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No. 9 Missouri
Last year: Last season: 53-10 overall, 15-3 Big 12 (Lost in Women's College World Series)

Who returns: You probably remember Chelsea Thomas, at least you would if you watched any of the 192 pitches she threw in just shy of 13 innings in a 1-0 loss against Baylor that eliminated the Tigers from the Women's College World Series. Thomas struck out 19 batters that night in a classic pitching duel against Baylor's Whitney Canion that capped off a season in which she was one of three finalists for USA Softball Player of the Year and earned a place on Team USA.

But Thomas isn't the only reason for optimism as Missouri looks to make its fourth trip in a row to the World Series. Senior Kristin Nottelmann (17-1, 1.91 ERA, 120 strikeouts) returns as one of the most reliable No. 2 pitchers out there. And for all the roster turnover soon to be discussed, the heart of Missouri's offense returns in the form of shortstop Jenna Marston, third baseman Nicole Hudson and outfielder/first baseman Ashley Fleming.

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Joel Kowsky/Missouri AthleticsNicole Hudson returns to the Missouri lineup after posting 13 home runs and 51 RBIs in 2011.

Those three hit 29 home runs, drove in 133 runs and stole 36 bases in 37 attempts. They also walked 100 times against just 52 strikeouts, demonstrating the kind of plate discipline that could rub off on an otherwise young roster this season.

"Those three kids have sent a real positive message to the rest of the team about how to go about an at-bat, how to manage your emotions and all that kind of thing," Missouri coach Ehren Earleywine said. "At the end of the day, keeping those strikeouts low and moving the ball, making girls make plays -- in the women's game, it's almost like there is no such thing as a routine play. And if you put the ball in play and you're disciplined and keep your on-base percentage up, we're only going to benefit from that and score from runs."

Who departs: It's a long list for a contender, even one with an All-American in the circle. Outfielder Rhea Taylor was on Team USA with Thomas, and while her senior season (.839 OPS, 12 extra-base hits, 43 stolen bases) at Missouri wasn't quite the one-woman wrecking crew of past seasons, she won't be easy to replace. Three others who also hit better than .300 in at least 100 at-bats last season don't return: Maddison Ruggeberg, Marla Schweisberger and Abby Vock. Additionally, Catherine Lee, Lisa Simmons and Megan Christopher take with them a combined 121 games started in 2011.

Who arrives: If Earleywine is looking to boost profits with additional game program sales, he's a shrewd businessman. Freshmen make up almost half the roster, with 10 new players in all arriving in Columbia. Of that group, Californians Kelsea Roth and Angela Randazzo and (upstate) New Yorker Corrin Genovese are the names to commit to memory at the outset. Not only is Earleywine penciling in all three for starting spots, he has them penciled into the top six in the batting order, alongside Fleming, Hudson and Marston. Genovese looks like the heir apparent at second base; Randazzo can play catcher, third and designated player; and Roth is a first baseman.

Preseason question: How good can Chelsea Thomas be?

Thomas was a revelation plucked out of the Iowa cornfields when she arrived on the scene. She was able to fly at least at the lower reaches of the radar last season after returning from an injury-induced redshirt in 2010. Now Thomas is squarely in the spotlight. She was the only pitcher among the finalists for player-of-the-year honors last season, won gold with the United States at the Pan-Am Games and has been a part of three teams that reached the World Series (albeit an active participant in two).

She'll have plenty of competition for top pitching honors, including Team USA teammates and Big 12 rivals Canion and Keilani Ricketts and Arizona State's Dallas Escobedo, ace of the reigning national champions, but no other returning pitcher ranked in the top 10 nationally last season in wins, ERA and strikeouts per seven innings.

Simply repeating what got her to this point would be a feat, but is there room for her to be even better?

"She needs to learn that great pitchers have different gears," Earleywine said. "Sometimes Chelsea tries to go in fifth gear on every single pitch. There's a time to let it all out, and there's a time to save it. There's a time to show your best pitch, and there's a time not to show your best pitch. So that's part No. 1. Part No. 2 is she's now going to have to learn how to pitch with a target on her back. She kind of snuck up on everybody last year and came in with three pitches, and nobody knew she had three pitches, and she really put on a show last year."

Missouri got over one hurdle last season, finally winning a World Series game under Earleywine after five consecutive losses spanning three seasons. Improving on that will require that the returning bats do their part and that newcomers and newly minted starters waste little time getting acclimated. But like so many aces before her, Thomas now faces the question of how far she can take a team.

No. 10 Baylor
Last year: 47-15 overall, 11-7 Big 12 (lost in Women's College World Series)

Who returns: Baylor won 19 more games last season than it did in 2010. Whitney Canion threw 278.2 innings in 2011 after injuries limited her to 48.2 innings in 2010. You make the connection. Now a redshirt junior, Canion is the star of the show in Waco, a player of the year candidate in softball just as Brittney Griner is in women's basketball and Robert Griffin III was in football. Canion finished last season 31-12 with a 1.28 ERA and 339 strikeouts.

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J.P. Wilson/Icon SMIBaylor ace Whitney Canion returns to the mound this season as the Bears look for a return trip to the Women's College World Series.

Plenty of familiar faces surround Canion. Leading hitter Kathy Shelton returns after a breakout sophomore season (.359 average, 33 stolen bases), as do Holly Holl (.356 average, team-best .469 on-base percentage) and Kayce Walker (.401 on-base percentage, 18 stolen bases). The catching tandem of Kelsi Kettler and Clare Hosack gives Baylor two viable starters at a position at which that's especially useful, while Megan Turk, Shelbi Redfearn and Sydney Wilson combined for 135 starts in 2011.

