The 2012 season gets underway today with a plethora of tournaments around the country. The leading tourney is, of course, the annual Kajikawa Classic at Arizona State (master schedule). The host Sun Devils, who won last year's NCAA championship, are ranked No. 1 in both major national polls (see links section to the right). All of the Pac 12's softball schools are participating in the Kajikawa except UCLA (which hosts its own tournament featuring up-and-coming Kentucky). Cal (3/4) joins ASU as a preseason top 5 team. Top teams in the Kajikawa from outside the Pac 12 include Tennessee (9/14), Texas A&M (15/17), Nebraska (20 tie/21), and Georgia Tech (23/unranked).
NiJaree Canady, whose sub-1.00 ERA helped lead Stanford to the Women's College World Series in both her years with the Cardinal, announced on July 24 that she is transferring to Texas Tech. I've lived in Lubbock for 27 years and can say that the town has been improving with a greater selection of restaurants and shops, and a new downtown performing arts center. Likewise, nice new facilities have been dotting the Texas Tech campus . Still, it seems unlikely that Canady would have become a Red Raider without the $1 million annual Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deal for her, made possible by the donation of a Texas Tech alumni couple. So stunning an event is this, even in the ever-changing world of collegiate athletics, that the New York Times even ran a behind-the-scenes story on Canady's path to Texas Tech. I look forward to being in the stands to watch Canady pitch next spring, an opportunity I never expected to have.