Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to the second year of my college softball blog. If you're a regular from last year, welcome back, and if you've come across this page for the first time, glad to have you.

In looking over the team pages for the nation's top collegiate softball programs (see links along the right-hand side), Friday, February 9 appears to be the opening day of the 2007 season for many schools. Non-conference play in softball tends to center around tournaments in warm-weather climates. As they get closer, I will preview these tournaments.

Shortly after last season ended, I listed the outgoing seniors for what I considered the nation's top programs (click here for the June 2006 archive, then scroll down to June 13). Based on returning talent, I'm looking for Arizona, Northwestern, and Tennessee (not necessarily in that order) to be the teams to beat in '07.