By Scott Schultz | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

As we approach the end of February and the opening month of the 2019 NCAA Softball season comes to a close, Cal State Fullerton will play host to the prestigious Judi Garman Classic this weekend. The first game will take place on Wednesday, February 27, with games running through Sunday.

How To Watch | Judi Garman Classic

There will be 36 games over the course of the weekend, with 20 games being played at Anderson Family Field presented by USA Softball. The remaining 16 games will be played at PGF Field, the secondary field on-site of the Titan Sports Complex.

The 14-team field this season contains six currently ranked in the Top 25, led by No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Florida and No. 5 Washington. Other ranked teams making the trip to Fullerton are No. 8 Tennessee, No. 17 Oregon and No. 21 Auburn. Michigan, Cal State Fullerton, and New Mexico have also received votes and are just outside the rankings.

Auburn (13-3)

Auburn once again demonstrated its dominance at home as the Tigers knocked off Villanova, 11-1, and Troy, 3-1, on Sunday to run their winning streak to eight and finish the Tiger Invitational without dropping a game.

Senior Makayla Martin earned her sixth win of the season — the 56th in her career — as she threw her 27th career complete game, putting her 10th all-time in the Auburn record book in complete games. She also ran her career strikeout total to 301 after recording six against Troy.

At the plate, the Tigers are led by senior Casey McCrackin with a .489 batting average, four doubles, and five home runs. Senior Kendall Veach has also cleared the fence five times with 17 RBIs and a .349 batting average.

Auburn will open its weekend play on Thursday against Loyola Marymount, followed by a matchup with Texas-San Antonio (UTSA).

Cal State Fullerton (9-6)

Cal State Fullerton entered the Mary Nutter Classic coming off a 5-1 win over San Diego State, but the schedule in Cathedral City wasn’t kind to the Titans as Washington, Oklahoma and Cal proved to be too much. They managed a 4-0 win over Bethune-Cookman before returning home to host this week’s Judi Garman Classic.

Senior Ari Williams and freshman Alexa Neil both earned weekly Big West Awards for their performances during the Hillenbrand Invitational in Tucson, Arizona during week two. 

Williams, who was named Field Player of the Week, posted a .563 batting average with three home runs and nine RBIs over the team's five games in Tucson. She posted at least one hit and multiple RBIs in each of the first four games of the weekend, including a 4-for-4 performance with three RBIs against New Mexico. Williams paces the Titans’ offense with a .395 batting average and 11 RBIs, with Neil right behind hitting at a .372 clip.

Neil, the Titans’ leadoff hitter, reached base two or more times in each of the five games in Tucson. Overall, she posted a .500 batting average and a .611 on-base percentage through the tournament.

The Titans will open play against Oregon on Thursday afternoon.

Florida (18-0)

Florida picked up a pair of wins on the final day of the Bubly Invitational, cruising to victories over Syracuse, 8-2, and Florida A&M, 7-1, at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. On the weekend, the Gators boasted a .353 average at the plate and 44 runs scored over the six-game span, outscoring opponents 44-3 with three shutouts.

After her leadoff home run against the Orange, senior Amanda Lorenz has now hit four leadoff home runs this season, with two of those coming at last weekend’s Bubly Invitational. Kendyl Lindaman has reached base safely in 17 straight games, with the junior recording a hit in 14 of 18 games this season.

In the circle, senior Kelly Barnhill, now 9-0, has thrown 23.1 straight innings of scoreless softball entering this weekend and boasts a 0.59 ERA with 76 strikeouts.

The Gators open their weekend play in Fullerton against UCLA on Wednesday night.

Michigan (6-8)

Michigan came out on the losing end of a pitchers' duel in its final matchup of the LSU Invitational this past weekend, falling to No. 9 LSU, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon. The Wolverines put together back-to-back wins on Saturday over Memphis and CSUN.

At the plate, the Wolverines are led by sophomore shortstop Natalia Rodriguez with a .344 average.