Who departs: Dani Leal was only part of the Baylor lineup for two seasons, but the juco transfer left a lasting impact (she's still around as a student assistant coach). The shortstop led the team with 14 home runs and 38 RBIs last season. Her keystone partner, K.J. Freeland, also departs after more than 160 career starts.

Who arrives: Leal and Freeland will be replaced by Jordan Strickland and Delaney Guy, respectively, part of an eight-person freshman class for the Bears. Coach Glenn Moore went so far as to say Strickland has the best hands of anyone who has played the position for him, comparing her to former LSU All-American Stephanie Hastings.

Preseason question: Can Baylor power its way back to Oklahoma City?

Canion's return means that unlike Baylor's first trip to the Women's College World Series in 2007, it will be able to try for an encore with the same ace in the circle. Lisa Ferguson graduated following the run in 2007, and the Bears never found an answer in the circle the following season en route to a 3.04 team ERA and a 23-22 record.

And yet there is at least one potential stumbling block with which the program is familiar. Leal's graduation means Baylor lost its only double-digit home run hitter and the only player to slug better than .500 last season. In addition to losing Ferguson following the 2007 season, Baylor lost Ashley Monceaux, whose 20 home runs and .871 slugging percentage led the team by wide margins in its march to the World Series. The offense the following season slugged .399 and scored a run less per game.

A repeat of the latter scenario might derail a potential dream season, ace or no ace.

Baylor ranked 16th in the nation in stolen bases per game last season and has ranked in the top 20 in nine of the past 10 seasons. From Harmony Schwethelm to the Wesley twins, Tiffany and Nicole, on through Walker and Shelton, the program has been synonymous with speed and the short game during Moore's tenure. The power game, on the other hand, has been intermittent, gaining steam with players such as Monceaux, Brette Reagan and Leal and then fading away for seasons at a time. But the old-school, small-ball image may not be entirely by design.

"Honestly, we're a believer in the power game, although it's looked like we've been predominantly short game," Moore said. "I may have over-recruited for the short game. I think more so than over-recruiting for the short game, the power that we've recruited … overall has failed to develop, at least to the level of our short game."

Moore said the personnel are there to at least match last season's production, beginning with returnees like Shelton, who had just seven extra-base hits last season. Moore, however, thinks Shelton will have at least that many home runs this season as her offensive game matures. There's also Holl, whose home run in the 13th inning beat Missouri in a World Series classic. He also suggests freshman Linsey Hays could be the best pure hitter he's ever had, though indicating she wasn't guaranteed a starting spot.

But in the end, the team's fate at the plate rests most heavily in the hands of Canion. Canion, who will hit either third or fourth this season (she was a .269 hitter with a healthy .481 slugging percentage last season), has goals that sound a lot like former Washington star Danielle Lawrie.

"She's made some minor adjustments that we felt were necessary for her to be the type of hitter that she is a pitcher in the circle," Moore said of Canion. "One of her goals is to be considered an All-American hitter as well as an All-American pitcher. To me, that potential has always been there; the pressure to develop as a hitter has not been as great as the pressure she had early on in her high school and travel ball seasons as a pitcher. That's something I think we've made progress selling to her."

No. 11 Washington
Last year: Last season: 37-16 overall, 9-12 Pac-10 (lost in Columbia super regional)

Who returns: If you need more proof of just how quickly generations pass in college sports, the last remaining links to the 2009 national championship return in seniors Jenna Clifton, Kimi Pohlman, Taylor Smith and Nikia Williams.

Starters during that title run, Pohlman (1.019 OPS, 25 stolen bases in 2011) and Williams (1.224 OPS, 14 HR) are cornerstones for a team looking to improve on last season's regional win. Williams had back surgery after the season, but Washington coach Heather Tarr said the outfielder and team leader is healthy and ready to start the season.

Two players who weren't available when Washington played Missouri in the super regional also return.

Hooch Fagaly missed last season with a torn ACL but as a freshman in 2010 hit .289 in conference play, always a test for Pac-10 rookies, and perhaps made her biggest contribution with her glove at first base.

"She's just such a credible person on our team, as far as how she works, how she approaches the game and what she has the potential to do with her bat," Tarr said.

One of the four seniors, Smith made only 24 starts last season before a back injury sidelined her, but that was enough time to hit 10 home runs and drive in 32 runs while compiling an off-the-charts 1.438 OPS.

"She's kind of always been a wild card for us as far as being an everyday contributor," Tarr said. "She did awesome in our [nonconference games], but she got injured in the second week of the Pac-10. So you don't quite know what she's going to do against the best pitching, but her power is always something other teams are going to have to worry about."

Who departs: The Kingdome, the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the Sonics -- Seattle has seen its share of fixtures disappear in recent years. The left side of the Washington infield is next in line. For 142 games dating back to the middle of the 2009 season, shortstop Jenn Salling and third baseman Morgan Stuart were as good as it gets on defense. And Salling was even better at the plate, posting a 1.147 OPS as a senior, including a .508 on-base percentage.

