NFL teams have been holding minicamps and other offseason training activities, so let’s take a look at where former Arizona Wildcats stand as everyone gears up for the start of training camp in late July:

Mike Bell, RB, Philadelphia
Earned a Super Ring with New Orleans last season — leading the Saints in carries during the regular season (172 for 654 yards) — before signing a one-year free-agent deal with the Eagles worth $1.7 million. He is expected to back up second-year pro LeSean McCoy and be a more powerful change of pace.

Lance Briggs, LB, Chicago
The five-time Pro Bowl pick will be going for his seventh consecutive 100-tackle season as he welcomes back Brian Urlacher to the Bears’ linebacker corps this season. He’s a popular teammate and popular in the Windy City … hey, how else do you get chosen to be a judge at Chicago’s version of Playboy’s 50th Anniversary Party.

Eben Britton, OT, Jacksonville
A 2009 second-round pick, Britton started 15 games at right tackle last season and looks to be a fixture on the Jags’ offensive line, along with fellow second-year pro Eugene Monroe at left tackle.

Copeland Bryan, DE, Detroit
He was signed by the Lions last year after being cut from Buffalo at the end of training camp. He played in five games for Detroit, starting one, making five tackles, including one sack.

Antoine Cason, CB, San Diego
The Chargers traded Antonio Cromartie, so they expect Cason, who has been a nickel back, to take over as a starting cornerback. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune blogged recently that Cason “is having an excellent offseason. He is always on the ball, is blanketing receivers, knows what he’s doing. Of course, he hasn’t been going against Vincent Jackson or Malcom Floyd (until recently) or even Legedu Naanee.” For sure, check out this great story from Acee in April, talking about how Cason spent several weeks training in Tucson with a UA assistant track coach.

Lionel Dotson, DE, Miami
Was on the Dolphins’ roster all of last season, but was mostly inactive on game days, appearing in two games. The 2008 seventh-round pick again will be fighting for a roster spot in training camp.

Nick Folk, PK, New York Jets
Folk was super in his first two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, making 46 of 53 field goal attempts and earning Pro Bowl honors as a rookie in 2007. But he had hip surgery after the 2008 season, struggling to regain his form. The Cowboys cut him in December, and then Folk signed with the Jets in February.

Chris Gronkowski, FB, Dallas
He is versatile as a blocker and pass-catcher, willing to do the blue-collar work. Coach Wade Phillips told DallasCowboys.com, “We’ll see when we get the pads on, but he looks good so far.”

Rob Gronkowski, TE, Patriots
The second-round rookie is helping to remake the position in New England, which also drafted Florida’s Aaron Hernandez in the fourth round. While Hernandez is considered more of a pure pass-catcher, Gronkowski has all-around tight end skills and, according to Patriots.com, made the play of the day at a recent full-squad scrimmage on a pass from Tom Brady.

Chris Henry, RB, Houston
He was the 50th overall pick in the 2007, drafted by Tennessee because of his excellent workout at the scouting combine rather than his production on the field. Henry got little use in his first two years, and the Titans released him early last season. He landed with the Houston Texans, but did not have a carry. He’s competing for a roster spot this summer.

Chris Jennings, RB, Cleveland
Jennings has been a nice success story, walking-on to Arizona as a junior college transfer and becoming productive in the running and passing games. Undrafted, he was playing in the Canadian Football League last season when the Browns called, and Jennings was able to stick with the team, rushing 63 times for 220 yards. He’ll be facing a roster crunch at running back in training camp.

Michael Johnson, FS, N.Y. Giants
He won a Super Bowl ring with the Giants in the 2007 season and became a starter in 2008, but neither he nor the team’s secondary was stellar in 2009. Considering the Giants signed ex-Cardinals safety Antrel Rolle to a five-year, $37 million contract, have youngster Kenny Phillips and veteran Deon Grant, and used a third-round pick on LSU safety Chad Jones … Johnson’s days in New York might be numbered.