Sophomore left-handed pitcher Meghan Beaubien (2-3, 3.00 ERA) was just four outs shy of a no-hitter in U-M's win against Louisville earlier this season when the Cardinals reached on a two-out bunt single in the sixth. Beaubien has four complete games already this season, and last year posted three complete-game no-hitters and combined for a fourth.

The Wolverines will open play this weekend Friday at noon when they take the field against UCLA.

Oregon (11-4)

The Ducks posted a 4-2 record in Cathedral City last weekend and came out of the Mary Nutter Classic with an 11-4 record on the season.

Sunday capped a solid weekend for Oregon with a 6-1 win over UC Santa Barbara. Oregon's veterans led a nine-hit day at the plate and sophomore Jordan Dail (9-0) threw six innings of one-run ball to remain undefeated on the season. 

Dail finished the weekend with a 4-0 record over five appearances, allowing only seven runs with 28 strikeouts over 29.2 total innings and a 1.65 ERA, lowering her season ERA to 2.33. Sophomore Shaye Bowden hit at a .412 clip for the weekend with a home run and seven RBIs and is Oregon's leading hitter through three weekends with a .409 batting average.

Florida will be the Ducks’ first game of the weekend on Thursday, with Cal State Fullerton to follow.

Tennessee (10-2)

The Volunteers hosted the Tennessee Classic this past weekend, with a Sunday night game against Bradley, and games Monday against Virginia and Louisville remaining as a tune-up for this weekend’s Judi Garman Classic.

In Sunday’s early game, a three-run home run by freshman Kaili Phillips lifted Tennessee to an 11-1 victory over Virginia at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium. Senior hurler Matty Moss fired a complete game and improved to 3-1 on the season, allowing just one run on two hits.

Senior Aubrey Leach and junior Chelsea Seggern lead the Volunteer charge at the plate, both hitting above a .500 pace, with Leach posting a .545 average and Seggern hitting at a .533 clip with 16 RBIs.

In the circle, Ashley Rogers (4-0) leads the Tennessee staff with a 1.47 ERA, 41 strikeouts and holding opponents to just a .192 batting average.

The Vols will take to the field on Thursday to open play in Fullerton, facing Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) and then Fresno State.

UCLA (14-0)

The Bruins heads to Fullerton on the heels of freshman Megan Faraimo’s second no-hitter in eight days.

Faraimo allowed only three baserunners on two Bruin errors and a hit by pitch during her second no-hitter of the season in a 3-0 win over Colorado State in Sunday night’s finale at the Mary Nutter Classic.

Redshirt junior Rachel Garcia has been tabbed the Pac-12 Player of the Week twice already this season. In two complete-game victories during week two, Garcia struck out 27 and walked none, limiting batters to just 10 hits and one run.

Kelli Godin tops the offensive stat-sheet for the Bruins with a .563 average, while Bubba Nickles continues to produce at the plate with six home runs and 19 RBIs.

The Bruins will open play in Fullerton against Florida on Wednesday night.

Washington (14-1)

The Washington Huskies topped Texas Tech to close out a perfect weekend at the Mary Nutter Classic, winning 4-1 to post a 6-0 record for the weekend and notching their 13th consecutive win.

Taran Alvelo earned her 70th career complete game, striking out 12 while allowing one run on five hits. She had four 1-2-3 innings and struck out six consecutive batters at one point in the game. Alvelo reached 650 career strikeouts in the game, with her 18th career double-digit strikeout game.

At the plate, Sis Bates paces the Huskies bats with 16 hits and 10 runs scored, hitting at a .432 clip. Taryn Atlee has five extra-base hits in her last five games, while Sami Reynolds has four steals in her last three games and is a perfect 6-for-6 on the year.

The Huskies open play on Friday with games against Auburn and Florida.

Rounding out the field in Fullerton will be New Mexico, Fresno State, Connecticut (UConn) Texas-San Antonio (UTSA), Loyola Marymount and California State University Northridge (CSUN).

Watch for Fresno State pitcher Hailey Dolcini, as the sophomore transfer was named the Mountain West Player of the Week for week one. Dolcini made two starts and appeared in one game in relief to help the Bulldogs (6-5) go 3-2 over five games at the season-opening Hawaii Paradise Classic in Honolulu.