BERKELEY – California returns to Palm Springs for its consecutive weekend at the Mary Nutter Classic and will be pitted against some of its fiercest competition of the season.
 
The 19th-ranked Golden Bears (11-0) open up the five-game, three-day slate with a pair of Power 5 powerhouses on Friday, beginning with North Carolina at 1 p.m. (PT). The Bears split the 2017 series with the Tarheels in Puerto Rico recording a 3-1 win, before giving up a 4-1 decision during the opening weekend.
 
UNC holds a 5-5 record and is batting a .305 clip, led by junior Leah Murray with a .444 average, seven runs and 16 hits. The Heels have allowed 33 runs to opponents, but have limited their competition to a .276 batting average.
 
The doubleheader Friday closes with a matchup against sixth-ranked Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m. and will be Cal's first outing against a ranked opponent this season. The Bears are 5-12 in the all-time series with the Aggies, last facing off in 2014 when the Bears fell 10-6.
 
Also undefeated, the 9-0 Aggies are coming off 6-0 win against Tulsa and are led by senior infielder Tori Vidales with a .517 batting average, 10 runs, 15 hits and 21 RBIs. Vidales also leads with five homers on the season. Collectively, A&M holds a .327 average at the plate and have limited opponents .192 in the box.
 
The Aggies have been lethal in the circle with 3 of 5 pitchers holding perfect ERAs and an average of 1.31.
 
On an 11-game win streak, Cal has proven deep on both sides of the ball. Kobie Pettis leads from the box with a .433 and is 1 of 9 Bears with at least a .320 batting average. Cal has outscored its opponents 74-9 and limited them to a .150 batting average.
 
The Bears pitching duo Zoe Conley and Kamalani Dung have been marvelous through the opening weeks with a collective ERA 0.60. Conley holds a 6-0 record with two saves across 38.2 innings pitched, while Dung who had a career-best 15 strikeouts last weekend, is 5-0 over 31.1 innings.

"This is going to be a very competitive weekend. We are open with strong competition in North Carolina and Texas A&M and it continues to through the weekend with Northridge, Fullerton and Long Beach State," head coach Diane Ninemire. "We are looking forward to the it and it will be a big test for us."
 
Cal faces Northridge (4-7), for its lone contest on Saturday at noon and close the weekend with a Sunday doubleheader with Fullerton (3-6) at 11:30 a.m. and Long Beach State (9-1) at 2 p.m.
 
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