Who arrives: There are only four freshmen, but the quartet was deemed good enough by ESPN RISE to earn the Huskies a No. 6 ranking among this season's classes. All four newcomers are likely to see significant action immediately, most notably in the infield, where Courtney Gano, Kylee Lahners and Kimberlee Souza could all start. Lahners is perhaps the most heralded of the group, a member of the U.S. junior national team that won gold in the Junior World Championship in December and a prep All-American from Laguna Hills, Calif. All three have already impressed with their poise and energy.

Preseason question: Has Kaitlin Inglesby escaped the shadow?

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Scott Eklund/Red Box PicturesKaitlin Inglesby is coming into her own after replacing Danielle Lawrie.

Or, to put the question in longer form: When you consider who she followed, what she did at the plate and in the circle and the conference in which she did it all of it, did Inglesby quietly have the most impressive season in the country?

All Inglesby had to do as a freshman was replace Danielle Lawrie, the Canadian Olympian and two-time USA Softball Player of the Year who led the Huskies to the first national title in the program's long and successful softball history, and ranked not only as the nation's best college pitcher but also one of its best sluggers.

Texas hasn't been back to a super regional since Cat Osterman left. Virginia Tech hasn't come close since Angela Tincher left. Even Tennessee took some time to recover after Monica Abbott moved on. But with Inglesby going 25-10 with a 2.38 ERA in 217.2 innings in the circle, 64 percent of the team's total innings, and hitting .422 with 40 RBIs and a 1.244 OPS, Washington survived the Pac-10 grind and had enough left to win a regional. That says something about a freshman who is just getting started.

"She's a talented player," Tarr said. "She's a competitive athlete. But as far as experience went, and learning the game at the level that she needs to pitch at, she was really far away from that last year.

"She's talented enough to not have had the game completely humble her because she throws hard, she developed a pretty good changeup and she's a very good athlete. But I think when she got through postseason and to the end of the super regional, she started to realize what her capacity was. I know she knows there's just so much more to the game than pitching -- thinking the game, thinking strategically about the lineups that she's facing."

Inglesby will have pitching help this season. Part of the talented freshman class, Kasey Stanchek figures to see innings (as well as at-bats), and sophomore Bryana Walker, who was just 17 as a freshman dealing with a leg injury last season, should play a larger role. But there's no doubt who enters the season No. 1. And while every pitcher who takes the ball for Washington for the next decade or four will be measured against Lawrie, Inglesby being Inglesby is what matters this season.

No. 12 Stanford
Last year: 42-17 overall, 10-11 Pac-10 (lost in Tuscaloosa Super Regional)

Who returns: The best player in college softball returns, which is a pretty good place to start. Last season's USA Softball Player of the Year, shortstop Ashley Hansen, returns for her final campaign after hitting .495 with a .797 slugging percentage, .558 on-base percentage and just five strikeouts in 192 at-bats in 2011. A world champion at the senior international level with Team USA in 2010, the only high school player invited to the national team selection camp prior to the 2008 Olympics and now the reigning college player of the year, she lacks only a trip to the Women's College World Series to complete one of the most impressive careers by a position player in recent memory.

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Stanford Athletics CommunicationsStanford will rely once again on shortstop Ashley Hansen's talents this season.

"I remember, when she was a freshman, just telling myself and my staff that we really need to enjoy every day that Ashley Hansen is in our program," Stanford coach John Rittman said. "It's not every year, or every four-year cycle, that you get to coach a kid like Ashley. She's just so consistent with her work ethic, her attitude, her passion for the game and what she brings to the team as far as leadership and those qualities. You've got to appreciate every day you get to spend on the field with a player like that."

And there are quite a few Cardinal players who have been lucky enough to spend a lot of time on the field with her. Stanford returns all nine hitters who totaled at least 100 at-bats last season. In addition to Hansen, that includes second baseman Jenna Rich (.520 slugging, team-leading 10 home runs) and outfielder Sarah Hassman (.496 on-base percentage, team-leading 35 stolen bases). One of those hitters, Teagan Gerhart, doubles as the returning ace in the circle, going 26-13 with a 1.74 ERA and 250 strikeouts in 257.2 innings as a sophomore, a nice recovery from a freshman season shortened by injury.

Who departs: Melisa Koutz and Ashley Chinn weren't stars, but last season's only seniors were valuable regulars. Koutz started 198 games during her Stanford career, mostly as a quality glove at first base, while Chinn went 16-4 with a 2.30 ERA in 134 innings in the circle as a senior, while making at least 15 starts in each of her four seasons.

Who arrives: Usually if the first section of these rundowns is lengthy, this section is short. Not so much with Stanford, which welcomes eight true freshmen and a redshirt freshman. The two most notable names may be Nyree White, daughter of Oregon softball coach Mike White and a pitcher who helped the United States win gold in the Junior World Championship in South Africa over the winter, and Hanna Winter, a likely starter at third base who played high-level travel ball but was also a track superstar in both sprint and jumping disciplines. Leah White, no relation to Nyree, is an ESPN Rise prep All-American out of Arizona with speed and a chance to play soon in left field.

Preseason question: Can the Cardinal score enough runs?

Stanford came within two runs last season of returning to the Women's College World Series for the first time since 2004, losing 1-0 at Alabama in the decisive third game of a super regional, but this team's ability to take the next step this season is going to depend on being able to step on home plate with significantly greater frequency.

