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Hopefully Arizona State coach Clint Myers has room for a razor to go with the bats he may soon be packing for Oklahoma City.

After not shaving for the better part of a month, living up to a bargain struck with his players dictating he go unshorn until a loss, Myers can ditch the whiskers after the No. 2 Sun Devils dropped a 3-0 decision against No. 23 Washington on Sunday. But he may want to be cautious about offering up future incentives, lest he end up adorned with a new piercing or tattoo to go with a trophy.

The loss against the Huskies aside, the Sun Devils wrapped up a wildly successful week that included an 8-1 win against No. 7 Arizona in Tucson -- the first-ever win at Hillenbrand Stadium for the Sun Devils -- and a win at home against No. 1 UCLA on Friday night.

So much for a letdown from a program that reached the Women's College World Series in each of the past two seasons but fell flat both times in Oklahoma City -- and a program that entered the weekend ranked No. 12 in RPI despite its scarcity of losses.

"I think compared to the other couple of years, this team has a chemistry -- the camaraderie, the want to win, everything," senior ace Katie Burkhart said after beating UCLA. "We work so hard together as a team and everybody wants it so bad. I think that that's what makes the difference in pulling out those tough wins like we've had."

And whether it's the byproduct or the catalyst for such a strong chemical reaction, Arizona State's offense is fueling renewed hopes for a championship. The Sun Devils reached the World Series in each of Myers' first two seasons in large part because they had plenty of Burkhart and just enough offense. The senior southpaw won 75 games and struck out 937 batters the past two seasons. But with a lineup that hovered around a .250 batting average when All-American Kaitlin Cochran's numbers were removed from the mix, as they often were by opponents all too happy to pitch around her at the World Series, the Sun Devils didn't have the offense for a title.

Last year Arizona State scored two or fewer runs in four of its first five conference games. Sunday's shutout loss marked the first time in nine league games this year that the Sun Devils hadn't put at least three runs on the scoreboard behind Burkhart.

"It certainly takes a lot of stress off, that's for sure," Burkhart said of the increased run production. "Anytime you have runs on the board, as the pitcher, you're able to settle in a little bit more -- not more, a little differently than you do when it's a 0-0 ballgame."

A big part of that is freshman Krista Donnenwirth. Hitting third against Arizona, she followed Cochran's leadoff walk and Jackie Vasquez's single in the top of the first with a three-run home run off Arizona ace Taryne Mowatt. Hitting fourth against UCLA two days later, she doubled and singled and drove in two of the three runs in a 3-0 win.

"I don't know if words can explain," Burkhart laughed. "I mean she comes in as a freshman -- she stands about 6-foot-1 and she just -- I've never seen that kind of composure from a freshman. … She's an amazing hitter, an amazing person and a great fielder, so she really takes away all aspects of the game."

Of course, there's little time to rest in the Pac-10. Arizona comes calling next week.

Elsewhere in the Pac-10

Arizona rebounded from the midweek loss against its in-state rival with wins against Washington on Friday and historical rival UCLA on Saturday. But the defending champs could come out only even for the week at home thanks to a 2-1 loss against the Bruins on Sunday afternoon. The earlier win against UCLA was courtesy not of Mowatt, or even Lindsey Sisk, but Sarah Akamine, making just her second start of the season. Mowatt struggled with 14 walks in 22 innings in three starts. Part of the allure of her World Series run last season was how she continually escaped jams with runners on base, but that's also a tough way to live for two full seasons.

Next weekend's two-game set in Tempe against Arizona State is Arizona's only action in an 11-day span, offering a rare late-season opportunity for rest, retuning or both.

Perfect Season

Wins and losses are an inherently flawed means of measuring of a pitcher's individual success or failure, but they're not a bad place to start when talking about Megan Gibson.

The Texas A&M senior improved her record to a gaudy 25-0 with a pair of wins against No. 9 Oklahoma. In 14 innings in the circle against one of the best offensive teams in the country, Gibson allowed just five hits and four walks and struck out 18 Sooners. With the wins, the sixth-ranked Aggies remain undefeated in conference play and in prime position to win just their second regular-season Big 12 title.

Gibson took the loss in all four of her starts against the Sooners during her first three seasons at Texas A&M, but her command performance this time around summed up the role she's assumed for this year's team. Without preseason All-America candidate Amanda Scarborough, whose career ended after a foot injury just 37 innings into her final season, Gibson has already set career highs in starts, innings and complete games.

Not to mention that Gibson, who scored one of the runs in Saturday's 4-2 win against the Sooners, is hitting .335 and leads the team in home runs, RBIs and OPS.

Elsewhere in the Big 12

Behind the top two teams, the race for the remainder of the top six spots -- and the corresponding opening-round byes in the first round of the conference tournament -- remains wide open. Coming off a sweep of Baylor two weeks ago and a split with Texas last week, Oklahoma State lost an opportunity to make a move when it split with Iowa State. The Cowgirls now face a tough midweek doubleheader against Texas A&M.

