It's been an exciting weekend at the plate for the Bears, as baseball and softball have won their games by a combined 25-9. Let's keep the momentum rolling into today's games!

Friday night's baseball game was an instant classic spanning 18 innings.

Friday night's Giants game lasted 3 hours and 4 minutes. The A's game went an even 3 hours. The Cal-Stanford game at Stanford's Sunken Diamond lasted almost as long as both those games combined.

It started at 5:36 p.m. and ended at 11:34. After 5 hours and 58 minutes, after 18 innings, 569 pitches and nine sacrifice bunts, the Bears pulled out a 5-4 win that eliminated the No. 11 Cardinal from the Pac-12 title race.

"With better pitching and fewer home runs because of the new bats (introduced last season), that kind of game can happen," Cal coach David Esquer said.

On Saturday night the Bears softball team got off to a quick start when UW decided to pitch to Val Arioto.

Conference rival Washington decided to pitch to the Pac-12 Player of the Year in the NCAA super regionals on Saturday night, and Arioto blasted a two-run homer in the first inning that propelled the Bears to a 5-0 victory before a capacity crowd of 1,117 at Levine-Fricke Field.

"I'm glad they pitched to her," Cal coach Diane Ninemire said. "If you're going to pitch to her and she gets the pitch, you'll get what you saw tonight."

The top-seeded Bears (55-5) are now one victory away from their 12th trip to the College World Series. Cal and UW (39-18) meet Sunday at 4 p.m., with a third game, if necessary, at 6:30 p.m. The Huskies must win twice to earn the bid to the CWS, which starts Thursday in Oklahoma City.

After the jump crew and tennis compete in the NCAA Championships and assistant swim coach Kristen Cunnane takes us through an inspiring story.

Football

• Ted Miller asked Pac-12 fans who was their most hated coach in the conference. While Kelly and Kiffin lead the way, Tosh earns a little hate from a Cal fan. Jeff Tedford is conspicuously absent.
• Cal Athletics formed a partnership with Cal Dining to provide better quality and variety of food at games.
• The athletic department has revamped its ticket sales operation. It now relies on a full-time staff instead of part-time students to improve the consistency and volume of sales and customer service.

Softball

• Coach Ninemire and her players talk to the media after posting a 5-0 win in game one of the Super Regional.
• John Crumpacker has a great story on the four-year romance between Jorge Gutierrez and Frani Echavarria.

Baseball

• Cal defeated Stanford 5-4 in a marathon 18-inning game. This tied the record for longest game in school history. CalBears.com recaps the six-hour affair.
• The Bears routed Stanford 15-5 in game two to win the final regular season series.