LINCOLN, Neb. – It’s been 10 years since the University of Maine softball team played in an NCAA tournament.

For California it’s been almost 12 months … since the Golden Bears played in the softball World Series.

That’s made for a huge difference in levels of experience between the two teams who will meet Thursday in the NCAA regionals here – a difference which the Black Bears have acknowledged, but will try not to let get to them in their 7:30 p.m. EST game at Bowlin Stadium.

“We’re going after this as if we’re going for a win,” UMaine coach Deb Smith said after the Black Bears wrapped up fielding practice Wednesday afternoon at Bowlin Stadium. “We’re not going out there expecting that Cal’s gonna roll over us just because they’re No. 2 [in the nation]. So we’re gonna throw everything we’ve got at them, play for that first win, and see what happens.”

Maine’s 1994 tournament experience in a regional in Los Angeles resulted in an 0-2 record with an 8-0 loss to Cal State-Northridge and a 10-0 loss to Washington. Both games ended early because of the mercy rule, which is an eight-run lead after five innings.

Cal’s postseason numbers, however, are impressive.

The Golden Bears, who gained the program’s first No. 1 seeding for a regional in their postseason history, are coming off a 2003 campaign in which they got to the NCAA title game but fell to UCLA in extra innings. They’re making their 19th straight NCAA appearance and are aiming for their sixth straight trip and eighth overall to the College World Series. Cal is 39-28 in the regional round and 54-40 all time in the NCAA tournament.

Oh, and Cal won the National Championship in 2002.

Even Cal coach Diane Ninemire comes from a successful postseason background – as a shortstop and left fielder for the University of Nebraska-Omaha she made three appearances in the College World Series.

The Golden Bears have been on a tear lately. Cal has won eight straight, including five on the road and has outscored its opponents 41-7 over the eight-game span.

And Cal has played a very tough schedule this season. In addition to a Pac-10 schedule that had seven teams make the tourney the Golden Bears logged wins over five teams that earned at-large tourney bids and four conference-championship teams. Among those teams are Nebraska and Florida Atlantic, which are the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively, in the regional.

Cal’s ranking – second in the nation in one poll, third in another – doesn’t scare the Black Bears.

“It’s just a number. It’s just a game,” senior second baseman Sara Asadoorian said. “Even though they’re a great program and they have a lot of experience in the World Series it’s just a game. We’re a great team too.”

The Maine coaches were unable to get any video of Cal so Smith and her staff are going on scouting reports from people who saw last year’s College World Series. She sees some openings for the Black Bears.

“They are a team that can work with our defense,” Smith said. “They’re not an overpowering team. They’ve got some power but if we can let our defense play we’ve got a great shot. … We can get on their pitcher, they can get on us. The thing I don’t want to have happen is for them to have an outcome already set in their heads.”

The Black Bears spent an hour on the field at Bowlin Stadium working on fielding and defense. The team was to go to Shulte Fieldhouse, an indoor facility at the north end of Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium, for an hour of batting practice.

It’s not as if the Black Bears have no NCAA experience – Smith was a pitcher on the 1994 team. So as the Black Bears started to feel some nerves while taking infield Wednesday they got advice from the most experienced person on the team.

“We got a little shaky there at the end of practice,” Asadoorian said. “We all felt like, wow, this is it. [Smith] just told us to relax, smile and be laid back and just play. The intense faces and everything, it’s not us.”