. . . A few years ago, I asked Richardson what he remembered most of Candrea, and he said without hesitation "he always enjoyed a damn fight."

Now, a quarter-century later, nobody gets the name wrong. It is Coach Candrea, Olympic gold medalist, six-time NCAA champion. He returned to his cherished spot in the UA dugout this weekend for a five-game fall series, unofficial games, against regional competition.

But before Candrea got back on the field this weekend, he proved that he still enjoys "a damn fight."

He picked up the phone and called Louisiana-Lafayette coach Stefni Lotief and agreed to play a three-game series on the Ragin' Cajuns' field on March 25-27. If you know college softball, you know this does not happen.

First, the nation's No. 1 softball program, Arizona, does not play a three-game series on any team's home field. Never.

Second, the Ragin' Cajuns have all 14 players returning from the best team in school history, a 60-8 club that not only knocked Arizona out of the NCAA regionals last year - at Hillenbrand Stadium, no less - but did so with flair, winning 5-0. Pitcher Brooke Mitchell (44-4) is considered by some to be one of the two or three best pitchers in college softball.

Talk about a fight.

Candrea called the Ragin' Cajuns. We want you, here, there, anywhere. Bring it on.

So forget the possibility of Candrea going through a post-Olympics letdown.

"Playing (Louisiana-Lafayette) is something I wanted to do," he said. "We had to fill some games on our schedule. It'll be good for our team."

Fill some games on our schedule?

"Well," he continued, "sometimes you get a false feeling of security and don't know how to handle the ups and downs once you get to crunch time. Hopefully, by playing in Lafayette, we'll know how to handle some pretty tough pressure before we get to the postseason.

"This is a relatively young team that needs to grow a lot. Playing at Lafayette will show us how tough you have to be." . . .

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