By Ramona Shelburne

6. Is Northwestern turning into a softball powerhouse?

	At 31-9 with a 1.59 ERA, Northwestern's Eileen Canney is one of the nation's top pitchers. AP

With three straight WCWS appearances, you have to consider the possibility. The Wildcats have two quality pitchers in Eileen Canney (31-9, 1.59 ERA) and Lauren Delaney (19-2, 1.64 ERA), a potent offense (5.6 runs per game), game-breaking sluggers such as Garland Cooper (.377, 22 HRs) and Tammy Williams (.433, 14) and the experience from previous WCWS runs. Plus, they've had a relatively easy time at their Regional and Super Regional tournaments and seem to have a favorable draw, being on the other side of the bracket from Arizona, Tennessee and Baylor.

7. Is DePaul for real?

The Blue Demons have a history of making unexpected WCWS runs under coach Eugene Lenti, who has 931 career wins in 26 seasons. This is DePaul's fourth trip to to the World Series since 1999 and second in three years. This year might have been the biggest upset of them all. The Blue Demons knocked off No. 3 national seed Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. in the Super Regionals.

DePaul is the only one of the eight WCWS teams not to have a player among the 25 national player of the year nominees. But it's not like the Blue Demons don't have any stars. Senior pitcher Tracie Adix was nearly untouchable in the Super Regionals. She tossed a three-hit shutout against Oklahoma, then came on in relief of freshman Becca Heteniak to close out the series with four innings of no-hit ball on Sunday. Adix is 21-2 with a 0.73 ERA.

8. Where's the California Love?

For the first time ever, no team from California advanced to the WCWS. UCLA, Cal and Stanford were knocked out in Regionals. Cal State Fullerton fell to Arizona in the Super Regionals. UCLA had appeared in 23 of the previous 25 WCWS tournaments. The Bruins had made the World Series in all 23 of their NCAA tournament appearances, until this year.

9. Who's in the booth?

Olympians Michelle Smith and Jessica Mendoza are handling the color commentary for ESPN this week. Smith is a two-time gold medalist and no stranger to the broadcast booth. Mendoza, who led Stanford to a third place finish in 2001, is the new hitting star for the U.S. national team. Early reviews of her work in the booth have also been good. She's naturally quick on her feet and well spoken from her work with the Women's Sports Foundation and the Department of Education.

10. Who will win?

The bottom half of the bracket is stacked. Any of the four teams -- Arizona, Tennessee, Baylor or Texas A&M -- could win it. Northwestern is the favorite in the top half of the bracket, but Arizona State could pull the upset and Washington has been on a tear at the plate during the postseason.

Pitching and defense usually win championships here though, so go with Tennessee and Northwestern in the championship series, with Tennessee rallying behind Abbott to pull it out in the end.