Spencer Larsen, FB, Denver
The former All-Pac-10 linebacker was a two-way player for his first two seasons in Denver, famously starting at fullback and at linebacker as a rookie. Now, he will be exclusively an offensive player … and you can be sure he’ll do it with a great attitude. “Football is football,” he told reporters earlier this month. “A lot of it is the same techniques. Linebackers have a different personality but to me it is all football. By doing this, I can still be a special teams member and it is something I care about.”

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Utah is expected to officially accept an invitation to join the Pac-10 on Thursday, expanding the league to 12 teams.

Colorado made it 11 teams last week, when we examined what the Buffaloes bring to the league in terms of the major sports. Let’s do the same with the Utes:

Football

Utah, as a member of the Mountain West Conference, has gone undefeated in two of the past six seasons. Now, we’ll get an answer to the criticism, “Yeah, but could they do it in a BCS conference?

Since 2003 — which was Urban Meyer‘s first season as coach — the Utes have gone 69-19. They routed Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl to cap the 2004 perfect season and smacked Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to finish the 2008 season at 13-0 under Kyle Whittingham.

Utah is 3-3 against the Pac-10 in the past four seasons and 7-3 against the Pac-10 dating to 2003.

The Utes have won nine consecutive bowl games, the longest streak in the nation.

If they were in the Pac-10 this season, they would be considered part of a big pack chasing presumed favorites Oregon and USC. Utah is ranked No. 22 in the preseason by The Sporting News, No. 25 by Lindy’s and 28th by Phil Steele’s magazine.

Consider this: Utah turned to true freshman quarterback Jordan Wynn late last season, and he passed for 336 yards in a Poinsettia Bowl victory against future conference foe Cal, earning bowl MVP honors. The Utes figure to join the Pac-10 in 2012, when Wynn will be a senior and, most likely, one of top quarterbacks in the league.

Last meeting against Arizona: Nov. 2, 2005 — Utah 27, Arizona 24 (in Salt Lake City)

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Here are three more reasons why the future of Mike Candrea‘s Arizona softball program is bright: Hallie Wilson, Chelsea Goodacre and Shelby Pendley.

Those three players — who each will be high school seniors this fall and have committed to sign with the Wildcats, according to multiple reports — were selected Tuesday to the 17-member U.S. Junior National team. Forty-one players took part in the tryout camp in Chula Vista, Calif.

Wilson is a outfielder from North Tustin, Calif. She hit .432 as a junior at Foothill High School — the school that produced UA All-American Caitlin Lowe — after batting .526 as a sophomore.

Goodacre, a power-hitting catcher from Temecula, Calif., missed about six weeks of her junior season because of injury, but hit .507 in 21 games.

Pendley, from Rio Rancho, N.M., is a power-hitting shortstop/third baseman who hit .586 last season with 12 home runs — both marks ranked second in the New Mexico’s 5A classification. She also did some pitching for Rio Rancho High.

Wilson, Goodacre and Pendley will arrive at Arizona for the 2011-12 school year. In the meantime, Arizona has signed two players for next season — pitcher Shelby Babcock and shortstop Chelsea Suitos, who fill the roster spots of departed pitcher Sarah Akamine and shortstop K’Lee Arredondo.

The Wildcats have two known commitments from players who just completed their sophomore seasons — pitcher Nancy Bowling from Royal High in Simi Valley, Calif. (you can see a photo of her here at the Orange County Register) and shortstop Amanda Perez from Whittier (Calif.) Christian.

“It’s like a dream come true. It’s the school I always wanted to attend,” Perez told the Whittier Daily News last week. “As soon as they offered me, I didn’t have to wait.”

Bowling was at the tryout camp for the Junior National Team, but did not make the cut.

The U.S. Junior National team will compete at the III Pan American Softball Championship (18-and-under) from Aug. 6-15, in Bogota, Colombia. That event is a qualifier for the International Softball Federation IX Junior Women’s World Championship (19-and-under), which will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from Dec. 6-17, 2011.

