BearTalk

The top-ranked Cal women’s softball team swept the major Pac-12 Conference awards, with senior Valerie Arioto winning Player of the Year, junior Jolene Henderson earning Pitcher of the Year and Diane Ninemire named Coach of the Year.

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Jolene and Danielle Henderson have World Series ambitions

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A three-time all-conference pick, Arioto (Foothill High-Pleasanton) is the first Cal player named Pac-12 Player of the Year. She leads the Pac-12 with a 1.22 earned run average, 22 home runs, a 1.000 slugging percentage and .626 on-base percentage.

In Cal’s title-clinching wins over Arizona State last weekend, Arioto hit a walk-off game-winning home run in the seventh inning of the first game, then pitched a shutout the next day.

Arioto on winning the award (courtesy of Cal athletics): “This is a great accomplishment to end my senior year in Pac-12 play! The success of my team has played a huge role in helping me get this award!”

Henderson is 30-2 with a 1.22 ERA and a repeat winner of the Pitcher of the Year award. She and Arioto are both finalists for USA Collegiate Softball Player of the Year honors.

Henderson on winning the award: “This is really cool and shows how hard my team has worked this year. We’d never win a game if there weren’t 20 of us working hard at practice and in our games with our coaches’ support. My teammates have been amazing all year – defensively stellar and off the hook when it came to their bats.”

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Cal senior Valerie Arioto (Pleasanton) was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week after throwing a complete-game shutout in the top-ranked Bears’ 5-0 title-clinching win over Arizona State last Saturday.

Arioto, 20-2 on the season, struck out 11 and walked just one in the victory that locked up Cal’s first outright conference title since 1987.

Cal opens play in the Berkeley regional of the NCAA tournament on Friday against Iona. First pitch is 7 p.m. at Levine-Fricke Field.

The Cal women’s rowing team swept the varsity eight, second varsity eight, varsity four and novice eight races to capture their fifth straight Pac-12 Conference championship.

Cal’s men finished second behind two-time champ Washington.

– TRACK AND FIELD: Junior Derek White finished second in the discus at the Pac-12 championships in Eugene, Ore. He threw 187 feet, 6 inches, a personal best by seven feet. Teammate Angelica Weaver finished second in the 400 hurdles with a personal-best time of 57.85 seconds that equals the No. 2 mark in school history.

– BASEBALL: No. 10 Arizona (33-15, 16-8 Pac-12) completed a sweep of the Golden Bears (25-22, 9-15) with a 7-4 win at Berkeley. Freshman Brenden Farney had a two-run double for the Bears.

Former USC and 49ers football star Ronnie Lott, Stanford alum and Olympic swimmer Summer Sanders and former UCLA quarterback and veteran college football coach Rick Neuheisel were introduced as the first on-air talent for the new Pac-12 Networks.

The Pac-12 Networks, which will begin programming in August, will feature one national network and six regional networks.

Here’s more.

Pac-12 Conference football coaches won’t know what to think about a proposed four-team national championship playoff until they get the details.

“The questions all of us had are how are the teams going to be picked,” Oregon coach Chip Kelly said on a Pac-12 coaches teleconference Tuesday. “No one really has that answer. Until you get that answer, I reserve judgment on whether it’s good system or a bad system.”

New Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said the topic was discussed at length during Pac-12 meetings last week in Arizona. “The biggest thing is how is it going to get voted on, who’s going to make the decision on who’s 1 through 4?” he said.

The tide seems to have turned from the much-criticized Bowl Championship Series format to a playoff. A proposed four-team playoff would begin in 2014.

Until the nitty gritty is hammered out, most coaches aren’t quite sure what to think.

“There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Cal coach Jeff Tedford said.

Tedford is among the coaches who favor an eight-team playoff over a four-team setup.

“One of the sentiments is an eight-team playoff probably gives everyone an equal chance,” he said. “I don’t know if you’re ever going to have a situation where everyone is happy.

“If we’re going to do the playoff thing, let’s do it whole-heartedly and go after it.”

