Due in large part to Jolene Henderson’s healthy return to the circle, the Bears (36-17) finally resemble the team they were during their 24-game winning streak in pre-conference play. With its Pac-12 struggles now just a remnant of the past, Cal feels like it is finally coming together.

“I think we’re firing on all cylinders right now,” said sophomore shortstop Cheyenne Cordes. “We’re all getting healthy. We’re all on the come-up.”

Starting on Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich., Cal will open postseason play in the NCAA Softball Tournament Regionals against Central Michigan (33-18). The winner of the series will go on to face the victor of the eighth-seeded Michigan (45-10) and Valparaiso (34-25) matchup.

In a double-elimination style tournament, the winner of the Michigan Regional will advance to the Super Regional round, where it will face off against the winner of the LSU Regional.

Just two hours from Ann Arbor, CMU should hold a home-field advantage over Cal, even though the regional location is considered neutral for both squads. CMU currently boasts a team batting average of .286, led by senior outfielder Macy Merchant and her .415 batting average.

The Bears’ hopes will rest on the shoulders and the injured left knee of Henderson. Despite missing six games due to injury, the All-American still led the Pac-12 with 35 starts, 28 wins, 262.2 innings pitched and an ERA of 1.20. However, with the inconsistencies of Cal’s offensive attack, Henderson can’t afford any major slip-ups. The Bears finished the season with a team batting average of .267 — the worst in the conference.

“I think it all has to do with the lineup being relaxed,” Cordes said. “We added some unnecessary pressure on to ourselves.”

Cal’s biggest obstacle on its path to the LSU Super Regional should be Michigan. The Wolverines cruised to a 20-2 finish in the Big 10 behind the .399 batting average of first baseman and catcher Caitlin Blanchard and the 1.81 ERA of Sara Driesenga. Undefeated at home, Michigan holds a sizeable advantage over the Bears and their 8-8 road record.

Last season, Cal hosted the regional and emerged as the winners. But this season, it doesn’t enter as the favorites but instead as the underdogs.

“There’s definitely somewhat of a different feel,” Cordes said. “Last year, it was more of an expectation (to win). We still expect to win, but we’ve gone through the struggle (this season).”

Despite the Bears having to battle several injuries this season, Cordes stressed the importance of ending the season on a positive and healthy note. After injuries to Henderson, utility player Victoria Jones and Cordes herself, the Bears are finally healthy again. And after going winless in a three-week span, the Bears finally defeated Washington last Saturday.

“We had never had a nine-game losing streak,” Cordes said. “For us to end on that winning note was a big deal. We even called it the start of our winning streak.”

Sean Wagner-McGough covers softball. Contact him at swagnermcgough@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @seanjwagner.

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Kicking off their 2013 season, the third-ranked Cal softball team traveled to Tempe, Ariz., for the Kajikawa Classic last weekend. The Bears went 2-2 overall, dropping games to Kentucky and No. 14 Florida.

“We need to learn from our losses and move on,” Cal coach Diane Ninemire said.

Opening up the tournament, Cal was surprisingly upset by unranked Kentucky in extra innings, 3-2. All-American Jolene Henderson pitched all nine innings for the Bears.

The Bears started hot when freshman centerfielder Jasmin Mejia singled home Breana Kostreba and Jordan Wallace.

Kentucky tied the game at two after scoring runs in innings four and six.

In extra innings, each team started off its half of the inning with a runner on second base, due to the international tiebreaker rule. In the top of the ninth, Kentucky’s Lauren Cumbess hit an RBI single to break the tie and provide the winning run, as the Bears were held scoreless in the bottom half of the ninth.

“We couldn’t come up with a run when we needed to,” said Ninemire. “So it’s kind of a heartbreaker. We should have won the game. We had opportunities to win the game. But that’s how it goes.”