Missouri took advantage of that split, along with the split between Texas and Kansas, with a two-game sweep at home against Texas Tech. First baseman Amanda Renth hit three home runs and drove in six runs for the weekend. With the outburst, she becomes the third player in coach Ehren Earleywine's lineup with 14 home runs this season.

Texas is in third place at 6-5, trailed by Oklahoma State, Missouri and Kansas at 4-4. All four also have an eye on Baylor, which is 4-7 after a split with Nebraska.

Massachusetts Milestone

It was business as usual during a busy week for Massachusetts -- a reality which in and of itself speaks to just what coach Elaine Sortino has built over the past three decades in the rolling countryside of western Massachusetts. The Minutewomen won all five of their games during the week, capping it off with a doubleheader sweep against Temple on Sunday that provided Sortino with wins Nos. 999 and 1,000 for her career.

An NFCA Hall of Fame member who has reached the World Series three times and has never had a losing season in Amherst, Sortino is just the eighth coach in Division I history to reach 1,000 wins.

Gators Keep Hitting

The hits just keep on coming for No. 4 Florida, which piled up 19 runs en route to a three-game sweep on the road against No. 19 Georgia.

In its last nine games against LSU, Mississippi State and Georgia -- three teams that have all been ranked at times this season and which are headed to the NCAA tournament -- Florida scored 51 runs. Only once did it score fewer than five runs in that span and it won that game against LSU behind a shutout from Stacey Nelson.

In those same three series last season, the Gators scored a total of 34 runs, and that was with their most prolific three-game stretch of the season against Georgia.

Elsewhere in the SEC

Alabama kept pace a half-game behind Florida in the overall SEC picture (both lead their respective divisions) by sweeping three games against Auburn, while Tennessee had the weekend off to play the U.S. Olympic team in Knoxville. But the SEC picture still received a surprising jolt when Mississippi stunningly picked up its second and third wins of conference play at the expense of No. 12 LSU in Baton Rouge. The Tigers still have enough winnable games down the stretch to sneak into seeded territory for the NCAA tournament, but getting at least a game, if not two, out of next weekend's series against Tennessee in Knoxville would go a long way toward helping those odds.

Mountain West Conference notes

BYU strengthened its postseason profile and claimed sole possession of first place in the Mountain West with a pair of extra-inning road wins against No. 18 San Diego State. Freshman Paige Affleck outlasted Aztecs ace Christina Ross with eight shutout innings in Friday's 2-0 win and senior Christina Gwyn Trice bested Ross with nine more shutout innings in Saturday's 1-0 win.

The Cougars didn't come up with the same kind of marquee wins out of conference that the Aztecs did, but they still tested themselves against a demanding schedule and held their own in many of those games against teams like Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Louisiana-Lafayette. And in Affleck, who struck out 11 in her win, and Trice, who struck out nine, they have a pair of pitchers who seem to be benefiting from those tests.

The backloaded MWC schedule hasn't even hit the halfway mark yet, leaving plenty of time for the Aztecs. But a 3-3 start in league play means their hopes of securing a seed in the NCAA tournament -- and thus avoiding a potential trip to UCLA for the opening weekend -- can't withstand more losses. Kathy Van Wyk's team is built on manufacturing runs, but even that blueprint can't succeed with a .334 team slugging percentage.

Utah remains in contention after taking two games at UNLV, including a no-hitter from junior Ashley Smuda. It was the second no-hitter of the season, and the first that went the distance, for the Temple transfer who has emerged as the team's de facto ace in her first season. The Utes travel to BYU next weekend and then host six games in a row at home against UNLV, San Diego State and BYU.

Colonial Athletic Association notes

Hofstra didn't waste any time making a statement about the Colonial race in the rubber match of a weekend series at second-place Georgia State. After splitting a pair of games Saturday, Hofstra scored three runs in the first inning, two runs in the second, five runs in the third and finally five more in the fourth en route to a 15-2 win and sole possession of first place.

Against a Georgia State team that entered the weekend leading the nation with a .355 team batting average, Kayleigh Lotti and the rest of Hofstra's pitching staff more than held their own in allowing four runs in three games. And a Pride team that entered the weekend hitting a modest .268, with a less-than-modest .325 slugging percentage, piled up 37 hits of its own, including four doubles and two home runs, in the three-game series.

Hofstra has the inside track to the league's regular-season title, with two of three remaining three-game series coming against teams in the bottom half of the standings.

Southland Conference notes

It's not over quite yet in the Southland, but Texas State has as strong a hold on its league as any team in the country. Bouncing back from a pair of midweek losses at Texas Tech -- having previously knocked off in-state rivals Baylor and Texas -- the Bobcats swept three games from Northwestern State. At 19-2 in league play, with nine games remaining before the conference tournament, they hold a four-game lead on second-place Stephen F. Austin. Of course, with Texas State traveling to Stephen F. Austin for three games next weekend, at least one more team will get an opportunity to slow the coronation.

Graham Hays is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. E-mail him at Graham.Hays@espn3.com.