The North Carolina-Duke rivalry in men's basketball needs no introduction. Anywhere. The schools' women's basketball teams and soccer teams have played for some mighty high stakes, too.
This weekend, North Carolina and Duke meet for the first time on an NCAA softball field. Duke (12-6), which is fielding a softball team for the first time this season, already has had some promising results, including wins over Penn State and Purdue. It hasn't exactly been easy going at North Carolina (7-13) so far in 2018, but if there's one thing we know, it's that this rivalry can provide a spark. The three-game series in Chapel Hill opens Friday and concludes with a doubleheader Saturday.
And did we mention that's just one of our must-see series for the weekend? Here's our top five.
No. 10 Auburn at No. 8 LSU
The most enticing series during the opening weekend of SEC play features pitching, pitching and a little more pitching. Not surprisingly for a team with Carley Hoover and Allie Walljasper, LSU is ranked 11th in the nation in ERA. But that will be merely second-best in this series, with Auburn ranked fourth nationally on the strength of a 0.78 ERA in 25 games -- albeit against a schedule devoid of ranked opponents. So it's of some note that in four games a season ago against LSU, Auburn co-aces Kaylee Carlson and Makayla Martin allowed 30 hits and 19 runs.
No. 3 UCLA at Long Beach State
We step away from the SEC, at least momentarily, for a classic rivalry that has rarely been more intriguing. Quietly undefeated, if that's possible for a program with so many national titles, UCLA rolls on behind Rachel Garcia and an offense that ranks first in the nation in on-base percentage and third in slugging percentage. That wouldn't suggest drama against a neighbor it leads 72-10 in the all-time series, even if Long Beach State this week had the most votes among unranked teams. But if the weekend plays out to give us Garcia against Long Beach State sophomore Cielo Meza on Sunday, this could be special. Meza already no-hit Minnesota and beat Auburn.
No. 18 Mississippi at No. 7 Texas A&M
Mississippi State, the star of the SEC tournament and so close to the Women's College World Series a season ago, has never entered an SEC series ranked higher than it is for this series. That's a reminder of how quickly this program ascended and how quickly expectations changed. One of three SEC teams that swept Mississippi in 2017, Texas A&M was the only one to do it in Oxford. But that also came in the only SEC series in which Kaitlin Lee didn't start for Ole Miss. Now 8-1 with a 1.45 ERA, Lee has not struggled to live up to her breakthrough last spring.
No. 17 South Carolina at No. 6 Oklahoma
The odd team out in SEC opening weekend, South Carolina will instead play the two-time defending national champions twice on the road. The Saturday and Sunday games in Norman are a test for a team that raced out to a 19-1 record against a schedule that was far from fluff but also lacked any ranked opponents. South Carolina pitchers have allowed just one home run all season, despite one of the SEC's lowest strikeout rates, meaning a lot of balls are in play. Oklahoma (14-2) is in the top 20 nationally in both slugging percentage and home runs per game.
Duke at North Carolina
The forecast isn't entirely promising for the weekend, and it won't be warm in the Triangle, but the ACC didn't mess around when it put the first softball installment of this rivalry at the front of the conference schedule. The Tar Heels are reeling a little after a weekend that included losses to Elon, for the second time this season, and Harvard. Plenty of games remain, but Duke's debut and strong start would make it all the more painful for the Tar Heels (7-13) to even flirt with what would be just their second losing season in the past 20 years.