The Cardinal hit .300 with a respectable .442 slugging percentage overall in 2011, but their performance in what was then the Pac-10 was more telling for a group that lacked the firepower to consistently put pressure on quality foes. In 21 conference games, they got just 19 extra-base hits from players other than Hansen and scored fewer than three runs per game. Gerhart is a good pitcher, and White could make it a nice tandem, but this isn't an Angela Tincher situation. It has to be a balanced effort.

Amidst all the newcomers and Hansen's considerable shadow, it could be a player like Corey Hanewich who puts this offense over the top. Stanford totaled 130 hits in conference play last season, but it got more than half of those from three players: Hansen, Hassman and Hanewich. A freshman out of Florida, Hanewich hit her stride at a time when freshmen in the nation's toughest conference usually buckle, hitting .333 with two doubles, a triple and a home run in 14 conference games, but a broken wrist late in the campaign knocked her out of the lineup for the postseason.

"Corey's fast, she can hit for power, and she was just kind of coming into her own when she broke her wrist," Rittman said. "We're looking forward to her [return]. She's still working on a few aspects of her game, but if we get her to be more consistent, she's going to be a very special player for us."

Even with all the returnees, Rittman said he fully expects to fill out lineup cards with four or five new starters at times. It's not clear yet if Stanford has the depth behind the game's best player to make a serious championship run, but at least there are a lot of options.

"It's going to be interesting to see," Rittman said. "I can tell you this: Our lineup is going to change quite a bit. And I can tell you we're going to be a lot stronger offensively than we were last year."

No. 13 Texas
Last year: 46-10 overall, 14-5 Big 12 (eliminated in Austin Regional)

Who returns: Just about everyone returns for the Longhorns. Whether that's a point in their favor or a strike against them depends on what part of last season's synopsis above first catches your eye.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Of the 1,440 at-bats recorded by Texas hitters last season, 1,230 are represented in burnt orange this season. Senior Lexy Bennett (1.302 OPS, 41 RBIs) is one of the most productive hitters in the conference, if not one of the five or 10 best in the country. She enters her final season with 172 hits in 162 career games, including 60 extra-base hits. Taylor Hoagland, a regular in the mix for USA Softball, isn't far behind Bennett (in 2011, Hoagland had a 1.181 OPS and a single-season school record 15 HRs). Shortstop Taylor Thom didn't exactly slow down as her freshman season wore on; instead, she led the Big 12 with a .448 average in conference play and hit .352 overall.

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Courtesy of Texas Athletics Photography Taylor Hoagland and Texas hope they can finish what they start in 2012.

In the circle, Blaire Luna returns after going 28-7 with a 1.27 ERA and 316 strikeouts as a sophomore. That gives her 720 strikeouts in two seasons, already good for third all time at Texas.

Who departs: If you're going to lose just one starter, it would be tough to lose one more important than Amy Hooks. Her graduation leaves the Longhorns with some offense to replace (to the tune of 13 home runs). But more importantly, it leaves them in need of a new catcher to replace one who received most of her 214 career starts behind the dish and called her own game.

Who arrives: As might be expected given the returnees, Texas doesn't welcome a particularly large group of newcomers. Coach Connie Clark said freshman Gabby Smith is the hardest thrower on the team, but it's not clear how much of her immediate contributions will come in the circle and how much will come as a utility first baseman.

Preseason question: Is this a make-or-break year for Texas?

To get back to where this began, what do you see when you look at Texas?

Do you see a team that returns most of the key players responsible for an 89-25 record the past two seasons? Do you see a team that lost just five times in the ultra-competitive Big 12 last season and slugged .591 with a .416 on-base percentage in a conference with the deepest pitching in the country?

Or do you see a team that faded down the stretch the past two seasons and crashed out of the NCAA tournament both times in regionals it hosted in Austin?

Clearly, given that Texas opens on the outer fringes of the top 20 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25, a lot of people are taking the "fool me once" approach to this group. Everyone remembers the postseason losses to BYU and East Carolina two seasons ago and to Houston and Louisiana-Lafayette last season. That includes the Longhorns.

"The mindset going into the year is on how we learn from last year, without focusing on last year for too long of a period of time and knowing we have a 2012 team ready to go," Clark said. "But certainly, I think you have to be able to learn from coming off an earlier exit than we wanted or we expected with a quality team. The offseason was spent trying to go through everything with a fine-tooth comb. …

"We're looking at what we're doing in regards to competitive spirit; what does our behavior look like in regards to competitive spirit and competing exceptionally hard and trying to put everything kind of under a spotlight."

In isolation, there are ways to explain away the postseason failures as something less than systemic. Two seasons ago, most of the key players were freshmen and sophomores who might have hit a wall, mentally or physically, by the time BYU and East Carolina came calling in a regional. That's particularly true of Luna, who threw 242.1 innings that season as a freshman.

Last season, Bennett went down with an arm injury that cost her 10 games at the end of the regular season and left her at less than full strength for the postseason. That injury came as Texas hit a stretch of games against Baylor (Whitney Canion), Missouri (Chelsea Thomas) and Oklahoma (Keilani Ricketts), the kind of pitchers who can shake any team's confidence, let alone one deprived of its most consistent hitter, and plant a harvest's worth of doubt in its collective mind.

But put the two together, along with the fact that Texas hasn't gotten out of a regional since Cat Osterman departed, and any skepticism outsiders possess seems well-founded. That leaves it to those on the inside to refute those expectations. Talent is not the question for Texas, which has the power, speed, defense and pitching to get to Oklahoma City.

