Michigan bounced back from its loss to Northwestern in last week's Louisville tournament (which would be considered a non-conference game), by routing the Wildcats 11-4 in the teams' Big 10 opener in Evanston. The Wolverines showcased their youthful talent, with contributions from three freshmen, hitters Roya St. Clair and Angela Findlay (the sister of slugger Samantha Findlay) and pitcher Nikki Nemitz. For this year's Michigan softballers, their slogan may have to be modified from "Go Blue" to "Baby Blue!" In Pac 10 opening action, Arizona State bedeviled UCLA, 6-0, and the University of Arizona blanked Washington by the same score.

This upcoming weekend of college softball will arguably be one of the best of the entire regular season. This assertion rests on three points: 1. League play begins in the Big 10 and Pac 10, meaning that all four "power conferences" (the Big 12 and SEC being the others) have now entered this stage. 2. As elaborated below, the Big 10 and Pac 10 each have some excellent match-ups for their opening weekends of conference action. 3. The Big 12, which opened conference play last week, will feature a "Clash of the Titans," with Texas A&M playing at Oklahoma in single games Saturday and Sunday. Saturday afternoon's contest will be televised on ESPN2 . Let's go back to the opening of conference play in the two remaining conferences. In the Big 10, Northwestern hosts Michigan for games on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Just a few days ago, the Wildcats defeated the Wolverines in extra innings at the Louisville tournament. UM and NU have each played in the c...

During a break in one of the March Madness NCAA basketball games this afternoon, I was doing some channel surfing and came upon a Fox Sports cable telecast of the finale of this weekend's Alabama-LSU softball series. The Tigers won today's game 3-0, although things were a little more precarious for LSU than the score suggests, as Alabama got multiple runners on base in the top halves of the sixth and seventh innings. In fact, the Crimson Tide's offensive totals in the box score reflected the unusual situation of a team getting 10 hits, but no runs. Alabama hurler Chrissy Owens (16-1) absorbed her first loss of the season. With the win, LSU took the three-game series, 2-1. Elsewhere in the SEC , Florida swept its series with Georgia in a battle of nationally ranked squads, No. 1 Tennessee continues to roll (sweeping Arkansas this weekend), and Kentucky's Brooke Marnitz (facing Mississippi this weekend) continues her hot hitting. In statistics as of Saturday that...

A few results for the day... Michigan's offense took off on spring break, as the Wolverines went 15 consecutive innings, combined over two games, without scoring a run. As a result, UM dropped decisions to Northwestern, 2-1 (9 inn.), and to Liberty, 2-0, in the Louisville tournament . The host Cardinals (3-0) appear well positioned to win the tournament, with only a Sunday game left against Michigan to conclude the event. Northwestern is 1-1, with games left tomorrow against Cal and Liberty. However, even if Louisville lost and Northwestern swept its two games, the teams would end up tied at 3-1, and Louisville defeated Northwestern head-to-head on opening day. Michigan is 1-2, as are Liberty and Cal. *** Oklahoma (No. 3 and 4 in the two national polls) continued its roll, blanking Texas 7-0 in Austin. LSU split a doubleheader with No. 2 nationally ranked Alabama. Here's a summary of the rest of SEC action (nothing much out of the ordinary).

Yesterday, Oklahoma's surging Sooners came into Lubbock and swept a rain-delayed doubleheader from Texas Tech, 7-0 and 7-3. According to the OU webpage's summary of Game 1 , Sooner pitching ace Lauren Eckermann "recorded her 20th win of the season. The junior added to her perfect record with a season-high 12 strikeouts and only gave up five hits while recording her seventh shut out of the season." Oklahoma next faces Texas in Austin in Saturday and Sunday contests. A little further down the road, the nation will get to see a match-up of the top two teams in the Big 12, as ESPN2 will televise the visit of Texas A&M to Oklahoma on Saturday, March 31 at 2 p.m. Central. *** Today in Louisville, Kentucky, the Women 4 Women tournament got underway. Michigan and Northwestern are both in this tournament, and it seems a bit odd to have two teams from the same conference in such a small (five-team) event. The Wolverines and Wildcats will face each other Saturday morn...

Oklahoma won the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, California, shutting out Arizona 11-0 in a five-inning, run-rule game. According to this article from the OU athletics site: It was the first time the Wildcats had been run ruled in 12 seasons when they lost to UCLA on April 16, 1995 (6-1 in six innings). The Sooners really had to eke one out in eight innings in their semifinal game against DePaul. Oklahoma will be here in Lubbock this Thursday, March 22 to open Big 12 conference play with a double-header against Texas Tech. DePaul, a participant in the 2005 NCAA Women's College World Series, had five losses in the early weeks of the present season, but went on a 10-game winning streak before losing to Oklahoma. I have added a link to the Blue Demons' team page in the right-hand column. *** Here's your Sunday SEC round-up . There did not appear to be any upsets in confernce play today.

Evening Here's how things stand regarding the quest for the championship of the Judi Garman Classic (copied and pasted from tournament website ). CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET (Field 1) GAME 1: Michigan 1, Arizona 2 GAME 2: Louisiana-Lafayette 6, Penn State 5 GAME 3: Oklahoma 8, Cal State Northridge 0 (5 inn.) GAME 4: DePaul 4, Fresno State 1 Arizona (V) vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (H), Sunday 8:30 a.m. Oklahoma (H) vs. DePaul (V), Sunday 10:30 a.m. Championship Game, Sunday 1 p.m. As a University of Michigan graduate (Ph.D., 1989), I have to say that the loss to Arizona would seem to be a major missed opportunity for the Wolverines to strengthen their seeding potential for the NCAA tournament later this spring. The UM did not play a non-conference schedule that would get it too many games with top Pac-10 teams, so this could have been a big win. The Wolverines then dropped a 5-2 contest to fellow Big 10 team, Penn State, in an extra round presumably designed to let teams that lost their open...