The Big Ten has not reached softball’s main stage in recent years – it’s been two decades since we last saw the conference win in the Women’s College World Series.

However, the addition of the Bruins, Huskies and Ducks has put Big Ten softball back on the map.

In its first rivalry matchup outside the Pac-12, No. 5 UCLA softball (40-5, 12-1 Big Ten) will travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on No. 6 Oregon (39-4, 12-1) at Jane Sanders Stadium in a three-game series opening Friday night and continuing through Sunday afternoon. With both teams tied atop the conference standings and just three weekends of regular season play remaining, a series victory will grant the winner an inside track to the regular season crown.

“We need to play our best game,” said redshirt sophomore catcher/utility Alexis Ramirez. “It’s about us and putting our best effort again forward and doing what we can do.”

Regardless of who is in the opposing circle, Megan Grant has continued to tee off.

The junior utility earned her second consecutive National Player of the Week award Tuesday from both the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and D1Softball.

“She loves the big situations,” said coach Kelly Inouye-Perez. “She’s one of the strongest hitters in the country, and now she also has discipline and an approach at the plate which makes her dangerous.”

Grant leads the nation in home runs after launching four against the Huskies – marking her third grand slam in two weeks. Hitting grand slams, however, is not purely a one-person show.

It requires teammates in front of you to get on base, and in each of Grant’s four-RBI blasts, one thing has been constant – Savannah Pola.

“I told ESPN every year, ‘Watch out for Savvy Pola,’” Inouye-Perez said. “We know what she’s capable of doing, so I could not be more thrilled.”

The senior utility has been on the basepaths for each of Grant’s grand slams, producing her most productive campaign in the batter’s box this season. Pola is hitting .453 – ranking 29th in the nation in batting average – just one year removed from a career-low .241 clip.

But arguably the most improved aspect of her game has been power hitting, swatting eight home runs – more than her first three seasons combined.

Now in her fourth season in Westwood, she said an altered mental approach has stimulated her breakout season.

“Not getting too high or too low,” Pola said. “Having fun and it being my senior year has played a big part in my success.”

Against Oregon, however, the high-octane UCLA offense will face its toughest test in conference play.

The Ducks pitching staff ranks third in the nation in ERA at 1.92 behind the 1-2 punch of Lyndsey Grein and Elise Sokolsky. Both aces possess sub-two ERAs while Grein’s mark of 1.25 places her eighth in the country.

Oregon’s pitching, combined with an offense that also ranks top 10 in scoring – sitting just above UCLA with 8.09 runs per game – has propelled them to the top of the Big Ten standings after finishing third in the Pac-12 in 2024.

Though the conference they compete in may be different, little has changed in the rivalry between the Bruins and Ducks.

“It’s cool to have a piece of the Pac-12 with us,” Pola said. “It’s just exciting to keep playing each other.”