The question remains what the Longhorns do with it. "We talked about team unity," Clark said. "And just having a better approach as a team and being there for each other a little bit more, and really strengthening our inward circle of Texas softball a little bit. I think we were good in that regard, but we also feel we can be great in that regard, and that may be the difference-maker."

No. 14 Michigan
Last year: 53-6 overall, 18-2 Big Ten (eliminated in Ann Arbor Regional)

Who returns: Fans of the Wolverines will point out the answer is more than might be expected of a team ranked outside the top 10 despite winning 53 games a season ago. Seven players who started at least 47 games last season return, including five regulars who hit better than .300.

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J.P. Wilson/Icon SMISenior third baseman Amanda Chidester has been a versatile contributor for Michigan.

Any catalog of familiar names begins with senior third baseman Amanda Chidester, who finally gets to open a season playing the same position she played the previous campaign. In her first season at the hot corner after playing catcher, second base and outfield, Chidester more than held her own defensively and hit .423 with 75 RBIs and a 1.199 OPS. Second baseman Ashley Lane (18 HR, 71 RBIs) and outfielder Bree Evans (.951) may push for All-America honors of their own.

Michigan also adds a former starter to the list of returnees from last season. Redshirt junior Stephanie Kirkpatrick played just 10 games last season before injuries knocked her out of action. She has started 111 games in two-plus seasons in Ann Arbor and committed only 14 errors.

Who departs: Jordan Taylor finished her career as Michigan's all-time leader in wins, innings pitched, winning percentage and strikeouts. For good measure, she even left as the leader in saves for the Wolverines. And the Californian was never a more central figure in the circle than in her final season. After splitting starts with Nikki Nemitz for three seasons, she threw a career-high 241.1 innings in 2011. Michigan also loses a big bat (not to mention its main batting practice attraction) with the departure of Dorian Shaw. Even with a somewhat frustrating conference season, Shaw slugged .701 with a .595 on-base percentage in 2011.

Who arrives: The focus will be on a pair of freshman pitchers, but more on them momentarily. Catcher Lauren Sweet is a potential impact player in her own right. A prep All-American and California's Miss Softball in 2011, she may have trouble displacing sophomore incumbent Caitlin Blanchard behind the plate, but whether there or in the outfield, she can be a contributor.

Preseason question: What will the pitching look like?

It's the question everyone is asking about Michigan this season. Really, everyone.

"We're solid on the mound, but are we good enough to be an elite team on the mound?" coach Carol Hutchins said. "I don't know. I'm about to find out."

Taylor is Michigan's career leader in innings pitched. Nemitz is seventh on the list. Jennie Ritter, the pitcher of record when the team won the national championship in 2005, is second in innings pitched. Those three pitchers combined to throw 2,402 innings over nine consecutive seasons in which at least one of them was in the circle. Add in Lorilyn Wilson, a bridge between Ritter and Nemitz, and four pitchers more or less defined the program for nearly a decade (include Marissa Young and Nicole Motycka and you can just about go back to the start of the century).

In other words, uncertainty in the circle may not be unexplored territory for Michigan, but it has been a while since it came this way.

It is not a complete changing of the guard. Stephanie Speierman went 18-1 with a 1.88 ERA as a sophomore last season and has earned her shot to take on a larger role. But Speierman also pitched just 26 innings in Big Ten play and made just one relief appearance in the team's four games in an NCAA tournament regional.

Enter freshmen Sara Driesenga and Haylie Wagner, who share some connections with their predecessors. One is from Michigan (Driesenga) and one from California (Wagner), just like Nemitz and Taylor. One is a righty (Driesenga) and one is a southpaw (Wagner), just like Nemitz and Taylor.

But whatever trials and tribulation await this season, they at least appear to have the necessary tools to establish their own identities.

"Both my freshmen, I'm so impressed with their maturity and their work ethic," Hutchins said. "Tremendous and really, I think, above average."

There were other matters on which the coach was less sanguine. Driesenga still needs to hone her repertoire beyond the drop ball. Wagner, who didn't pitch at all last fall as a result of physical wear and tear and the resulting bad mechanics, is only now regaining the form that made her a success in softball's toughest prep environment. And as is the case for any freshman pitcher, doubly so in this case, the college game simply takes some getting used to.

"Every pitch is so important," Hutchins said. "The game hasn't changed; the pace and the intensity changes, the ability to go pitch to pitch to pitch, every pitch. One letup and what have you got? You got a home run. The mental strain on these kids is amazing. Everybody they're pitching against can hit. ... They have to learn to stay with it."

The two freshmen could play almost as big a role in replacing Shaw as Taylor, with both expected to hit regularly and play some first base when not in the circle.

But who is on first isn't the question anyone in Ann Arbor is asking.

No. 15 Oregon
Last year: 42-16, 11-10 Pac-10 (eliminated in Gainesville Super Regional)

Who returns: Eight of the 10 players who totaled at least 100 plate appearances are back along with two pitchers responsible for 50 of the staff's 58 starts in 2011, so continuity isn't going to be a problem. Alexa Peterson and Courtney Ceo, a pair of sophomores, are the leading returning hitters. Peterson led all returnees in slugging percentage (.516), was second in on-base percentage (.434) and got stronger in Pac-10 play despite the defensive demands of catching. Also returning is junior outfielder Samantha Pappas, a productive hitter by almost any standard last season -- except perhaps the standard she set for herself as a freshman with an 1.113 OPS.