Stacy Iveson, the head coach at Yavapai College in Prescott, is an assistant coach for the Junior National team. Iveson is a Catalina High graduate, a former UA player and assistant coach, and the former head coach at Pima Community College.

Former University of Arizona star Steve Kerr, who has been the general manager of the Phoenix Suns for the past three seasons, will step down when his contract expires on June 30, according to the Arizona Republic.

The story says Kerr will return to television in a role as NBA analyst, presumably to fill a spot at TNT, which recently lost Doug Collins, who became the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. Kerr previously worked for TNT.

The Suns were 54-28 in the 2009-10 regular season, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

Kerr seems to have set the Suns on a good path, although not all of his moves worked out … and his tenure certainly wasn’t dull.

Bringing in Terry Porter as coach and Shaquille O’Neal as the answer at center were disasters, but at least Kerr quickly acknowledged the mistakes. He fired Porter after 51 games and spent just a year-and-a-half with the Big Cactus.

On the plus side, Kerr kept Steve Nash and Grant Hill, hired coach Alvin Gentry, reconfigured the bench, brought in sharp-shooting ex-cat forward Channing Frye last season and drafted still-promising 7-footer Robin Lopez in the 2008 first round, although that seemed like a reach at the time.

“It’s definitely been an interesting three years for both of us and the organization,” Suns managing partner Robert Sarver told the Republic.

“Overall, I think he did a very good job to put us on solid ground with players and coaches, getting a defensive emphasis and got the ground laid on teamwork and chemistry. We’re in a pretty good spot moving forward and a lot of it has to do with moves he’s made. There were some good moves and bad moves, which goes with the job. But overall, I think he’s done a very good job.”

RELATED: The Republic has a slideshow of Kerr, mostly from his time as the Suns’ GM

Texas has turned down an offer to join the Pac-10, which means the league’s desire to expand to 16 — which seemed likely for the past few days — is not going to happen.

Nice effort by Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott to swing for the fences, but he’s back to his fall-back plan. He already has added Colorado to the Pac-10, and now figures to make a play for Utah to get to a dozen, which would trigger a conference championship game in football.

If you’re an Arizona fan, are you relieved that the Pac-10 isn’t going to be the nation’s first super conference? The proposed 16-team league could have meant a big boost in revenues, but it would have been a change of culture and rivalries if the Wildcats had been aligned with Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. Not everybody likes big change.

Now, what Arizona and Pac-10 get is smaller change. Scott said expansion could end with Colorado, which hardly seems worth the trouble.

With the move, the Buffaloes might find more recruiting territory open up in California, which is what they need because they haven’t been very competitive in football and men’s basketball in recent seasons. The Buffs don’t change the competitive balance of the Pac-10, as Texas and Oklahoma would have … so for Pac-10 fans, it will mostly be business as usual.

For Texas, it ultimately was a money decision. Of course. What else would it be? By holding the remaining 10 teams in the Big 12 together, Texas is free to start its own TV network, which wouldn’t have been possible in the Pac-10.

The Denver Post quoted a source close to the expansion negotiations that Texas, in the 11th-hour talks, wanted “a better revenue sharing deal and their own network” if it joined the Pac-10.

Scott’s deadline for expansion is the end of the year, before the negotiating begins for a new TV contract. He has time to figure out his next move, if it’s anything beyond adding Utah.

In pursing the Big 12 teams, Scott was bolder than anyone thought possible — and way more creative than former commissioner Tom Hansen — but now he might be out of geographic options.

Still, Scott has signaled that the Pac-10 will be progressive — in expansion and marketing — which is a positive sign for the health of the league.

UPDATE (4:53 p.m.): Here is the official statement from Larry Scott:
“University of Texas President Bill Powers has informed us that the 10 remaining schools in the Big 12 Conference intend to stay together. We are excited about the future of the Pac-10 Conference and we will continue to evaluate future expansion opportunities under the guidelines previously set forth by our Presidents and Chancellors.”