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Senior guard Trent Lockett, who averaged 13.0 points and 5.8 rebounds last season, is leaving Arizona State to be closer to his mother, Judy, who was diagnosed with cancer.

Lockett will resume his basketball career at Marquette and is confident he will be granted an NCAA waiver, allowing him to be immediately eligible. In Milwaukee, Lockett will be just a six-hour drive from his mother in the Twin Cities area.

Judy Lockett raised Trent and his sister as a single mother in Minnesota after their father died of a heart attack following his own battle with cancer. Judy Lockett overcame breast cancer several years ago, but now is facing a fight against a form of lymphoma, Trent told ESPN.com.

A few items from the past week related to Pac-12 hoops . . .

   — Dick Vitale has four Pac-12 teams listed in his early preseason top-40, but Washington, Colorado and Cal are not among them. He’s got Arizona at No. 12, UCLA at No. 14 and Stanford at No. 38. I get all those, even if I’m sure they’re exactly where I’d place them. But Oregon at No. 37? Don’t see it.

   — The Ducks did get a verbal commitment from Texas prep guard Fred Richardson, their second spring addition.

   — Former Arizona PG Josiah Turner, who left the program after his freshman season a month ago, was arrested on suspicion of extreme DUI after allegedly running a red light in a car for which police could not find plates, insurance or registration, according to the Arizona Daily Star. Turner apparently told police he did not know the last name of the car’s owner and was never issued a drivers license.

   — Xavier guard Mark Lyons is visiting Arizona this weekend with designs on replacing Turner as the Wildcats’ floor leader next season. He’s also considering Kansas and Kentucky. Because he has one year of basketball eligibility left but will graduate this spring, Lyons will be eligible to play immediately wherever he lands. Transfer PG T.J. McConnell of Duquesne must sit out a season.

   — Utah added a late 2012 signee in 6-6 SF Dakarai Tucker of Serra HS in Gardena, the website Scout.com is reporting. Tucker is the Utes’ fifth signee for next year’s freshman class.

UCLA zoomed to the top of ESPN’s recruiting list — probably others, too — after McDonald’s All-America center Tony Parker joined the Bruins.

Parker, a 6-foot-9, 270-pounder, joins Kyle Anderson Shabazz Muhammad and Jordan Adams to give the Bruins an elite four-man class.

Arizona forward Jesse Perry was arrested by Tucson police on a felony domestic violence charge. The incident involves Perry allegedly assaulting a woman with whom he had a former relationship.

Perry’s attorney told the Arizona Daily Star his client is looking forward to his day in court and the chance to clear his name.

Perry averaged 12.2 points and 7.5 rebounds as a junior for the Wildcats last season.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, the man who never sleeps, has posted his first NCAA tournament projections for 2013. No kidding.

Lunardi has Cal as a No. 12 seed again, and once more envisions the Bears heading to Dayton, Ohio for a “First Four” matchup against Colorado State.

Four Pac-12 teams are in Lunardi’s 2013 projected field, also including Arizona as a No. 5 seed, UCLA as a No. 6 and Stanford at No. 10.

His four No. 1 seeds are Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas and Louisville.

Elsewhere . . .

   – In case you missed it, Cal will play next season in the Anaheim Classic, an eight-team event that runs Nov. 22-23-25 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Pairings are yet to be announced, but the field includes Saint Mary’s and Xavier. Also confirmed is Rice, led by former Cal coach Ben Braun, so there are some enticing matchups possible.

   — Former Cal star Ryan Anderson, picking up the slack with Dwight Howard sidelined by a back injury, had 26 points and 16 rebounds as the Orlando Magic beat the Philadelphia 76ers 113-100.  It was Anderson’s 13th double-double this season.

   — Former USF forward Perris Blackwell, who averaged 12.7 points and 6.1 rebounds this past season, has transferred to Washington. The 6-foot-9, 240-pounder will sit out the 2012-13 season and play his senior year in 2013-14.