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Geoff ThurnerOregon expects big things from Jessica Moore this season.

"I think she kept on looking for pitches that she wanted to hit instead of pitches she was going to get," Oregon coach Mike White said. "That's the big challenge. You see it frequently where a lot of players will have great freshmen years because they tend to think a lot less and just do it. Then they come in sophomore year and they don't adjust or they start thinking too much. But Sam is a talent; there's no doubt about it. Just like her freshman year, she showed that she was probably a player to watch for the player of the year.

"If Sam produces like she can, Sam and [junior outfielder] Allie Burger, this team is going to go a long way."

Who departs: The big loss is Monique Fuiava, who closed out her career last season as Oregon's best power threat. The Ducks also lose two pitchers who provided depth behind starters Jessica Moore and Samantha Skillingstad. Brittany Rumfelt graduated, and Mikayla Endicott transferred to Ohio State.

Who arrives: Two names to know are Karissa Hovinga and Janie Takeda. A pitcher with extensive experience on Canadian junior national teams, including a stint in the recent Junior World Championship in South Africa, Hovinga should be able to eat up innings to keep Moore fresh for conference play. Takeda could push for a starting spot in the outfield and will bring additional speed and a good glove to the lineup.

Preseason question: How does Oregon get over the remaining hurdle?

Oregon has come a long way in just two seasons with White at the helm. The program with the longest World Series drought in the Pac-12, including new softball member Utah, reached a super regional in each of White's first two seasons and last season recorded its first winning conference record since 1989.

The catch is that progress in college softball is more like climbing a mountain than running a marathon. Those final few steps to the summit, with the air at its thinnest and the incline at its steepest, are as tough as the sum of all those that preceded them.

"I think two trips to the super regionals has set in place an expectation for us and a kind of taste of what it's like to get that far in the tournament," White said. "But it's also a great goal of ours now to get to the next step, which is going to be the College World Series. We realize there's a big jump from being in the top 15 to the top eight."

No matter how much offensive numbers soar in college softball, a pitcher capable of winning games by herself and giving her teammates an opportunity to win them against other aces is a tried and true recipe for success. Moore looked like that pitcher for long stretches last season as a sophomore, going 24-11 with a 1.90 ERA and 224 strikeouts in 206.2 innings to put herself in the conversation with Pac-12 foes such as Arizona State's Dallas Escobedo, Arizona's Kenzie Fowler, Stanford's Teagan Gerhart and Cal's Jolene Henderson. A small-school prep product out of California, Moore could be a late bloomer in a sport where aces are often tracked from middle school.

"I'm expecting more from Jessica this year," White said. "I think Jessica could be even better than what she's shown in the last two years. She has the ability to throw with anybody in the country as far as her movement, her velocity, her change of speed. She's got all the tools. Now we just need her to tighten it up, kind of like how Danielle Lawrie did."

One area of improvement Moore noted last season was composure, not letting errors behind her be a distraction. She needs to build on that, but the Ducks also need to give her fewer opportunities to do so. No Pac-12 team was even close to their league-worst 79 errors or .951 fielding percentage. Those miscues led to 44 unearned runs. By comparison, national champion Arizona State allowed just nine unearned runs in 66 games.

The Sun Devils were a defensive mess when coach Clint Myers arrived. Changing that was one key to becoming regular visitors to Oklahoma City.

"We're certainly working on some mechanical things, some fundamentals that allow us to make those plays, but a lot of it is mental," White said. "You've got to understand that you are going to make errors, but it's not usually the one error that hurts you. It's the three or four in a game. That's what we've been guilty of in the past."

No. 16 Texas A&M
Last year: 44-15, 13-5 Big 12 (eliminated in Tempe Super Regional)

Who returns: Arizona State went 10-0 in the NCAA tournament last season, and in only four of those games did an opponent come within two runs of the eventual national champions. Texas A&M did it twice -- and did it on Arizona State's home field both times. So it carries extra weight to note that the Aggies return eight starters from those games against the Sun Devils. The list of returnees includes pitcher Mel Dumezich, two-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Natalie Villarreal (who hit .335 with a .967 OPS to go with her glovework) and shortstop Brittany Walker, a Florida transfer who finished strong.

In a different sense, Texas A&M may also benefit from the return of Meagan May. The All-American played 48 games and slugged .743 as a sophomore last season, but circumstances made it difficult for her to recapture her freshman-year form. May was involved in a serious car accident in June of 2010 that necessitated multiple surgeries related to head injuries. Once back on the diamond, a broken finger on the eve of conference play cost her half the Big 12 season.

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Courtesy of Texas A&M athleticsTexas A&M coach Jo Evans expects junior Mel Dumezich to have a breakout season for the Aggies.

"I can see her now getting herself back to where she was as a freshman and just feeling a lot more comfortable," Texas A&M coach Jo Evans said. "She's a great receiver, she knows how to call a game, she has great presence behind the plate and knows how to work with her pitchers. And offensively, she can be as good as anybody."

Who departs: Able to focus on hitting after also carrying a substantial load in the circle earlier in her career, Rhiannon Kliesing emerged as one of the Big 12's most consistent run producers. She saved the best for last, leading the team in batting average (.348), home runs (18), RBIs (53) and OPS (1.248) as a senior. Fellow graduate Kelsey Spittler's numbers don't jump off the page to the same degree, but she led the team with a .354 average in Big 12 play.

