This post was updated April 18 at 10:33 p.m.

Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez sits just one win shy of 800 career victories.

This weekend, she’ll have the chance to reach that milestone – and start building toward the next.

A midseason matchup between the top two teams in the conference standings will begin Friday as No. 11 UCLA softball (24-9, 9-3 Pac-12) travels up north to duel with No. 5 Stanford (36-7, 13-2) in a three-game series.

The Bruins and Cardinal most recently saw each other in the semifinals of last year’s inaugural Pac-12 tournament. Though UCLA narrowly won to advance to the finals, Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady kept Bruin hitters off balance all night, striking out eight across five scoreless innings.

“We saw her (Canady) in the Pac-12 (tournament) a little bit,” said sophomore utility Megan Grant. “I think just relaying those messages to the people who hadn’t seen her is super important.”

Although the ace of the Stanford staff remains, Grant said the Bruin hitters hope to use their experience against her to their advantage.

UCLA’s pitching corps, on the other hand, features a pair of relatively unfamiliar faces to the Cardinal.

Sophomore pitcher Taylor Tinsley had a lone four-inning outing against Stanford last season, while freshman pitcher Kaitlyn Terry will be facing the Cardinal for the first time in her career.

“They’re (Terry and Tinsley) so talented,” said redshirt senior catcher Sharlize Palacios. “They just need to see to their strength, and I think they’ll be just fine.”

The members of the duo are each coming off strong outings. Terry notched a complete-game shutout against Cal State Fullerton her last time in the circle, and Tinsley conceded just a single run Friday night to then-No. 23 California.

In facing a team sporting the fifth-best ERA in the country, runs could come at a premium for the Bruin offense. Grant said it is important for the offense and pitching staff to jump out to an early advantage.

“We always want to have the first punch,” Grant said. “Just want to help Tink (Tinsley) and KT out as much as we can, so I think it’s super crucial for us.”

Canady has followed up her decorated freshman season – in which she was named the NFCA National Freshman of the Year, the Softball America NCAA Freshman of the Year and the D1 Softball Freshman of the Year – with an equally impressive sophomore campaign.

The Kansas native leads the nation with a .46 ERA, yielding just eight earned runs over 122.1 innings of work and has currently tossed 34.1 consecutive scoreless innings.

Inouye-Perez is looking for her team to be aggressive in the batter’s box and adjust accordingly throughout the game.

“Just attack,” Inouye-Perez said. “It’s just a matter of being able to make adjustments, and that’s all we’ve been practicing for the last couple of weeks is making adjustments and clutching up with runners in scoring position.”

The UCLA offense is spearheaded by redshirt senior shortstop Maya Brady, who leads the team with 10 home runs, trailed closely by Palacios with nine on the campaign.

Canady, however, has yet to surrender a long ball in conference play – even logging two herself as a hitter.

Despite the cancellations of last weekend’s remaining games due to weather, the team did not waste their newfound extra time and immediately began preparations for the challenge ahead.

“Instead of taking the day off, because we were all up here, we just got in, saw a little film and just practiced,” Inouye-Perez said. “It’s about being able to stay sharp and keep an edge.”