Alabama salvaged a win in its three-game series with Florida. Over in the Pac 10, Stanford made it two straight over Washington, whereas Cal won its second straight over UCLA.

Florida just destroyed Alabama in a doubleheader today, 9-1 and 10-1. Washington's Danielle Lawrie pitched no-hit ball for the seven regulation innings and another one and one-third extra innings, but her Huskies lost in 11 innings to Stanford, 1-0. Also in the Bay Area, Cal edged UCLA 7-6. It was a nice recovery for the Golden Bears, who had lost a 9-1, run-rule-shortened game to Washington the day before.

The big softball weekend has gotten underway with a UCLA win at Stanford.

Arguably the best weekend of play thus far this season will be taking place over the next few days. First, take a look at the top teams in the most recent national polls (ESPN.com/USA Softball ranking listed first, USA Today/NFCA listed second). 1/1. Florida (32-2) 2/2. Washington (27-3) 3/3. Stanford (29-1) 4/5. UCLA (24-3) 5/4. Alabama (26-4) Florida will be hosting Alabama in a three-game SEC series (a Saturday doubleheader, followed by a single game Sunday). Florida's pre-series news release is available here (one does not yet appear available from Alabama). Way over on the other coast, Stanford hosts UCLA Friday night, and then Washington for single games Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Palo Alto Online offers this article on the Cardinal's weekend challenge. True, Stanford has lost only once this season. However, the Cardinal has not played any of the nation's top teams thus far (see the team's schedule/results page ). The UCLA and Washington games will ...

The three series I previewed for this weekend all ended with one item in common -- a broom -- as each resulted in a sweep. Florida took all three games from Tennessee. Northwestern swept two from Michigan, and Ohio State did likewise against Michigan State.

Northwestern (ranked No. 12 and 14 in the two major national polls) hosts Michigan (a consensus No. 8) in Saturday and Sunday afternoon games, as part of the Big 10's opening weekend. ESPN.com's Graham Hays has a column on the Northwestern program, heading into the Michigan series. You can also click for the Michigan and Northwestern preview pages for this weekend. Though it would be fair to refer to Northwestern and Michigan as the Big 10's premier programs in recent years, Ohio State has created some buzz in the college softball community with a 20-3 record and national rankings of No. 14 and 17 in the major polls. On top of that, the Buckeyes will host Michigan State this weekend in the inaugural games of OSU's newly refurbished softball field. In the SEC, No. 1 Florida hosts No. 6 Tennessee in a three-game series (doubleheader Saturday, single game Sunday). These national rankings are consistent across the two polls. Previews from Florida and Tennesee ar...

I've been noticing in recent days that there are a lot more unofficial, fan-based team webpages than I was aware of. You can find them in the links section to the right, below the list of official team sites.