The stakes are huge for the fifth-ranked Washington Huskies when they play this week in the inaugural Pac-12 softball tournament in Tucson, Ariz., opening with a quarterfinal matchup Thursday against Oregon State.
That's because the Huskies, with a good performance, can bolster their chance to earn a top-eight seed when the NCAA tournament selections are announced at 4 p.m. Sunday.
Washington (37-11) moved up to No. 5 in the national rankings after taking two of three games at No. 6 Stanford. But the Huskies are ranked No. 12 in the NCAA's RPI Index, so it's unclear if UW would earn a top-eight seed without the chance to bolster its resume in the Pac-12 tournament.
A top-eight seed is important because the top eight teams not only host a four-team regional but also a super regional if they advance. The winners of super regionals earn trips to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
"We feel like we have nothing to lose, and everything to gain," said UW coach Heather Tarr, who has led the Huskies to seven trips to the Women's College World Series, including winning the national title in 2009.
"We always try for [a top-eight seed in the NCAA tournament] because that's what we believe we can get," Tarr added. "It's still the goal and we still have a chance to do it. We still have a lot of work to do, but certainly these next three games could really mean a lot to us."
The Huskies, the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 tournament, won two of three games in mid-April against 7-seed Oregon State (15-28-1).
But the Beavers' 11-1 win in the series finale was the Huskies' most lopsided loss of the season. Washington rebounded from that defeat and have won six of their past seven games coming into the Pac-12 tournament.
Tarr said the Huskies played their best game of the season in their regular-season finale in an 8-0 win over Stanford that ended after five innings because of the run rule (up by at least eight runs after the fifth inning).
"I think that was a signature of how we like to play offense with a combination of speed and power," Tarr said.
Freshman pitcher Ruby Meylan leads the Huskies in wins (15-5 record), innings pitched (141 1/3) and ERA (2.08), and she has gotten plenty of help from seniors Kelley Lynch and Brooke Nelson and junior Lindsay Lopez.
Lopez is coming off her best performance of the season, allowing Stanford just one hit Sunday in the 8-0 win.
"The pitching staff is deeper than we've ever had," said Tarr, who has been UW's head coach since 2005.
If the Huskies defeat Oregon State on Thursday, they will play the winner of 3-seed Utah and 6-seed California on Friday. If the Huskies win their first two games, it could set up a title game with top-seed UCLA (50-4), the No. 2 team in the nation.
— Washington plays Oregon State at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, and the game will be telecast on the Pac-12 Network. If the Huskies win, they would play at 4:30 p.m. Friday on ESPNU. The title game is at 7 p.m. Saturday and will be telecast on ESPN2.
— The Huskies will undoubtedly be one of the top-16 seeds in the NCAA tournament, meaning they will host a four-team regional next weekend.
___ (c)2023 The Seattle Times Visit The Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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