(NOTE: Since this was posted, the Pac-10 has opted to not follow the NCAA decision and will not waive its transfer waiver for within the conference. So, any USC players who wants to leave and stay within the conference will still have to sit out a year. So, what follows is just a what-could-have been situation.)

The NCAA has ruled — in the wake of imposing a two-year postseason ban on the USC football program — that the team’s juniors and seniors are eligible to immediately transfer without having to sit out a year.

OK, then …

Which players should Arizona coach Mike Stoops go recruit off the USC free-agent roster?

Just for fun, here’s our top five list of Trojans who would make good Arizona targets. This isn’t a list of the best USC juniors and seniors — but the ones who would be the best fits from a talent/position/need standpoint.

1. CB Shareece Wright
The senior missed all of the 2009 regular season because of academic problems, but he returned for the bowl game and intercepted a pass against Boston College. If Arizona could have paired Wright with junior Trevin Wade, the Wildcats might have had the best pair of cornerbacks in the country.

2. DT Jurrell Casey
Arizona is replacing its starting interior defensive line, and although there is depth at the position — and an intriguing fall newcomer in Willie Mobley — there is no sure-fire star. Casey, a junior who had 59 tackles, including nine for loss last season, would have provided that star power while joining potential all-conference ends Brooks Reed and Ricky Elmore. Nice.

3. C Kristofer O’Dowd
The Salpointe Catholic graduate could have come home for his final season of college football. Arizona doesn’t have a need here because it has senior Colin Baxter … but having two All-American-caliber centers would have been a pleasant problem to have, and one of those guys could have just slid to guard.

4. LB Malcolm Smith
Arizona isn’t set at weak-side linebacker, listing junior college transfer Paul Vassallo and sophomore R.J. Young as co-starters heading into the fall. Smith, a senior, started at the position for the Trojans last season, making 72 tackles — including 10 vs. the Wildcats. Given Arizona’s inexperience at all the linebacker spots, junior middle linebacker Chris Galippo and senior strong-side ‘backer Michael Morgan would have been welcome transfers from USC, too.

5. RT Tyron Smith
Smith, a former Parade All-American, has big upside after starting as a sophomore, and he is projected as one of the top offensive tackles for the 2012 NFL Draft. He would have fit nicely, given that right tackle is the only spot on the Arizona offensive line that doesn’t have a returning starter, although senior Phillip Garcia has experience.

More Pac-10 expansion likely is on the way, but all we know for sure right now is that Colorado is in, starting in 2012. OK, so let’s look at what the Buffaloes bring to the league in the biggest of sports:

Football

Right now, not much. It’s been two decades since Colorado split the national championship, helped by the infamous fifth-down call near the Missouri goal line. The Buffs finished 11-1-1, finishing first in the AP poll, but the coaches voted for Georgia Tech (11-0-1).

Colorado has had four consecutive losing seasons under Dan Hawkins, who is 16-33 at the school after a successful run at Boise State. He would have been fired after last season — even he said he was “fortunate” to retain his job — but the athletic department wasn’t in a financial position to buy him out of his contract for more $3 million.

That could be a much different story after this season if he doesn’t pull off a huge turnaround … which no one really expects.

Colorado was 3-9 last season — 2-6 in the Big 12.

If the Buffs were in the Pac-10 this season, they’d be ranked ahead of only Washington State.

Last meeting against Arizona: Sept. 27, 1986 — Arizona 24, Colorado 21 (the Buffs hold a 12-1 lead in the series, which dates to 1931.)

Basketball

Not much tradition here. Colorado hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2003 and has advanced only twice since 1969.

The Buffs have a new coach — Tad Boyle, who replaces Jeff Bzdelik, who left to take over at Wake Forest. Boyle was a mere 56-66 at Northern Colorado, but he moved up the coaching ladder because of a 25-8 mark with the Bears last season.

