To the Cal softball team, every game is a Big Dance

To the Cal softball team, every game is a Big Dance

Besides Play ball!’’ the two most important words to the Cal softball team are: Let’s dance!’’

Diane Ninemire, whose teams have missed the postseason only once in her 29 seasons as Cal’s head coach, has the Bears back in the Big Dance, and that’s appropriate for a team that doesn’t need much of an excuse to prance around.

The Bears (30-22 overall) play Notre Dame (33-21) Friday at 11 a.m. in the first round of double-elimination play in Auburn, Ala.

“We didn’t get the rankings we wanted, but we couldn’t be happier to be in this regional,” said Reed, who leads the team with a .329 average.

Despite a 6-17 league record, Cal was one of eight Pac-12 teams that received berths in the NCAA tournament.

The conference schedule was a gauntlet because of No. 1 Oregon, No. 5 Arizona, No. 7 Washington and No. 8 UCLA, followed by No. 17 Utah and No. 22 Arizona State.

Ninemire said she was confident of getting an at-large berth because of her team’s strong non-conference schedule and because the Pac-12 is so loaded.

Cal hit just .260 and hit 11 home runs, last in the Pac-12 in both departments.

Conference champion Arizona’s top three sluggers all had more homers than the Bears did as a team.

Jackson, a former Archbishop Mitty-San Jose athlete, plays third for the Bears, but she’s an outfielder on the U.S. national team, which she will rejoin this summer.

Catcher Annie Aldrete, who bats cleanup, is the daughter of former Cal baseball player Rich Aldrete and the niece of A’s first base coach Mike Aldrete.

Taylor, who has taken singing lessons since she was 3, won the talent contest at Cal’s annual Oskies’’ show recently.

A few days later she sang the national anthem before the final home game of the softball season.