Who arrives: With so much depth returning, it isn't going to be easy for any of this season's five freshmen to find immediate playing time.

Preseason question: Is Mel Dumezich the Big 12's overlooked ace?
It isn't easy for a Big 12 pitcher to do something unique.

Earn a place on the U.S. national team while still in school? That's good, but there are three Big 12 pitchers who also wear the Team USA uniform in their spare time: Baylor's Whitney Canion, Oklahoma's Keilani Ricketts and Missouri's Chelsea Thomas.

Strike out hitters by the hundreds? Impressive, but the aforementioned trio, along with Texas ace Blaire Luna, topped 300 strikeouts.

Return with College World Series experience? Sorry, add Oklahoma State's Kat Espinosa to Canion, Ricketts and Thomas on a crowded list.

But if you want evidence that Dumezich belongs in any conversation about Big 12 aces, consider that last season she was named both Texas A&M's most valuable player, an accolade determined by the coaches, and its most inspirational player, an honor voted on by her teammates. By Evans' recollection, it's the first time in her 26 years of coaching that a player ever won both in the same season. And Dumezich did it as a sophomore.

"She's always wanted the ball, but last year she became that take-charge kind of pitcher," Evans said. "She didn't just focus on her role in the circle; she actually let herself sort of express the emotion that she feels when she plays, the passion. She's just an inspirational leader for us."

Dumezich went 19-3 with a 1.97 ERA as a freshman in 2010, but she totaled just 153.2 innings as the de facto No. 2 pitcher, or at least No. 1B, for much of the season. She started 37 games and pitched 247.1 innings as a sophomore, lowering her ERA to 1.92 despite the extra work and boosting her strikeout rate to better than a strikeout per inning. She was at her best in the big moments, posting a 12-4 record and 1.58 ERA in Big 12 play and going toe to toe with Dallas Escobedo in the super regional, allowing just seven runs in two games against an Arizona State lineup that went on to score 34 runs in six games in the World Series.

"She wasn't afraid to go right at hitters, and she has such great movement that she can be really challenging to hit against," Evans said of Dumezich's increased strikeout rate. "I think it had more to do with, 'Hey, I'm the No. 1, the ace, and I want the ball.' It was just that mindset."

Just for good measure, she also slugged .517 with 10 home runs in her time at the plate. And if Evans is right about that part of her game, the team may need a new award.

"She had some things to work out with her swing, and she's just gotten a lot better," Evans said. "She knows her swing better, she knows the offensive side of the game better and you can just see her getting more and more confident. I think this year she has potential to have a breakout year at the plate."

No. 17 Nebraska
Last year: 41-14 overall, 9-9 Big 12 (eliminated in Palo Alto Regional)
Who returns: One California household sends 55 percent of Nebraska's home runs back to Lincoln, as sophomore twins Taylor and Tatum Edwards return. Six of the eight players who totaled at least 100 at-bats return, including leaders in home runs (Taylor Edwards), doubles (Gabby Banda) and runs, stolen bases and hits (Nikki Haget). Senior pitcher Ashley Hagemann returns after a breakout junior campaign (31-13, 1.75 ERA, 3.44 ERA). Hagemann was somewhat lost amidst all the aces in the Big 12, but she would have trailed only former Indiana ace Morgan Melloh in wins and strikeouts among Big Ten pitchers, matching former Michigan ace Jordan Taylor in wins.

Who departs: In Nebraska's case, it's more a matter of "what" departs, as the program makes the move from the Big 12 to the Big Ten. The Cornhuskers were a fixture of Big 12 softball, winning three regular-season titles and playing 64 NCAA tournament games during the conference's existence. When the league's 10th anniversary team was named in 2006, only Oklahoma placed more players on it than Nebraska's three. As for departures of the human variety, infielders Julie Brechtel (.323 BA, .833 OPS) and Heidi Folland (.275 BA, .763 OPS) started all 55 games last season.

Who arrives: You might recognize the last name, but Mattie Fowler brings with her an impressive resume entirely of her own creation. The younger sister of University of Arizona ace Kenzie Fowler, Mattie was Arizona's Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior at Canyon del Oro High School in Tucson, no small honor in the softball-crazy state.

A natural shortstop, Fowler is likely to open the season at third base for the Cornhuskers -- when she isn't in the circle in support of Hagemann. She wasn't expected to be a pitcher at the college level but took on the challenge when an elbow injury knocked Haley Workman out of action. She impressed coach Rhonda Revelle and pitching coach Lori Sippel enough to pencil her in for some innings in the regular season. So far, she's got the impressing part down.

"I had one of our seniors come to me in the fall and say, 'Mattie Fowler has rewritten the book on the expectations and standards of freshmen,'" Revelle recalled. "This young lady is so mature, she has so much poise. She has so much to offer in a leadership role already."

On the opposite end of the experience spectrum -- but not the impact spectrum -- is freshman outfielder Jordan Bettiol. A prep All-American out of Texas, Bettiol was also a track phenomenon who didn't pick up the bat-and-ball sport until she was a sophomore in high school. Perhaps it's only fitting that she was born in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Nebraska also adds former Arkansas second baseman Courtney Breault, although the junior transfer is still recovering from shoulder surgery she underwent at the end of the summer.

