Northwestern will pack its bags and head off to Cathedral City, Calif., for the 10th annual Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.

The Wildcats (3-6) have participated in the tournament on eight previous occasions and hold a 22-18 record at the event, including a 10-11 mark against ranked opponents. The competition brings together the best softball teams in the country, and this year 13 ranked teams will participate.

NU will play a total of five games with two coming against opponents who received votes in this week’s poll, and two others against teams that made the postseason last year.

NU’s two toughest opponents await them on Friday when it plays Georgia Tech and No. 4 Tennessee. The first game of the day is with the Yellow Jackets, who received four votes in the polls. Georgia Tech dropped two games to Indiana last weekend and enters their first tournament away from home at 8-3. The Volunteers began the tournament on Thursday with two games and came to California with a perfect 10-0 record.

Saturday provides NU an opportunity to renew acquaintances with Brigham Young and Loyola Marymount.

The Cats and Cougars have only met once in their history, a 5-0 NU victory in 2007 at this same tournament. NU and Loyola Marymount have not met since 2005 with the Cats holding a 6-1 advantage in the series. NU finishes up with a game against Long Island University-Brooklyn, who made the NCAA Championships last season.

The Cats have a couple of players who have gotten off to great starts to the year. Sophomore Andrea DiPrima is batting .521 after having an amazing weekend last week when she went 8-for-12 at the plate.

Sophomore infielder Anna Edwards continued her offensive prowess and has already accumulated 10 RBIs while hitting .375, with eight of her 12 hits going for extra bases, including two home runs.

In the circle, sophomore Amy Letourneau has racked up 53 strikeouts in five appearances with a 2.84 ERA, holding opposing hitters to just a .200 average.