2012 California Golden Bears softball team

The 2012 California Golden Bears softball team is the representative of the University of California in the 2012 NCAA Division I softball season. The team plays their home games in Levine-Fricke Field and they entered the 2012 season after making the Women's College World Series with a 45–13 record in 2011 and making the postseason for 27 straight years.

2012 California Golden Bears softball
Women's College World Series Participants Berkeley Super Regional Champions Berkeley Regional Champions Pac-12 Conference Champions
Conference	Pac-12 Conference
Record	56–5 (21–3 Pac-12)
Head coach	Diane Ninemire (25th season)
Assistant coach	Tammy Lohmann John Reeves Angie Jacobs
Home stadium	Levine-Fricke Field
Seasons ← 2011 2013 →

Regular season

California (in pink jersey because of the "strike out cancer" day) celebrates winning the inaugural Pac-12 Conference championship.

The 2012 season began for the Golden Bears with extremely high expectations with head coach Diane Ninemire going as far as comparing her 2012 squad to the Bears' 2002 national championship team. California started the season as #3 in the NFCA poll and spent most of the first half of the season as #1 in the ESPN poll and #2 in the NFCA poll.

Heading into conference play, the Golden Bears had compiled a record of 26–1 with their only loss coming at the hands of then #18 Hawai'i in extra innings in Honolulu after previously beating #6 Texas in a hard fought game. To start off the conference slate, #2 California traveled across the bay to face #9 Stanford in a 3-game series in Palo Alto, and the Bears promptly swept the Cardinal to earn the #1 spot in both polls for the first time during the 2012 campaign. After the three game sweep of Stanford, the #1 Bears did not slow down, sweeping #3 Washington in Berkeley and unranked Utah in Salt Lake City. After the Washington series, the Bears were the unanimous #1 team in the country according to the NFCA and ESPN polls and at this same time, California came in as #1 in the NCAA's RPI rankings.^[1]

The Bears would go on to face #13 Arizona and despite losing their first conference game to the Wildcats, they still won the series 2–1 and retained the #1 ranking in both the NFCA and ESPN polls. The following weekend, the Bears travelled to Eugene to take on the #18 Oregon, and again took two of three games and retained the #1 spot in both polls for a fifth consecutive week. On April 24, 2012, California was in first place in the Pac-12 Conference with Arizona State only one game behind the top ranked Bears. In the second-to-last conference series of the regular season, both the Sun Devils and Bears swept their opponents (Utah and Oregon State respectively) setting up a showdown in Berkeley for the conference championship.

Going into the final weekend series of the regular season, the Golden Bears sported a 19–2 record in conference play and needed to take 2 of 3 from second place (and #2 in the national polls) Arizona State. The Bears won the first game of the series thanks to walk off two-run home run by senior Valerie Arioto and won the second game of the series by a final score of 5-0 therefore winning the inaugural Pac-12 championship.^[2] The 2012 conference championship was the Bears' first sole conference championship since 1987 (they shared a title in 2005), which just happened to be the first Pac-10 conference championship that was awarded.

Because California won their conference, they received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, and were later awarded the #1 overall seed in the tournament. With the upgrades at Levine-Fricke Field, the Bears hosted NCAA tournament games in Berkeley for the first time since 1993.^[3]

Attendance statistics

In 2012, California broke all attendance records for the softball program partially because on April 11, 2012, the University of California athletic department announced that they had more than doubled the capacity of Levine-Fricke Field by adding 704 bleacher seats in the outfield.^[4] On April 29, 2012, the California softball program broke the previous attendance record of 969 in a game against the UCLA Bruins with an announced crowd of 1,069, California then, however, broke the record again later on in the season with a crowd of 1,135 for the final game of the regular season.^[5][6] Overall, the Bears drew a crowd over 1,000 three times during the season for the first time in the program's history.

Capacity: 500 (Feb.-Apr. 10), 1,204 (Apr. 11-)
Average attendance: 529 (56.3% capacity)
Total attendance: 7,939 (15 games)

Postseason

Main article: 2012 NCAA Division I softball tournament

On May 13, 2012, it was announced that the Golden Bears would receive the #1 overall seed in the 2012 NCAA softball tournament and would host a regional at Levine-Fricke Field in Berkeley. Also, if the Bears advance to the Super Regionals, they would also host that series in Berkeley. In the past, Levine-Fricke Field has not been able to host tournament games because it was considered inadequate by NCAA standards, however, the University of California athletic department was able to add approximately 704 bleacher seats in the outfield to bring capacity well above the minimum of 500 in February 2012 and will rent temporary light and build a temporary press box in order to play night games and accommodate television crews.