Preseason question: Will Nebraska be a home run in its Big Ten debut?
Power remains front and center in the college game, even if the pace finally subsided to something within shouting distance of sanity last season, and Nebraska is getting in on the fun. The Cornhuskers slugged .467 with 58 home runs in 2011, a program record for the former and four shy of matching the program record for the latter (set in 1998). That marked a dramatic transformation for a program that slugged under .400 in five of the preceding seven seasons and never topped .402 in that span.

All of those teams still won far more games than they lost and made the NCAA tournament almost every season, because after more than two decades and 1,200 wins together, Revelle and Sippel know their way around pitching, defense and the short game. But the head coach is also a realist when it comes to being able to contend at a national level these days without the power game as an asset.

"I would say for the most part, no, you can't [contend without power]," Revelle said. "If there is an exception, somebody has to be extremely exceptional in another part of the game, offensively, or they have to have that Olympic-caliber pitcher. And I think it would probably have to be a combination of both if you were devoid of the power game."

Thanks in large part to the Edwards sisters, that's now purely a hypothetical for Revelle's team. Already in the running for All-America honors, Taylor Edwards hit 18 home runs as a freshman and did it while walking more often than she struck out and hitting .356 overall. Even the moon shots she routinely launched in batting practice may have helped, at least if you believe Revelle's suggestion that power may be at least a little contagious.

"It's kind of like the theory of when the four-minute mile mark was broken," Revelle said. "And then within, I don't know, two months, several people broke it. It's kind of like that within our team, too. The fence doesn't seem as far as it used to around here."

Neither does Oklahoma City.

No. 18 Oklahoma State
Last year: 42-20 overall, 8-10 Big 12 (eliminated in Women's College World Series)
Who returns: It won't be difficult to find Cowgirls with stories to tell about advancing to the Women's College World Series a season ago, the program's first trip in more than a decade. Seven players who started both games played in Oklahoma City return this season. Senior first baseman Julie Ward (.322 BA, 1.000 OPS), senior shortstop Chelsea Garcia (.333 BA, .976 OPS) and sophomore utility player Ari Morrison (.310 BA, .723 OPS) lead the way offensively, while junior ace Kat Espinosa (23-10, 2.20 ERA) and sophomore Simone Freeman (123 strikeouts in 108 innings) return in the circle. Senior Sammy Jo Diffendaffer retains the unofficial title of college softball's best name.

Who departs: When you trot out the clichés about senior leadership, it's because people like third baseman Mariah Gearhart and second baseman Alysia Hamilton keep lending them credence. Gearhart and Hamilton were the pulse of this team a season ago, big personalities who made their teammates better. They were also pretty good on the tangible side of the ledger, leading the Cowgirls in batting average and on-base percentage and playing flawless defense behind a pitching staff that relied on the gloves behind it as much as on strikeouts.

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J.P. Wilson/Icon SMIOklahoma State returned to the WCWS in 2011, but exited Oklahoma City after two games.

Who arrives: Like Gearhart, who was a shortstop when she arrived in Stillwater, freshman Gessenia DeLaCruz will move a few feet to her right and play third base (at least until Garcia has departed). Head coach Rich Wieligman also expects Shelby Davis to step into a starting role in the outfield after being named Gatorade Player of the Year in Kansas as a senior in high school.

Preseason question: Where does Oklahoma State go from here?
Ranking Oklahoma State is one of the more perplexing preseason tasks. On one hand, the Cowgirls return all those starters from a team that reached the Women's College World Series -- and did so the hard way, beating Georgia Tech once and Tennessee twice in the Knoxville regional. On the other hand, it's a team that had a losing Big 12 record after it closed the regular season with six consecutive defeats against Missouri, Texas A&M and Nebraska.

So did Oklahoma State get hot at the right time or unlock the secret to sustained success?

If the answer is the latter, two infielders may once again lead the way.

Oklahoma State has played 180 games since the beginning of Garcia's freshman season. She started all 180 of them. After a slow start at the plate her first season, she hit .312 as a sophomore and .333 as a junior. Two starts behind Garcia for her career, Ward slugged .530 as a freshman, .650 as a sophomore and .590 last season. All the while, they were part of a defense that ranked either first or second in the Big 12 in each of the past three seasons.

"They've learned to approach the game at the same level, which is a high level but being consistent with that approach, not having many valleys or not falling off from that," Wieligman said. "I think that's the sign of a successful team, that they can come in and play the game consistently and not get too high or too low. I think Chelsea and Julie both do a pretty good job of that."

That's not to put sole responsibility for Oklahoma State's success on the shoulders of two seniors. Lord knows, in a conference that features pitchers Whitney Canion, Mel Dumezich, Blaire Luna, Keilani Ricketts and Chelsea Thomas, hitters have enough to worry about as it is. To that end, the Cowgirls have an ace of their own to call on, with Espinosa's toughness and pitch movement filling in for eye-popping strikeout numbers. And Freeman, an Australian who spent last season getting used to both a new level of softball and a new country, should be a bigger factor this season. It's going to take production from all of the aforementioned names, along with a career year from at least one other contributor to give this team the firepower to once again be a factor in conference play and beyond (as it was, only Kansas and Iowa State scored fewer runs in Big 12 play).

But if a team is going to be more than the sum of its parts, it starts at the top. Gearhart and Hamilton proved that last season.

"We've got to find people who are willing to dig down deep like they did and wanted to win like that and had that energy and were able to bring it on a consistent level every game," Wieligman said. "I don't know who is going to do it. We need to have somebody do it; the successful teams always continue that level of energy and passion for the game. We've just got to figure it out and hopefully we can find it."