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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 then-#6 Texas in a hard fought game. To start off the conference slate, then-#2 California traveled across the bay to face then-#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 then-#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. The Bears would go on to face then-#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 then-18th ranked Ducks, 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. 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, was later awarded the #1 overall seed in the tournament, and because of the upgrades at Levine-Fricke Field, the Bears will host games in Berkeley for the first time since 1993.
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. 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. 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
On May 13, 2012, it was announced that the Golden Bears would receive the #1 overall seed in the 2012 NCAA softball tournament and will host a regional at Levine-Fricke Field in Berkeley. Also, if the Bears advance to the Super Regionals, they will 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.
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 will be LSU on Thursday May 30.
*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
Postseason
2012 California Golden Bears Softball Postseason Game Log
*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.
