The highly touted Stanford softball team, ranked No. 12 in the nation, travels to Cathedral City, Calif. this weekend looking to win its third straight tournament in as many weeks when it starts competition at the Palm Springs Classic.

The undefeated Cardinal (10-0) will face its stiffest competition of the year thus far as it takes on ranked opponents in four of six games. The Stanford women open the tournament tonight against Florida Atlantic at 5:30 p.m.

The Cardinal is then slated to play Fordham, No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 21 Ohio State, No. 18 UNLV, and Texas, which is ranked No. 25.

This 16-team tournament, played at the Big League Dreams sports complex — a collection of softball-proportioned replicas of Major League Baseball stadiums — pits many of the best teams in the nation against one another.

The Cardinal looks to extend its longest winning streak to begin a season since 2002 when it started 11-0. In 2001 Stanford began 12-0, the longest winning streak to start a season in school history.

The four-day tournament will be quite a challenge for the Cardinal, who won five games against unranked opponents en route to an easy Stanford Invitational crown last weekend.

Lately, Stanford has been dominating its competition at the plate and in the field, having won its last six games by a combined score of 57-4. Five of those games were shortened by the mercy rule.

Much of the Cardinal’s early season success can be attributed to junior pitcher Missy Penna’s domination of opponents. Penna has allowed just two runs in 44.1 innings, while striking out 58 batters on her way to posting an 8-0 record. Her performance the first week of the season garnered national attention when she was named USA Softball National Player of the week.

Penna’s pitching has been supplemented recently by tremendous hitting from the Cardinal lineup. Eight of nine regular starters are posting an average .300 or better, and the team is hitting .330 as a whole.

Freshman first baseman Melisa Koutz and senior outfielder Anna Beardman have led the way for Stanford, each holding a .400 average.

Koutz, as well as sophomores Rosey Neill and Shannon Koplitz have provided the run production, with 11, 13, and 14 RBIs respectively.

Neill, a catcher who leads the team with three homeruns, feels like the Cardinal lineup is just finding its form.

“Each game it’s a different part of the lineup that is hitting,” she said. “Once we are all hitting, one through nine, I think we’ll be unstoppable.”

Stanford will look to put it all together this weekend, but it will not be easy.

The Cardinal opens against unranked Florida Atlantic Thursday. The Owls are the defending Sun Belt Conference champions, and come into the game holding a 4-5 record on the season.

Florida Atlantic is led by sophomore pitcher Amber Barton who is 3-2 with a 1.60 ERA on the season.

Despite the fact that Stanford faces ranked opponents in its final four games of the tournament, head coach John Rittman is stressing to his team to take the tournament one game at a time.

“I think we are prepared for the challenge this weekend,” Rittman said, “A lot can happen in a tournament like this, we have to make sure not to look ahead or past any team we play.”

Stanford’s toughest test will begin tomorrow. After squaring off with 2-3 Fordham in the morning, the Cardinal face the best team they will have played so far this season, No. 6 Oklahoma.

The Sooners come into the tournament 9-2, holding a top ten ranking in both national polls. Both of their losses have come to nationally ranked opponents.

Oklahoma is led offensively by sophomore outfielder Amber Flores who comes into the game hitting .375 with 3 homeruns. She also leads the Big 12 Conference with 11 runs scored.

In the circle, junior D.J. Mathis leads the Sooners with a 6-0 record and a 0.89 ERA.

On Saturday it won’t get any easier for Stanford as the Cardinal play two more ranked teams, UNLV and Ohio State.

The Rebels enter the tournament with a 9-1-1 record, having won their last six games.

Ohio State owns an 8-2 mark for the year, and is coming off a defeat at the hands of Florida International Sunday.

The Buckeyes are led by sophomore catcher Sam Marder — who is hitting a gaudy .593 with 4 homeruns and 19 RBI’s on the season — and senior second baseman Brittany Vanderink, who boasts a .543 batting average.

Stanford concludes the busy weekend with a game against perennial power Texas on Sunday. The Longhorns enter the tournament with a 5-2-1 record.