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Last Dance for Pacific 12 Softball

The Pacific 12's motto "Conference of Champions" has applied particularly well to softball. Member schools have captured 24 (UCLA 12, Arizona 8, ASU 2, Cal 1, Washington 1) of the 40 NCAA titles awarded in the sport. 

However, the 2024 Pac 12 season, which begins this weekend, will be the last.* UCLA, Washington, Oregon, and (non-softball) USC will be leaving for the Big Ten; Arizona, ASU, Utah, and (non-softball) Colorado will head to the Big 12; and Stanford and Cal will join the Atlantic Coast Conference. Oregon State will be the only remaining softball school, as Washington State does not field a team in the sport.

As shown in the following graph, the three teams going to the Big Ten (UCLA, Washington, and Oregon) were consistently among the best in the Pac 12 over the past decade, with the exception of a Duck downturn when Coach Mike White moved to the University of Texas (the grey bar denotes the cancelled COVID-19 season in 2020).

Stanford and Utah have been rising in recent years and will likely contend for championships in the ACC and Big 12, respectively, whereas Arizona will attempt to rebound from its recent Pac 12 struggles as a Big 12 team. Of course, with Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, the former won't be as challenging as it's been in the past. Oklahoma State, which has appeared in the last four Women's College World Series, and Baylor, which has appeared four times between 2007-2017, are the top programs among the remaining Big 12 schools awaiting the newcomers.

For those following the final Pac 12 softball season, this weekend's series include Utah at UCLA, ASU at Washington, Arizona at OSU, and Cal at Oregon. Stanford, the odd team out this weekend, is playing nonconference opponents.

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*Conceivably, the one remaining Pac 12 softball school, Oregon State, could join with other universities in the region (perhaps from the Mountain West), with the new group still calling itself the Pac 12. Thus, it is probably more accurate to say that the Pac 12, as we have known it, will be ending.

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