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With just over two weeks to go until the beginning of the 2016 regular season, three polls came out this week which put the UCLA softball team at seventh in two national rankings and second in the Pac-12 preseason poll.

The conference poll, which came out on Wednesday, saw the Bruins earn 51 points and one first-place vote to place them in second behind Oregon. Arizona came in third, followed by Washington, Utah, California, Arizona State, Oregon State and Stanford.

Tuesday saw both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings released, with UCLA showing up at seventh in each. In the NFCA poll, the Bruins received 625 points, while in the USA Softball poll, UCLA earned 368 points.

Seven of the nine Pac-12 teams are ranked in either or both of the polls: Oregon (6th NFCA/4th USA Softball), Arizona (13th/15th), Washington (20th/19th), California (21st/22nd), Arizona State (22nd/20th) and Utah (receiving votes - 28th/23rd).

Nine of the Bruins' non-conference opponents are ranked in either or both polls. UCLA will face one of those teams twice during the first weekend when the Bruins play at the Texas A&M (RV/#24) Aggie Classic on Feb. 12 and 13. The following weekend, the Bruins play #17/#17 UCF (Feb. 19), #24/RV Notre Dame (Feb. 20) and #3/#3 LSU (Feb. 21) on three successive days at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic I. One week later, again in Cathedral City at the MNCC II, three ranked teams will be on tap on three straight days, #1/#1 Florida on Feb. 25, #12/#14 Georgia on Feb. 26 and #9/#8 Oklahoma on Feb. 27.

UCLA opens its home schedule versus #2/#2 Michigan on March 2, while that same weekend, #10/#10 Florida State squares off with the Bruins at Easton Stadium on March 6 as part of the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament. The first three weekends of Pac-12 play are against ranked teams (at #21/#22 California - March 19-21; #20/#19 Washington - March 24-26; at #6/#4 Oregon - April 1-3), as are the last three (at #13/#15 Arizona - April 23-25; #22/#20 Arizona State - April 29-May 1; at RV/#23 Utah - May 6-8).

Coming off back-to-back, 50-win seasons for the first time since 2002-2003, the Bruins return 14 letterwinners, six starters and three pitchers from last year's team which went 51-12, placed second in the Pac-12 and advanced to the Women's College World Series. UCLA, which led all NCAA Tournament teams in home runs last postseason, was tops in the country in 2015 in batting average (.367), second in on base percentage (.467), tied for second in doubles (107), fourth in runs scored (7.92) and slugging (.608) and 11th in homers (89).

Two of the Bruins' four All-Americans from a year ago are back in 2016 in senior Allexis Bennett and junior Delaney Spaulding. Bennett, a Top 10 finalist for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, as well as NFCA First Team All-American, West All-Region First Team and All-Pac-12 First Team, led the Bruins and was fourth in the nation with a .492 batting average. She also ranked first on the team with 27 multiple-hit games, 21 stolen bases and a .529 on base percentage. Spaulding, who was Second Team All-American and First Team All-Region and All-Pac-12, led the Bruins with 72 runs batted in, an .852 slugging, 69 runs scored, 20 doubles, six sacrifice flies and 12 sacrifice hits and tied for the team lead with 20 home runs, placing second with a .397 batting average.

Also back on offense are junior Gabrielle Maurice, an NFCA West All-Region and All-Pac-12 Second Team selection a year ago and sophomore Kylee Perez, who earned West All-Region Third Team and All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention accolades during her freshman campaign. The Bruins bring back three pitchers, redshirt junior Paige McDuffee and sophomores Johanna Grauer and Selina Ta'amilo, while also bringing in a talented recruiting class, which features a pair of members of the U.S. Junior Women's National Team, Rachel Garcia and Paige Halstead.