Berkeley Regional and Super Regional

The Bears opened up the tournament in Berkeley against the Iona Gaels on Friday, May 18, 2012. The regional will run from Friday, May 18 through Sunday, May 20 and will be a double-elimination tournament featuring #1 seeded California, Iona, Arkansas, and Boston University. The Bears won the first game of the Berkeley Regional by defeating the Iona Gaels 8–0 in 5 innings but then were shocked by Arkansas on day two of the regional losing 3-2 to the Razorbacks. California bounced back by defeating Boston University in 6 innings by a final score of 8–0 and promptly beat Arkansas 10–2 and 7–0 on Sunday to advance to the Super Regional round that will also be played at Levine-Fricke Field. The Bears defeated the #16 seed Washington Huskies in the Berkeley Super Regional in two straight games on May 26 and 27. After sweeping the Berkeley Super Regional, California earned a berth to the Women's College World Series for the 12th time in program history.

Women's College World Series

On May 27, 2012 the #1 seeded California Golden Bears clinched the program's 12th Women's College World Series berth by defeating the Washington Huskies in the Berkeley Super Regional. The Bears' first opponent in the world series was LSU on Thursday May 30. After falling behind 2-0, Cal rallied and finally took the lead with a 3-run 6th inning. The Bears defeated LSU 5–3 and moved on to face Oklahoma. The Bears fell 3–0 to Oklahoma striking out 16 times against Sooners pitcher Keilani Ricketts. Needing a win to keep their season alive, Cal defeated Oregon 6–3. The Bears' season came to an end the next day with a 5–2 loss to eventual National Champion Alabama.

Roster

2012 California Golden Bears roster[7]
	Pitchers 7 – Arianna Erceg 54 – Jolene Henderson 72 – Nikki Owens Catchers 6 – Taylor Vincent 17 – Lindsey Ziegenhirt	Infielders 2 – Jordan Wallace 4 – Alex Robben 8 – Danielle Henderson 9 – Jace Williams 10 – Victoria Jones 18 – Britt Vonk 22 – Mary Lee 23 – Ashley Decker 25 – Breana Kostreba 27 – Cheyenne Cordes		Outfielders 1 – Frani Echavarria 3 – Jamia Reid 5 – Elia Reid 24 – LaRisa Jones Utility 20 – Valerie Arioto

