There's an interesting discussion thread going on over at Ultimate College Softball. One participant posted predictions for the upcoming Pac 10 season, and others are offering their opinions. Take a look! Update (December 11): Discussion threads focusing on several other conferences are also available at Ultimate College Softball's main college softball discussion board .

In what this article described a "light-hearted" event, the current (2007) UCLA varsity team took on a squad of Bruin alumni earlier today. The alumni roster featured a number of illustrious names, including Natasha Watley, Lisa Fernandez, and Tairia Mims Flowers. The game was tied after the designated number of innings, so a Home Run Derby was instituted to decide the game. Jodie Legaspi, who will be a senior for the current Bruin team this upcoming season, belted 10 homers in the long-ball competition to give her side a 12-11 win. Now why couldn't the 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which had to be ended with a tie score after 11 innings because both teams had depleted their available pitchers, have been decided that way? The UCLA article also noted that: UCLA Softball opens its first season under head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez on February 9, 2007, against Texas as the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. In case you hadn't heard, longtime Bruin coach Sue...

A couple of brief items: Northwestern left-fielder Katie Logan is maintaining an online journal on the Wildcats' fall preparations for this upcoming season. The University of Michigan has posted its 2007 schedule . With the Wolverines' 2005 national championship and Northwestern's 2006 national runner-up finish, the Big 10 is clearly one of the top conferences in the nation. I will continue to link to leading teams' 2007 schedules as they become available.

Here's a shocker, a bolt of lightning from totally out of the blue (and gold). UCLA coach Sue Enquist has retired at age 49, essentially effective immediately (technically, effective January 1). Here are links to reports from the Daily Bruin and UCLA athletics department . Starting next season, the Bruins will be coached by current longtime assistant Kelly Inouye-Perez . Enquist, who also played for UCLA, transitioned into the head coaching job over a period of many years. Quoting from the Daily Bruin article, "After she graduated in 1980, Enquist served as an assistant coach under Sharron Backus. From 1989 to 1997, Enquist co-coached the program with Backus before completely taking over the duties." The Bruins won three NCAA titles with Enquist as co-coach, then three more with her as sole head coach.

My apologies for missing this announcement when it first came out, but Arizona (like Michigan in the entry below) has also indicated which of its incoming frosh players have been invited to try out for the Junior National Team. These new U of A players are: "Third baseman/utility player Sarah Akamine, shortstop/outfielder K’Lee Arredondo and catcher/third baseman Stacie Chambers..."

The University of Michigan reported today that incoming frosh players Roya St. Clair and Maggie Viefhaus will be among the athletes trying out this weekend in Chula Vista, California for the USA Softball Junior Women's National Team. St. Clair and Viefhaus appear to be amazing power-hitting prospects, each compiling slugging percentages over .800 at the high school level (to compute SLG%, you first give a hitter one point each for every single she gets, two points for every double, etc., then divide the total by number of official at-bats). Should one or both of the newcomers earn a spot in the Wolverine starting lineup, they'll join junior-to-be Samantha Findlay in providing offensive punch for the maize and blue.

The United States has won the World Championship. After defeating Australia 5-1 in an elimination match, the US shut out Japan 3-0 in the final , thus avenging yesterday's American loss to Japan. Full results of all tournament games are shown here . On a lighter note, the sports uniform blog critiques the threads worn by the teams at the softball championships.