams had at least 30 wins, and had four 25-win teams for just the second time ever. Three teams finished ranked in the top 10 in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, the Ducks earning a No. 3 final rank- ing and the Wildcats a No. 4 rating by the coaches. The Bruins were ninth in that poll. Pac-12 women's basketball continued to rees- tablish itself as a premier league in the sport. Af- ter sending two teams to the Women's Final Four in 2016 for the first time ever, it set the stage for another record-breaking season which saw a record seven teams earn NCAA Tournament berths and an additional three received WNIT bids. OREGON STATE won its second-consecutive Pac-12 regular- season title, but STANFORD emerged at the end of the season as the tournament champion in KeyAre- na in Seattle, then made its 13th all-time trip to the NCAA Women's Final Four. Cardinal Naismith Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer cemented herself as one of the greats in NCAA men's and women's history, logging her 1,000th-career win and WASH- INGTON's Kelsey Plum shattered the NCAA single- scoring record and was the unanimous national player of the year en route to becoming the all-time women's scoring record in NCAA history. The league had a record 15 NCAA Tournament wins, placing two teams in the Elite Eight for the second-straight year. The Pac-12 was also the best-represented conference in the Sweet Sixteen after a league-re- cord five teams advanced. Four teams appeared in the final Associated Press poll, tying for the most ever for the Conference. Five earned rankings in the USA Today/WBCA poll for the second-straight year with Stanford leading the way at No. 4. STANFORD won its NCAA-record-tying seventh women's volleyball national title with four fresh- men in the starting lineup. WASHINGTON was the Conference's regular-season champion for the second-straight year and third time in four years. Eight Pac-12 teams earned NCAA berths, includ- ing ARIZONA, OREGON, UCLA, USC, UTAH and WASHINGTON STATE, along with the Cardinal and Huskies. It marked the 17th-consecutive year the league has received at least six bids. The Pac-12