Game logs

Regular season

2012 California Golden Bears Softball Game Log
February: 12–0 (Conference: 0–0; Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0; Neutral: 12–0) # Date Opponent Score Rank Win Loss Save Attendance Record Stadium Box 1 February 10 vs. #9 Tennessee 13–5 #3 J. Henderson (1–0) I. Renfroe (0–1) 408 1–0 (0–0) Farrington Stadium W1 2 February 11 vs. Bradley 5–0 #3 V. Arioto (1–0) M. Lynch-Crumri (1–1) 185 2–0 (0–0) Farrington Stadium W2 3 February 11 vs. Texas State 10–0 (5) #3 J. Henderson (2–0) C. Hall (0–1) 220 3–0 (0–0) Farrington Stadium W3 4 February 12 vs. Syracuse 6–3 #3 J. Henderson (3–0) J. Caira (2–1) 96 4–0 (0–0) Farrington Stadium W4 5 February 17 vs. DePaul 2–0 #1 V. Arioto (2–0) H. Penna (0–1) 5–0 (0–0) Eller Media Stadium W5 6 February 18 vs. San Jose State 7–0 #1 J. Henderson (4–0) A. Pridmore (0–1) 120 6–0 (0–0) SLC Park W6 7 February 18 vs. UC Riverside 10–0 (5) #1 V. Arioto (3–0) J. McDonald (0–1) 7–0 (0–0) SLC Park W7 8 February 19 vs. LSU 14–3 (5) #1 J. Henderson (5–0) B. Mack (1–3) 8–0 (0–0) Stephanie Craig Park W8 9 February 24 vs. Fordham 5–0 #1 V. Arioto (4–0) J. Mineau (0–1) 125 9–0 (0–0) Big League Dreams W9 10 February 25 vs. New Mexico St. 2–0 #1 J. Henderson (6–0) A. Newman (0–1) 120 10–0 (0–0) Big League Dreams W10 11 February 25 vs. Cal Poly 4–1 #1 V. Arioto (5–0) R. Patton (0–1) 120 11–0 (0–0) Big League Dreams W11 12 February 26 vs. Cal St. Northridge 7–0 #1 J. Henderson (7–0) M. Pagano (0–1) 130 12–0 (0–0) Big League Dreams W12 February 29 Pacific #1 Cancelled (rain) 12–0 (0–0) Levine-Fricke Field
March: 19–1 (Conference: 4–0; Home: 4–0; Road: 4–1; Neutral: 11–0) # Date Opponent Score Rank Win Loss Save Attendance Record Stadium Box 13 March 2 vs. FIU 8–1 #1 V. Arioto (6–0) M. Dawson (5–3) 13–0 (0–0) Anderson Family Field W13 14 March 2 vs. Southern Miss 8–0 (5) #1 J. Henderson (8–0) G. Luciani (2–1) 14–0 (0–0) Anderson Family Field W14 15 March 3 vs. East Carolina 11–3 (5) #1 V. Arioto (7–0) C. Smith (2–0) 287 15–0 (0–0) Anderson Family Field W15 16 March 3 vs. Northwestern 5–1 #1 J. Henderson (9–0) M. Lamberth (2–4) 16–0 (0–0) Anderson Family Field W16 17 March 7 UC Davis 11–3 (6) #1 J. Henderson (10–0) J. Thweatt (2–7) 137 17–0 (0–0) Levine-Fricke Field W17 18 March 10 vs. San Diego State 12–0 (5) #1 J. Henderson (11–0) R. Arbino (7–5) 18–0 (0–0) Bulldog Diamond W18 19 March 10 vs. Butler 14–1 (5) #1 V. Arioto (8–0) B. Fisher (1–3) 1,250 19–0 (0–0) Bulldog Diamond W19 20 March 11 vs. Purdue 9–1 (6) #1 J. Henderson (12–0) A. Whittemore (2–2) 250 20–0 (0–0) Bulldog Diamond W20 21 March 11 @ Fresno State 8–5 #1 V. Arioto (9–0) M. Moses (8–7) 21–0 (0–0) Bulldog Diamond W21 22 March 14 vs. #21 Texas A&M 3–0 #1 J. Henderson (13–0) M. Dumezich (11–5) 22–0 (0–0) Rainbow Wahine Stadium W22 23 March 15 vs. #6 Texas 6–3 #1 V. Arioto (10–0) B. Luna (9–1) J. Henderson (1) 23–0 (0–0) Rainbow Wahine Stadium W23 24 March 15 @ #19 Hawai'i 3–1 (10) #1 S. Ricketts (13–1) J. Henderson (13–1) 1,200 23–1 (0–0) Rainbow Wahine Stadium L1 25 March 16 vs. Marist 1–0 #1 V. Arioto (11–0) M. White (1–5) J. Henderson (2) 24–1 (0–0) Rainbow Wahine Stadium W1 26 March 17 vs. Winthrop 7–1 #1 J. Henderson (14–1) N. Becker (5–7) 25–1 (0–0) Rainbow Wahine Stadium W2 27 March 20 Princeton 8–0 (5) #2 V. Arioto (12–0) L. Kuhn (1–3) 250 26–1 (0–0) Levine-Fricke Field W3 28 March 23 @ #9 Stanford 9–0 #2 J. Henderson (15–1) T. Gerhart (20–2) 857 27–1 (1–0) Smith Family Stadium W4 March 24 @ #9 Stanford #2 