California Golden Bears Athletics

BERKELEY – A 27-game road slate and potent conference schedule with 18 televised contests highlight California's 2018 season as head coach Diane Ninemire prepares for her 30th season at the helm.
 
The Golden Bears start out the season in the Sacramento State Tournament before travelling to four other tournaments, one in the competitive Hawaii Tournament in Honolulu and three in-state to faceoff in one of the most talent-laden regions in the country. In that time the team will have accumulated its fair share of closely-contested road battles, something Ninemire and her staff planned strategically.
 
"It's about each part of the season progressing us for the next," Ninemire said. "The early season will be tough on the road and get us ready for a tough conference schedule, which will prepare us for what we will potentially see in the post season."
 
Postseason comes early for the Bears, or at least a semblance of it, as Cal faces eight Pac-12 teams, seven of which moved on to the big dance a season ago, including UCLA, Washington and Oregon who finished their seasons in Oklahoma City. League play opens up on March 16 in Corvallis, Ore., with a three-game series against Oregon State before the Bears return home for a four game stretch to host Sacramento State and reigning league champions Arizona.
 
"We're looking forward to our schedule; we play a variety of great teams to get us ready for our conference which will be outstanding again this year. Hopefully, we can get ourselves in position to qualify for the post season and get further than we did a season ago."
 
Fans will be able to watch most of Cal's Pac-12 series on the Pac-12 Network, with 18 of the 24 games being broadcast. The Cal-Arizona (March 29-31) and Cal-Utah (April 20-22) series will not be part of the TV schedule.
 
Despite a heavy batch of road contests, the Bears conclude the season hosting UCLA (May 4-6) and Oregon (May 10-12) at Levine Fricke-Field. Cal will also see UC Davis (Feb. 14), Sacramento State (March 21) and Saint Mary's (April 4) at home. 
 
In 2017, Cal continued its penchant for postseason play, advancing to the Auburn Regional, where the Bears were downed 8-2 in the Regional Final by the hosting Tigers. Last season tested the Bears throughout their 56 games opening the season with a six-week road stint. Cal came out of the early stretch with an impressive 24-3 record and entered the polls ranked 23rd. The Bears finished with an overall record (32-24, 6-17 Pac-12).
  
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