Last meeting against Arizona: Nov. 24, 2009 — Arizona 91, Colorado 87 (OT) in Maui

Women’s basketball

Colorado hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2003-04 season, when it made its fourth consecutive appearance. Since then, the Buffs have only one season with a winning record.

CU’s home average attendance of 2,407 was 11th in the Big 12, although that attendance mark would have been fifth in the Pac-10, which is largely indifferent to women’s hoops.

Last meeting against Arizona: Nov. 24, 1991 — Colorado 74, Arizona 53

Softball

Nothing to see here. Colorado doesn’t have softball.

Baseball

Nothing to see here. Colorado doesn’t have baseball.

In a conference call with media Thursday, Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott said of Colorado, “There is no requirement that they add any sports, but we have discussed that the profile of sports that are offered are compatible. We have discussed adding baseball or softball but there is no contingency.”

TV market

Here’s what the Pac-10 really likes. Colorado delivers the Denver area, the 16th-largest TV market in the nation.

“As we know,” said Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne, “television has a tremendous impact on what takes place with your contracts right now, and that’s an important revenue source for every league out there. …

“To have the Colorado television market as part of that will obviously be great exposure for our league and will be great exposure in our part of the country from a television perspective.”

The Arizona Wildcats were just standing around, minding their own business, when they changed conferences.

I hate that. I hate change. I like Arizona’s conference just the way it is. I mean, was.

The walls began to come tumbling down Thursday when Colorado accepted an invitation to the Pac-10 … and then will come an announcement that Nebraska is joining the Big Ten … and then, probably early next week, five other schools from the Big 12 will become members of the Pac-10.

Or Pac-16. Or Pac-XVI. Or whatever they want to call it.

The landscape that Arizona has known for the past 32 seasons is gone. Unless the runaway train of realignment gets derailed at the last minute, UA and Arizona State are set to be thrown into the non-Pacific Division of the Pacific-10 Conference, along with Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Colorado.

Starting in the 2012-13 school year, they will have essentially switched conferences. Almost everything changes. Rivalries. Recruiting approaches. Competition. Culture.

Gone is the perfect symmetry of 10 conference teams. Five geographically aligned travel pairs. A full round-robin in football. The rhythm of Thursday-Saturday basketball weeks.

But now that ground-shaking change is here, there is only one thing left to do: Embrace it.

This is what we wanted.

This is what we asked for when we — that would be me and almost all of you, I would think — criticized the Pac-10 for TV deals that lacked sufficient exposure and cold hard cash for its members.

This is what we asked for when we begged for better bowl arrangements that could compare to other conferences.

This is what we asked for when we perceived a national lack of respect for the Pac-10.

We asked for it. Yeah, well, we got it.

New commissioner Larry Scott hasn’t just been nibbling around the edges of progress. He devoured it.

“My opinion is that we needed to be aggressive in our approach, and Larry has already shown that that is the approach he’s taking,” new Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne said Thursday at a news conference.

“When you look at what’s taking place, whether anything happens additionally, I think the Pac-10 has been talked more about in the past 10 days than we probably have been across the country in years.

“And that’s a good thing for our brand, for our league, and that obviously has a big impact on the University of Arizona because that makes our visibility even stronger across the country.”

This change won’t be boring in football. Arizona in the same division as Texas and Oklahoma? Arizona in the same division as Oklahoma State and booster T. Boone Pickens, the Big 12′s version of Oregon’s Phil Knight? Good luck, right?

Arizona can’t compete right now with Texas Tech’s facilities.

But what is it that coaches always say as their teams prepare to take on a big foe? Don’t consider it an overwhelming obstacle, think of it as an opportunity.

Having Texas and Oklahoma come to Tucson every other year is exciting stuff. Shoot, those teams might even help Arizona State sell out Sun Devil Stadium.

The new yearly rivalries would take some getting used to, but we would.

“Any time you have change there is going to be resistance to it,” Byrne said.