Postponed (rain); Rescheduled for March 25 27–1 (1–0) Smith Family Stadium 29 March 25 @ #9 Stanford 4–3 #2 V. Arioto (13–0) N. White (5–3) J. Henderson (3) 462 28–1 (2–0) Smith Family Stadium W5 30 March 25 @ #9 Stanford 8–0 #2 J. Henderson (16–1) T. Gerhart (20–3) 389 29–1 (3–0) Smith Family Stadium W6 31 March 28 Sacramento State 8–0 (5) #1 V. Arioto (14–0) S. Voelz (4–2) 93 30–1 (3–0) Levine-Fricke Field W7 32 March 30 #3 Washington 2–1 #1 J. Henderson (17–1) K. Inglesby (16–1) 240 31–1 (4–0) Levine-Fricke Field W8 March 31 #3 Washington #1 Postponed (rain); Rescheduled for April 1 31–1 (4–0) Levine-Fricke Field
April: 14–2 (Conference: 12–2; Home: 8–1; Road: 6–1) # Date Opponent Score Rank Win Loss Save Attendance Record Stadium Box 33 April 1 #3 Washington 5–3 #1 V. Arioto (15–0) K. Stanchek (9–1) 32–1 (5–0) Levine-Fricke Field W9 34 April 1 #3 Washington 6–4 #1 J. Henderson (18–1) K. Inglesby (16–2) 680 33–1 (6–0) Levine-Fricke Field W10 35 April 5 @ Utah 10–0 (5) #1 J. Henderson (19–1) M. Ramírez (2–1) 203 34–1 (7–0) Ute Softball Field W11 April 6 @ Utah #1 Postponed (snow); Rescheduled for April 7 34–1 (7–0) Ute Softball Field 36 April 7 @ Utah 11–3 (5) #1 V. Arioto (16–0) G. Nielson (17–8) 389 35–1 (8–0) Ute Softball Field W12 37 April 7 @ Utah 12–3 (6) #1 J. Henderson (20–1) G. Nielson (17–9) 503 36–1 (9–0) Ute Softball Field W13 38 April 11 @ Saint Mary's 9–0 #1 V. Arioto (17–0) J. Lemmon (8–9) 220 37–1 (9–0) Cottrell Field W14 39 April 13 #13 Arizona 2–0 #1 J. Henderson (21–1) K. Fowler (12–4) 415 38–1 (10–0) Levine-Fricke Field W15 40 April 14 #13 Arizona 8–3 #1 S. Babcock (15–7) V. Arioto (17–1) 664 38–2 (10–1) Levine-Fricke Field L1 41 April 15 #13 Arizona 6–0 #1 J. Henderson (22–1) K. Fowler (12–5) 517 39–2 (11–1) Levine-Fricke Field W1 42 April 18 Santa Clara 10–2 (5) #1 V. Arioto (18–1) J. Turner (2–9) 113 40–2 (11–1) Levine-Fricke Field W2 43 April 20 @ #14 Oregon 8–1 #1 J. Henderson (23–1) J. Moore (21–7) 457 41–2 (12–1) Howe Field W3 44 April 21 @ #14 Oregon 1–0 #1 J. Moore (22–7) V. Arioto (18–2) 475 41–3 (12–2) Howe Field L1 45 April 22 @ #14 Oregon 10–0 (6) #1 J. Henderson (24–1) J. Moore (22–8) 633 42–3 (13–2) Howe Field W1 46 April 27 #14 UCLA 3–0 #1 J. Henderson (25–1) J. Hall (16–8) 353 43–3 (14–2) Levine-Fricke Field W2 47 April 28 #14 UCLA 8–0 (6) #1 V. Arioto (19–2) J. Hall (16–9) J. Henderson (4) 841 44–3 (15–2) Levine-Fricke Field W3 48 April 29 #14 UCLA 10–3 #1 J. Henderson (26–1) J. Hall (16–10) 1,069 45–3 (16–2) Levine-Fricke Field W4
May: 5–1 (Conference: 5–1; Home: 2–1; Road: 3–0) # Date Opponent Score Rank Win Loss Save Attendance Record Stadium Box 49 May 4 @ #22 Oregon State 9–1 (5) #1 J. Henderson (27–1) T. Andreana (9–10) 333 46–3 (17–2) OSU Softball Complex W5 50 May 5 @ #22 Oregon State 4–2 #1 J. Henderson (28–1) M. Demore (7–5) 421 47–3 (18–2) OSU Softball Complex W6 51 May 6 @ #22 Oregon State 4–1 #1 J. Henderson (29–1) P. Hall (4–3) 697 48–3 (19–2) OSU Softball Complex W7 52 May 10 #2 Arizona State 4–2 #1 J. Henderson (30–1) M. Popescue (7–2) 407 49–3 (20–2) Levine-Fricke Field W8 53 May 11* #2 Arizona State 5–0 #1 V. Arioto (20–2) H. Bach (19–1) 1,025 50–3 (21–2) Levine-Fricke Field W9 54 May 12 #2 Arizona State 5–0 #1 D. Escobedo (20–4) J. Henderson (30–2) 1,135** 50–4 (21–3) Levine-Fricke Field L1 *California clinched the 2012 Pac-12 Conference Championship on May 11, 2012 after defeating #2 Arizona State 5–0. **All-time single game attendance record at Levine-Fricke Field.

