Issue link: https://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1208184
P A C - 1 2 S O F T B A L L 4 2 0 2 0 P A C - 1 2 S O F T B A L L M E D I A G U I D E before bowing out to eventual national cham- pion Virginia, while the Buffaloes reached the NIT quarterfinals before falling on the road to eventual champion Texas. The Huskies claimed the outright Pac-12 regular-season title, clinching the crown in late February thanks to the fifth-best start in Conference his- tory at 10-0 en route to a 15-3 league mark. It marked just the ninth time in Conference history the same school won outright league titles in both football and men's basketball in the same academic year. Pac-12 women's basketball has been rid- ing a wave of success over the last five years, establishing itself as a premier league in the sport. After defending its Pac-12 regular-sea- son title, OREGON advanced to its first-ever NCAA Women's Final Four marking the 10th time in 12 years a league team has reached the national semifinal. With at least half the league earning a NCAA Tournament bid for the third-straight year, the Pac-12 went a com- bined 11-1 in the first two round, the best re- cord for a conference since 1997. Five teams advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three years and was the only league to have at least two teams in the Elite Eight the last four years. Joining the Ducks in the postseason were ARIZONA STATE, CALIFOR- NIA, OREGON STATE, STANFORD and UCLA. ARIZONA represented the Conference in the WNIT, capturing the tournament crown in front of a Pac-12 record and sold out crowd of 14,644. The Wildcats recorded the best turn- around in the country, going from six wins to 24 in 2018-19. The Cardinal claimed its 13th all-time Pac-12 Tournament crown which was held for the first time in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. For the first time ever, five Pac-12 teams appeared in the Associ- ated Press final poll, with two ranked in the top 10, extending the Conference's streak of two top-10 ranked teams to five-consecutive years. UO junior Sabrina Ionescu continued to set NCAA triple-doubles records, owning the most in a career by any man or woman (18), and also set the single-season mark. She was tabbed the WBCA and John R. Wooden Na- tional Player of the Year. Cal's Kristine Anigwe was selected the WBCA National Defensive Player of the Year. STANFORD won its won its 18th all-time Pac-12 women's volleyball title en route to winning its NCAA-leading eighth NCAA title in the sport with two-time AVCA National Player of the Year and Pac-12 Player of the Year Kathryn Plummer leading the way. Eight league teams earned NCAA Tournament bids, marking the fifth time in the last six years at least eight Conference teams participated in the postseason event. Along with Stanford, COLORADO, OREGON, USC, UTAH, WASH- INGTON and WASHINGTON STATE punched their tickets to the tournament. Thirteen stu- dent-athletes were selected AVCA All-Ameri- cans, with eight of those being sophomores or juniors. Six teams appeared in the final AVCA Coaches poll. The Pac-12 has won a NCAA- record 16 of the 38 NCAA titles awarded. UCLA won its 10th all-time Pac-12 base- ball title, setting new program records for wins (52) and league wins (24). The Bruins led the country with a .855 regular-season win- ning percentage, earning the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The league earned five tournament berths for the most since 2015, with invitations given to ARIZONA STATE, CALIFORNIA, OREGON STATE and STANFORD, in addition to the Bruins. OSU's Adley Rutschman had one of the most memo- rable seasons in collegiate baseball history, winning nearly every major award this season, including becoming the second-straight Pac- 12 student-athlete to claim the Golden Spikes Award and ninth all-time in Pac-12 history, the most for any conference. The Pac-12 has, by far, won the most baseball national titles of any conference in the country, claiming 29 titles dating back to 1947. UCLA softball recorded the Pac-12's 13th and final NCAA title of the 2018-19 season. The Pac-12 Conference has historically domi- nated the sport, claiming 24 NCAA titles in the 38-year history of the championship. Pac-12 teams captured an unprecedented nine in a row from 1988-1997, then claimed six-straight from 2006-11. The Bruins and WASHINGTON shared the Pac-12 crown, earning the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively, in the NCAA Tournament. Five Conference teams earned trips to the NCAA Tournament, the 24th-con- secutive year the Pac-12 has had five or more teams advance to the postseason, including at least three berths every year since the league began sponsoring the sport in 1987. The Pac- 12 had the most representation in the NCAA Women's College World Series with the Hus- kies and ARIZONA joining the Bruins in Okla- homa City. ARIZONA STATE and STANFORD also earned postseason bids. Led by two-time national player of the year Rachel Garcia, UCLA's appearance in the championship se- ries marked the 30th time at least one Pac-12 team reached the finale. PAC-12 CONFERENCE HISTORY The roots of the Pac-12 Conference date back more than 100 years, to December 2, 1915, when the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was founded at a meeting at the Imperial Hotel in Portland, Ore. The original membership con- sisted of four schools - the University of Califor- nia at Berkeley, the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, and Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University). All four are still charter members of the Conference. Pacific Coast Conference play began in 1916 and, one year later, Washington State Col- lege (now Washington State University) was ac- cepted into the league, with Stanford University following in 1918. In 1922, the PCC expanded to eight teams with the admission of the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of Idaho. In 1924, the University of Montana joined the league roster and in 1928, the PCC grew to 10 members with the addition of UCLA. The Pacific Coast Conference competed as a 10-member league until 1950, with the excep- tion of 1943-45 when World War II curtailed in- tercollegiate athletic competition to a minimum. During that time, the league's first commissioner was named. Edwin N. Atherton was Commis- sioner in 1940 and was succeeded by Victor O. Schmidt in 1944. In 1950, Montana resigned from the Conference and the PCC continued as a nine-team Conference through 1958. In 1959, the PCC was dissolved and the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) was formed with Thomas J. Hamilton appointed Commissioner of the new league. The original AAWU membership included California, Stanford, USC, UCLA, and Washington. Wash- ington State joined the membership in 1962, while Oregon and Oregon State joined in 1964. Under Hamilton's watch, the name Pacific-8 Conference was adopted in 1968. In 1971, Wiles Hallock took over as Commissioner of the Pac-8. Ten years later, on July 1, 1978, the Uni- versity of Arizona and Arizona State University were admitted to the league and the Pacific-10 Conference became a reality. In 1986-87, the league took on a new look, expanding to include 10 women's sports. Since then, the Conference has been considered the premier league in wom- en's athletics, securing the most NCAA titles in women's sports of any conference nearly every year. Thomas C. Hansen was named the Com- missioner of the Pac-10 in 1983, a role he would hold for 26 years until 2009, when he was suc- ceeded by current Commissioner Larry Scott. The University of Colorado accepted its invi- tation to join the Pac-12 on June 11, 2010, and on June 17, 2010, the University of Utah agreed to join the Conference. The Buffaloes and Utes officially became the 11th and 12th members of the Conference on July 1, 2011, the first addi- tions to the league since 1978. It was during the 2010-11 academic year that Scott helped deliver monumental changes that transformed the Conference into a modern 12-team league. In addition to expanding to 12 teams, member institutions agreed to equal rev- enue sharing for the first time in the Conference's history, created two football divisions - the North and the South, and established a Football Cham- pionship Game for the first time. He also secured landmark media rights deals with ESPN and FOX that dramatically increased national exposure and revenue for each school, in addition to es- tablishing Pac-12 Networks which guaranteed enhanced exposure across all sports. Currently, the Pac-12 sponsors 11 men's sports and 13 women's sports, with women's la- crosse a new addition for the 2017-18 academic year and beach volleyball having been added in 2015-16. Additionally, the Conference is a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federa- tion (MPSF) in four other men's sports and two women's sports. The Pac-12 Conference offices are located in the heart of San Francisco in the SOMA dis- trict.