A pack of BYU softball players milled around the Hillenbrand Stadium outfield during practice Thursday, pointing at the list of retired numbers on the left field wall.
"Susie Parra!" one exclaimed, pointing toward the image of the 1994 national player of the year.
Any awe would be understandable.
The BYU Cougars and Arizona Wildcats share the same record - 46-11 - entering Game 1 of the NCAA tournament super regionals today at 4 p.m.
The similarities stop there, at least in the postseason.
The Cougars have never been in this round before.
The Wildcats, seemingly, have never not been here.
"This is uncharted waters for us," BYU coach Gordon Eakin said. "It's a very common and normal place for them - but you still have to play the game."
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BYU proved that last week.
The Cougars eliminated No. 7 seed Texas and then won a regional for the first time since the program's creation in 2000.
The No. 10-seeded Wildcats - who won five national titles before BYU formed its team - received their only regional scare since the NCAA added the round in 2005.
The UA needed a walk-off grand slam to defeat Hofstra 10-6 and avoid a taxing Game 4 on Sunday.
The Wildcats are playing to reach the Women's College World Series for the 22nd time in the past 23 years.
"I grew up watching Arizona win the World Series and compete every year in the World Series," said Canyon del Oro High School graduate Kenzie Fowler, now the Wildcats' ace pitcher. "Part of the tradition is returning to Oklahoma City every year.
"It's a goal that they've really put an emphasis on. I definitely want to make it. That's just been a dream of mine since I was a little girl.
"I think it's every little girl's dream to make it to Oklahoma City."
Fowler threw extensively Thursday for the first time since hurling 204 pitches on a painful Sunday and said she would be ready to start today.
She pitched the Wildcats to a five-inning, 8-0 win against BYU in February.
Her counterpart, Paige Affleck, said the experience was a positive - even if the outcome was not. The right-handed junior, who set a BYU record with 32 wins this year, gave up five runs, three earned, in 2 2/3 innings.
"I feel like I need to come out a lot stronger," she said.
The Cougars have changed "a ton" since then, she said.
Eakin traces his team's confidence to the end of last season, when the Cougars squandered a four-run lead in the regional round at Ohio State and was eliminated soon afterward.
"We decided we weren't going to let that happen again because of our effort," he said.
Affleck said her team's growth came from a mental change.
"There's a particular mindset you have to have to compete against top-10 teams, top-25 teams," she said, "I think it's really reaching that - and not coming into a game almost fearful or intimidated - and knowing what you have is pretty much everything you have to compete against them."
The Cougars trust what brought them here.
"One thing that we talk about as a team a lot is that all growth in life takes place outside your comfort zone," Eakin said. "If you're always in your comfort zone, you're never growing."
The Wildcats are comfortable here, and proud of it.
"Our goal every year is to get to the World Series," catcher Stacie Chambers said. "I wouldn't say there's pressure.
"It's just a goal that you have. When you make a goal, you do whatever you can to achieve that goal."
THE SERIES
• What: NCAA super regional - Arizona vs. BYU
• When: Today, 4 p.m., ESPN2; Saturday, 1:30 p.m. (and 4 p.m. if necessary), ESPNU