“I’ve always said on my tombstone I want it to say, ‘People are always open to change as long as it doesn’t inconvenience them.’ I think just like anything else people will adapt. To say that you can go through life without any change would be a very boring life.”

Arizona, and the other Pac-10 schools, stands to make about $20 million a year from a new television deal in an expanded conference, at least double the current take.

With that kind of money doing the talking, the status quo had no chance.

Instead of the Pac-10′s old way of holding onto the past while everything changed around it, Scott is the one leading the charge.

Since the Pac-10 last expanded with the addition of Arizona and Arizona State in 1978, every other conference has undergone some sort of transformation — sometimes just a little (the Big Ten adding Penn State) and sometimes quite a lot (the Big 8 and Southwest Conference merging in 1996 into the soon-to-be dead Big 12).

In 1978, the Big East didn’t exist. Conference USA, the Mountain West and the Sun Belt conferences came much later. The WAC went from seven teams in 1978 to as many as 16 teams and now sits at nine.

Twenty-five Division I-A teams — including many of the biggest names in college football — were still independent in 1978. Now, there are only three independents.

Things change.

The new Pac-10 will be different. But it will be good.

RELATED LINK: What does Colorado add to the Pac-10?

Rarely has Arizona asked a freshman pitcher to do so much, and never has a pitcher arrived on campus amid so much hype, such great expectations.

Kenzie Fowler‘s first season was a rousing success.

“It’s just great to see Kenzie as a freshman step up,” senior shortstop K’Lee Arredondo said at the press conference after the Wildcats lost to UCLA in the championship series of the Women’s College World Series on Tuesday night. “She’s my hero.”

If there was one thing we learned this season about the Wildcats, who finished 52-14, is that Fowler has the stuff of a champion.

She pitched Arizona to victory in four elimination games at the World Series — overcoming the illegal pitch calls that had not been made against her all season — and had done enough to get the victory in Game 1 of the championship series before the defense faltered with two outs in the seventh.

Before that, she overcame a pinched nerve in her neck that caused her pitching hand to swell in the last weekend of the regular season, and she continued on after being hit by a line drive in the Super Regionals, causing her forearm to turn black and blue.

But early in Tuesday’s game against the Bruins, enough was enough. Starting her sixth game in four days, the pinched nerve problem began to resurface. She was losing feeling in her arm and had trouble with her grip.

Fowler was pulled one batter into the second inning, ending her season.

“She has thrown a bunch. I mean, my God, she has really done a miraculous job to get us here and I told you I was going to ride her as much as I can,” Arizona coach Mike Candrea said at the postgame news conference.

“But when she can’t feel the ball, it’s time. I’m going to always put her health in front of the competition.”

Most star pitchers at Arizona have had the luxury to be eased into the competition. Not Fowler.

Arizona had Debby Day when Susie Parra arrived.

Arizona had Parra when Nancy Evans arrived.

Arizona had Becky Lemke when Jennie Finch came to Tucson.

The only season comparable to one Fowler just completed came in 2003, when Alicia Hollowell had to carry the staff as a freshman. Their numbers are similar.

Hollowell was 40-5, striking out 394 batters in 293 2/3 innings with a 0.94 ERA.

Fowler — facing today’s better bat technology and an explosion of power in the game — was 38-9, striking out 371 batters in 284 1/3 innings with a 1.53 ERA.

Like Fowler, Hollowell was arguably the top pitching recruit in the country at the time, but Hollowell, from California, never had to deal with the pressure of being the hometown kid. Fowler was a two-time Gatorade National Player of the Year at Canyon del Oro High School.

“The one comment that she would make during the season is that, ‘Gosh, the difference in this level of play, you just can’t let up,’” said Kenzie’s mom, Kelly Fowler.

“Every batter can hurt you. You can’t afford to miss a spot, or you will pay for it. … In high school, you could just cruise.”

