It's that time of the year when the beginning of spring sports coincides with the end of the winter sports season, leaving no shortage of things to talk about when it comes to the Huskies. So far on the spring side, baseball and softball have gotten off to similar starts that their wintercounterparts in men's and women's basketball did in their own seasons. Hopefully though they can avoid a similar late season fade.

Basketball

The UW men's hoops team was able to put a halt on their four game losing streak against Stanford at Hec Ed Saturday, beating the Cardinal 64-53. With freshman phenom Dejounte Murray leading the way with 25 points, the Dawgs were able to overcome a poor showing by senior Andrew Andrews, the Pac-12 scoring leader. Additionally, Lorenzo Romar's squad was able to add a victory to their resume that will surely help their case for the NCAA tournament.

Oregon State, who is 6-9 in Pac-12 play, host the Huskies Thursday in what will be the Huskies' last road trip of the season. A sweep will help their NCAA resume, but they will also need a strong showing in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament as well. I would say the Dawgs at least need to make it to the semi-final round.

Softball

The Huskies softball team continued their strong start, going 4-1 in the Mary Nutter Classic, beating no. 15 UCF and with shortstop Ali Aguilar named National Player of the Week. Aguilar hit .444 with four doubles, a triple, two home runs, 13 RBI and nine runs scored. She had an extra base hit in every game.

Washington (9-1) heads back to Palm Springs, Calif. for another five games in the Mary Nutter Classic II this weekend. They maintain their no. 9 ranking and open the tournament against no. 1 Florida on Saturday.

Baseball

Huskies baseball picked right up where they left off last year, traveling down to Texas and taking two of three from Baylor. Noah Bremer, a Freshman All-American last year, struck out six while allowing only one earned run in six innings in a 7-2 win.

After losing the second game of the series, Linsay Meggs' men bounced right back to win 7-1 in the rubber match. The Huskies were able to do it with great pitching and stringing together timely hits. No homeruns were hit, but a couple of doubles were all the Huskies pitching staff needed to hold the Bears to only one run.

March Madness is almost here, can you feel it!