When it comes to competition, this weekend’s Palm Springs Tournament boasts some of the best.

In the next four days, the No. 3 Sun Devils (11-1, 0-0 Pac-10) are scheduled to face off against four of the nation’s top-25 teams, proving that as the season progresses, so does the competition.

But the idea of facing tougher teams isn’t one in which the Sun Devils have any fear; for them, it’s all part of the business of softball.

“The first game is mostly nerves,” sophomore catcher Kaylyn Castillo said. “But after you get that out of the way, it’s more of, ‘You got this, you can do it’ — it’s about business. It’s about getting your stuff done and working better as a team. It’s about using that to bring you to the next level.”

And it starts right away.

For the Sun Devils, that next level comes in the form of a No. 2 Florida team which had a record setting 70-win season in 2008 and returns eight batting-order regulars and both pitchers from that squad.

Still, it is the seriousness of the competition that has the Sun Devils heaped in anticipation.

“I’m excited about it,” Castillo said. “We’re getting serious. It’s not about getting games in, it’s about testing your abilities, seeing what we have against these big teams that we’re ranked right next to.”

The match up with the Gators will be the third all-time between the two clubs.

Despite stiff competition, the Sun Devils said they plan to employ their trademark philosophy of “one game at a time” in their first road trip of the season.

“The mindset will be the same, but the competition will be different,” freshman shortstop Katelyn Boyd said. “We practice hours and hours every day, so all you can really do is trust yourself and have fun. We have to play our ‘A’ game, but we’ve been practicing hard so I’m not really worried about that.”

Even freshman pitcher Hillary Bach’s story is the same.

For her, it’s the first time she will be facing competition at this level, and the pressure to perform this weekend is on.

Her motivation comes in the idea of finding out how her performance measures up to that of other teams.

“I know I’ll be facing some really great competition and I’m excited to see how my stuff works when I get up against the best,” she said. “I obviously want to be my best every time I step on the mound, but I’m really tuning in this week to make every pitch count.”

The Sun Devils are also scheduled to face Northwestern, Oklahoma, Texas and Massachusetts before returning to Tempe.

“I’m really excited,” Boyd said. “It will be an experience, but I think it will be a positive one. Even if it’s negative, I think you take positive from negative.”

Reach the reporter at emiley.darling@asu.edu.