Legend
California Win	California Loss

*All Rankings are from the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll[8]

Postseason

2012 California Golden Bears Softball Postseason Game Log
Berkeley Regional (#1 Seed): 4–1 # Date Opponent (Seed) Score Rank Win Loss Save Attendance Record Stadium Box 1 May 18 Iona 8–0 (5) #1 J. Henderson (31–2) S. Jackson (17–13) 1,059 1–0 Levine-Fricke Field W1 2 May 19 Arkansas 3–2 #1 K. Beasley (11–9) V. Arioto (20–3) C. Cohen (2) — 1–1 Levine-Fricke Field L1 3 May 19 Boston University 8–0 (6) #1 J. Henderson (32–2) W. Tuthill (14–6) 1,064 2–1 Levine-Fricke Field W2 4 May 20 Arkansas 10–2 (5) #1 J. Henderson (33–2) H. McLemore (2–1) — 3–1 Levine-Fricke Field W3 5 May 20 Arkansas 7–0 #1 J. Henderson (34–2) K. Beasley (11–10) 1,028 4–1 Levine-Fricke Field W4
Berkeley Super Regional (#1 Seed vs. #16 Seed): 2–0 # Date Opponent (Seed) Score Rank Win Loss Save Attendance Record Stadium Box 1 May 26 #18 Washington (16) 5–0 #1 J. Henderson (35–2) K. Inglesby (19–11) 1,117 1–0 Levine-Fricke Field W1 2 May 27 #18 Washington (16) 2–0 #1 J. Henderson (36–2) B. Walker(10–6) 1,125 2–0 Levine-Fricke Field W2
Women's College World Series (#1 Seed): 2–2 # Date Opponent (Seed) Score Rank Win Loss Save Attendance Record Stadium Box 1 May 31 LSU 5–3 #1 J. Henderson (37–2) L. Fico (20–12) 8,149 1–0 Hall of Fame Stadium W1 2 June 1 Oklahoma (4) 3–0 #1 K. Ricketts (35–7) J. Henderson (37–3) 1–1 Hall of Fame Stadium L1 3 June 2 Oregon (11) 6–3 #1 J. Henderson (38–3) J. Moore (33–15) 9,310 2–1 Hall of Fame Stadium W2 4 June 3 Alabama (2) 5–2 #1 W. Traina (40–2) J. Henderson (38–4) 9,167 2–2 Hall of Fame Stadium L2

Legend
California Win	California Loss

Home	Away

*All Rankings are from the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll[8]

Rankings and standings

2012 ranking movement

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Post	Final
NFCA/USA Today[9]	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	3
USA Softball/ESPN.com[10]	3	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	3
NCAA RPI[11]	Not released							3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2

2012 Pac-12 Conference standings

		Conference				Overall
Team		W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L	Pct.
1	#1 California Golden Bears* (WCWS)	21	3	.875	—	50	4	.926
2	#2 Arizona State Sun Devils** (WCWS)	18	4	.818	2	46	7	.868
3	#12 Oregon Ducks** (WCWS)	13	9	.591	7	39	15	.722
4	#16 Arizona Wildcats**	12	12	.500	9	35	17	.673
5	#15 UCLA Bruins**	12	12	.500	9	36	18	.667
6	#17 Stanford Cardinal**	11	13	.458	10	38	17	.691
7	#24 Oregon State Beavers**	9	14	.391	11½	34	21	.618
8	#18 Washington Huskies**	7	16	.304	13½	36	17	.679
9	Utah Utes	2	22	.083	19	28	28	.500

*Automatically qualified for the postseason by virtue of winning the Pac-12 Conference championship.
**Received an at-large berth to the 2012 NCAA softball tournament.

See also

• California Golden Bears
• California Golden Bears softball
• Levine-Fricke Field
• 2012 NCAA Division I softball tournament
• 2011 California Golden Bears football team
• 2011–12 California Golden Bears men's basketball team
• 2012 California Golden Bears baseball team