Opportunities were plentiful against Cal State Northridge, as the Bears won by a score of 7-2. Junior second baseman Britt Vonk and junior catcher

Victoria Jones had two RBIs apiece, while Nisa Ontiveros made her pitching debut for Cal.

The freshman threw 5 2/3 strong innings to get the win.

“We don’t really look at the past,” Ontiveros said. “We focus on the now and not what happened earlier.”

Later that day, trouble struck the Bears against No. 14 Florida. Henderson uncharacteristically gave up seven runs. Although the Bears held a 3-2 lead through three innings due to RBIs by Cheyenne Cordes and Breana Kostreba, they were shut down the rest of the way, falling by a final score of 7-4.

“We came out great… but it seemed like every time we came back with runs, they came back with more runs,” Ninemire said. “It was a real battle.”

The loss also dropped Henderson’s season record to 0-2.

“I am pretty disappointed in myself,” Henderson said. “But these things are good to learn from, and its good to learn at the beginning of the season rather than at the end.”

Closing out the tournament against Indiana on Sunday, the Bears sent Henderson back to the mound.

Cal was able to pull away from the Hoosiers in the fourth, getting three runs on three hits. The Bears would go on to win 9-1, moving Cal to 2-2 on the season and giving Henderson her first win.

The best thing about the team right now is that we are a good hitting team,” said Ninemire. “We’re getting stronger and better every game.”

Sean Wagner-McGough covers softball. Contact him at swagnermcgough@dailycal.org.

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In the No. 1 Cal softball team’s run at the Bayer CropScience Classic, the team forced three mercy rulings. Every game must reach five innings, but if one team gains an eight-run lead at any point thereafter, the game is called. Of their 21 games thus far, Cal has forced mercy calls in nine.

To open their Fresno, Calif. campaign, the Bears shut out San Diego State, 12-0, in five innings on Saturday. They continued their ruthless scoring in a 14-1 routing of Butler, again foregoing the unnecessary final two innings. The short games continued on Sunday, as Purdue fell to Cal, 9-1, in six innings.

While the Bears finished early in their first three games, they played out all seven against Fresno State in their closest matchup of the weekend. The Bears, however, paced the home team 8-1 through the seventh before allowing four more runs to bring the final score to 8-5.

Sluggers like Arioto and freshmen Danielle Henderson and Breana Kostreba have drawn attention for sending pitches soaring over the outfield fences, but the more subtle facet of Cal’s dominant offense was on display this weekend.

“We have a very strong offensive lineup,” said sophomore Victoria Jones.” Everyone can hit home runs. And our defense is solid. Mixed, this causes high scores and few runs against us. So the combination of both is what has been helping our success.”

Against San Diego State, 10 different Bears notched RBIs. Jace Williams and Jolene Henderson led the offensive onslaught with two RBIs and three hits, respectively. In the following game against Butler, Williams’ two hits resulted in two more RBIs. Jolene Henderson also racked up two RBIs.

“That says we have a lot of depth,” Jones said. “Notice that it was ten with RBIs in that game, but there are nine in the lineup. Everyone who came in got the job done as well. We all just hit and hit and hit and anyone who came in stepped up.”

The Purdue game did not feature Cal’s usual big hitters, either. Jones started things off for the Bears by plating two runners off her double in the bottom of the second. After Purdue scored in the top of the fourth, Britt Vonk responded by scoring Frani Echavarria and Danielle Henderson to bring the score to 5-1.

While their first three opponents were easily conquered, the highlight of Cal’s weekend was the rivalry matchup against Fresno State. The Bulldogs were the only team to avoid a mercy ruling, which they achieved by holding Cal to a four-run lead through the fifth. After scoring three more in the sixth, the Bears gave up four runs in the seventh to finish at 8-5.

“I definitely felt excited going into that game knowing the crowd was against us, and sometimes the umpires are gung-ho for Fresno State, but we went out and played our game and came out on top,” Jones said. “The stadium was definitely against us, but that didn’t really bother anybody.”

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