When you leave the West Coast, you leave behind the most dominant softball programs in the NCAA.

After having been picked fifth in the preseason poll for the Pacific-10 Conference, Stanford was ranked No. 8 in the national USA Today Poll and No. 9 by ESPN.com.

In each poll, six Pac-10 teams landed in the top 10. Defending national champion Arizona topped both polls, followed by No. 3 UCLA, No. 5 Arizona State, Stanford and No. 10 California.

The Cardinal have already begun raking in individual honors as well, with two players named to the preseason Player of the Year watch list. Senior outfielder Jackie Rinehart and sophomore infielder Maddy Coon were tabbed by the Amateur Softball Association as two of fifty players in the running for the USA Softball National Collegiate Player of the Year honors.

Coon was the top hitter for the Cardinal in 2006, with team highs of nine home runs, 13 doubles and 40 RBI. She started every game for Stanford and was named to the All-Pac-10 second team.

Rinehart had the team’s third-best batting average last season and was named Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 three times. After her junior season, Rinehart spent the summer playing with the gold medal-winning USA team at the World University Games in Taiwan.

Stanford’s 2007 season will begin at Kajikawa Classic in Phoenix, on Feb. 9 and the Cardinal will play their home opener against Sacramento State on Feb. 13.

Women’s volleyball 2007 schedule announced

Having lost a heartbreaker of a national final to Nebraska in December, the Stanford women’s volleyball team will begin its pursuit of another Final Four with one of the nation’s toughest preseasons. The Cardinal’s fall schedule released yesterday includes six opponents who finished the 2006 season in the top 25.

The team will begin the year on the road with a match against Long Beach State before a trip east for the Minnesota Tournament. At the tourney, Stanford will face off with host Minnesota, San Diego and Ohio.

The Cardinal will then return home for the Stanford Invitational, hosting Saint Mary’s, Cal Poly and BYU, one of only four teams to beat the Card in 2006.

Stanford will take one more extended road trip, playing at Cincinnati and then in a tournament at Yale — facing Hartford, Yale and perennial power Penn State — before returning home for the start of Pac-10 play.

Stanford will kick off its conference season at Cal on Sept. 21.