LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego softball team will begin its 2007 season with six games this weekend at the Best of the West Tournament hosted by Cal State Stanislaus. The three day event in Turlock will begin on Friday, February 2 and run through Sunday, February 4.

Day one starts with the Tritons will taking on Humboldt State and Grand Canyon before facing Notre Dame de Namur and CSU Monterey Bay on day two. The Tournament will conclude with UCSD facing Cal State Dominguez Hills and Chico State on Sunday.

Head coach Patti Gerckens begins her 15th season at the helm of the program this weekend, returning 13 letterwinners, eight of whom were starters last year. Among those returning are seniors Brittni Carino, Nikki Palmer and Sara Robinson. Also returning is All-CCAA performer Jenni Habib along with Jenny Maze and pitcher Melissa Ward.

Maze currently ranks third on the all-time home run list at UCSD with 13 entering her junior season while Ward ranks ninth in all-time innings pitched at UCSD, having tossed 292.2 innings through her first two years on the La Jolla campus. Habib earned second team All-CCAA accolades as a freshman last year after batting .283 and posting a .985 fielding percentage at first base.

Last season the Tritons finished with a 24-28 overall record and a 10-18 mark in CCAA play. This year, UCSD was picked to finish sixth in the league according the CCAA Preseason Coaches' Poll. The league, widely considered as the top Division II conference in the country, is loaded once again in 2007 as five of the 10 teams in the league qualified for last year's 8-team NCAA D-II West Regional.

Four of the six Triton opponents at the Best of the West Tournament are CCAA foes, but none of those games will count towards the conference standings. The league season will begin one week later as the Tritons host San Francisco State for a pair of doubleheaders on February 9 and 10. The games on Friday the 9th are slated to begin at 1 & 3 p.m. while Saturday's double dip will have first pitches at 12 & 2 p.m.

The Tritons will play 26 home games this season while playing only 14 true road games. The remainder of the schedule are tournament contests that are played at neutral site fields.