No, Fowler couldn’t cruise, which makes her season all the more remarkable. She fought. She was mentally tough. Willing to play through injury.

Candrea says he never knows how a recruit will react under the brightest of lights. But now everyone knows about the kind of character Fowler is made of.

It makes you wish next season could start tomorrow.

So much for the Amanda Williams Era

With the 2010 season complete, this ends the Amanda Williams Era at Arizona.

Who?

In coach Mike Candrea‘s master plan, Kenzie Fowler would never have had to shoulder as much of the burden as she did this season. And wouldn’t it have been nice to have had a second ace to go to at the World Series?

Williams arrived at Arizona in the fall of 2006, yet another recruit considered the top pitching prospect in the country. Williams was supposed to be the bridge between Alicia Hollowell and Fowler.

But Williams lasted only a semester, academically ineligible. She never returned.

Without Williams around, Taryne Mowatt was forced to pitch almost 70 more innings in 2007 than anyone in school history — 370 innings in all — and yet she willed the Wildcats to the national title.

But Arizona has been shorthanded in pitching ever since. In 2008, Mowatt couldn’t repeat her 2007 performance. In 2009, Sarah Akamine and Lindsey Sisk weren’t ace material. In 2010, Fowler could have used a little more help. Williams was supposed to be a senior this season.

But Candrea and his coaching staff — although they looked for a transfer or another short-term solution after Williams left — failed to lure another pitching recruit. Everyone knew Fowler was arriving, and it was hard to bring in a recruit to compete with that.

So, the early departure of Williams was a major setback for the program … and still Arizona won a national title and played for another during the short-handed pitching years in which she should have been here.

Akamine has completed her eligibility, but next season, Fowler will be joined by Shelby Babcock — an ace-quality pitcher from Broomfield, Colo. Down the road, Arizona has a commitment from Nancy Bowling, who just completed her sophomore season at Royal High in Simi Valley, Calif.

It appears the pitching succession plan is back on track.

The day after: Fowler’s fabulous freshman season

UCLA’s relentless hitting is too much for Arizona to overcome. The Bruins come out on top in the renewal of the sport’s greatest rivalry, winning Game 2 15-9 to sweep the best-of-three championship series.

UCLA has now won 11 national titles. Arizona stays at eight.

The Bruins come out swinging, knocking out a tired Kenzie Fowler in the second inning, and relief pitcher Sarah Akamine couldn’t hold the line against hot-hitting UCLA.

Arizona’s batters battled — led by a pair of Stacie Chambers’ two-run home runs — but the Wildcats also squandered scoring chances and played spotty defense.

UCLA and Arizona have met seven times for the Women’s College World Series title. The Cats won four, the Bruins won two … and UCLA’s 1995 title was stripped by the NCAA because of violations.

Arizona finishes the season at 52-14.

* * *
Stacie Chambers hits another two-run home run, this time in the sixth, cutting the deficit to 15-8. She now has 21 home runs this season and 67 for her career. The game goes to the seventh.

* * *
Now, all of Arizona’s pitchers have allowed a home run. Walk-on Ashley Ralston-Alvarez, a senior who attended Catalina Foothills High and Pima Community College, gives up a home run to the first batter she faces — Samantha Camuso.

The ESPN announcers have been talking about the composite bats, which are supplying a lot of power to the game. UA coach Mike Candrea has talked about banning the bats. Good idea. The rate at which balls are leaving the yard — especially to the opposite field — is not natural in college softball.

Ralston-Alvarez strikes out two batters and gets out of the inning without allowing another run, so she’ll have a positive memory.

UCLA leads 15-6 heading into the bottom of the sixth.

* * *
Arizona junior catcher Stacie Chambers hits her 20th home run of the season — a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth. Chambers has 66 career home runs, within reach next season of the school record of 85, held by Laura Espinoza and Leah Braatz.

Arizona trails 14-6, leaving the bases loaded.

* * *
UCLA’s bats aren’t done yet, either. After Arizona scores three runs in the bottom of the fourth, UCLA scores seven in the fifth, helped by a fielding error by second baseman Kristen Arriola.

The big hit was a three-run blast from Julie Burney that made it 11-4. The Bruins didn’t stop there, continuing to pile on the runs as eight consecutive batters reached base safely with two outs. They lead 14-4.

Sometimes, backup pitcher Sarah Akamine can be effective and keep batters off balance. At other times, she gets hit hard. This is one of the latter times.

* * *
Arizona isn’t done yet. The Wildcats score three runs in the fourth off Aleah Macon to make it 7-4. Problem is, Arizona could have score more, bringing the tying run to the plate three times in the inning.

The first five batters reached base. With the bases loaded, Macon hit Lini Koria with a pitch to make it 7-2. Kristen Arriola then delivered her first hit of the Series — a two-run single.

The Wildcats failed to do any more damage, though, and UCLA appears ready to put in Megan Langenfeld in relief in the next inning.

Still, Arizona has climbed back into it.

* * *
Arizona is going to regret its outfield defense in the championship series. Right fielder Karissa Buchanan, whose hitting has been superb, misplayed a drive to right, dropping to her knees in a failed attempt to cut off the hit from Kaila Shull.

The ball bounced past her to the fence, allowing a runner to score from first with two outs, making it 7-1 for UCLA in the top of the fourth.

* * *
Lini Koria gets a run back for Arizona with a homer in the bottom of the sixth. All the Cats need now is one more run per inning to catch UCLA … without giving up any more, of course.

The Bruins lead 6-1 going to the third inning.

* * *
In her sixth start in six days, Arizona freshman Kenzie Fowler lost control of her pitches and, briefly, her emotions.

After allowing a two-run home run in the first inning — and then walking the bases loaded — Fowler hit the first batter of the second inning (B.B. Bates) in the helmet. bates was fine and stayed in the game, but Fowler appeared upset.

At that point, coach Mike Candrea brought in Sarah Akamine to pitch … but that didn’t work out so well, either.

Later in the inning, Andrea Harrison — after Arizona intentionally walked Megan Langenfeld — smashed a grand slam to give the Bruins a 6-0 lead.

* * *
Hard to score if you don’t swing. Brittany Lastrapes singles to lead off the bottom of the first, but Lauren Schutzler, K’Lee Arredondo and Stacie Chambers all strike out looking against Aleah Macon.

* * *
New day, same result. Arizona doesn’t pinch around UCLA star Megan Langenfeld, and Langenfeld smacks an opposite field two-run homer in the top of the first inning.

Monica Harrison had singled ahead of Langenfeld, so there wasn’t an open base, but giving her anything close to hit right now seems like a bad idea.

Kenzie Fowler walked the bases loaded after that, but she got a pop-up and a foul out (left fielder Brittany Lastrapes made a nice catch near the wall) to escape without further trouble.

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PREGAME: After an epic Game 1 — won by UCLA 6-5 in eight innings — Arizona coach Mike Candrea and his Wildcats are getting ready to get after it in tonight’s second game of the best-of-three championship series.

Considering the Wildcats won four elimination games to reach the championship series, there shouldn’t be much of an emotional hangover for this resilient team.

Plus, senior shortstop K’Lee Arredondo has been telling her younger teammates about 2007, when Arizona lost the first championship game to Tennessee before winning the next two to claim its eighth national title.

After Monday night’s game, Arredondo said she told her teammates to “pick your heads up.”

She added: “We’ve fought so hard. There’s no reason we can’t come back and beat this team two times in a row.”

Candrea, in the postgame news conference, said that it was pitching coach Teresa Wilson’s decision to pitch to Megan Langenfeld in the eighth inning with two outs and no runners on base. Langenfeld hit a homer to win the game.

“I’m not going to second guess someone that’s done a helluva job,” he said.

Still, he hinted that Arizona might be much more cautious with Langenfeld tonigh