PLAYER OF THE WEEK Fresno State's Lindsay Fossatti was named the Western Athletic Conference Player and of the Week.
Fossatti, a senior from Tustin, Calif., (Foothill HS) helped lead the Bulldogs to a 5-1 mark on the road that included, 2-0 record at the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Softball Challenge with a victory over No. 9 Oklahoma and three wins over second-place Hawai'i. Fresno State is now up two games over the Wahine in the WAC standings.
In the six games, Fossatti recorded eight hits, including two doubles and two home runs. The third baseman drove in eight runs, while scoring four. She also broke the school's career walk record with 110 free passes. This is Fossatti's second player of the week honor of the season after earning the honor twice last season.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK Portland State's Morgan Seibert earned pitcher of the week honors. Seibert, a junior from Marysville, Wash., (Pilchuk HS) earned her first pitcher of the week this season by throwing back-to-back WAC shutouts against Louisiana Tech and Tulsa. Seibert captured pitcher of the week honors three times in 2001. She ended the week with a 3-0 record and a 0.00 ERA, allowing only one unearned run in 21.0 innings. The senior threw a two-hitter against Tulsa and a three-hitter against Louisiana Tech.
With the wins, Seibert moved into fifth place on Portland State's all-time shutout list with 16. The senior also helped head coach Teri Mariani capture her 600th career win. In 26 years, Mariani has a career record of 601-476.
WAC HEADLINERS Other player of the week nominees included: Stacey Porter, Hawai'i, Kelli Edelbrock, Loyola Marymount, Megumi Hackett, Portland State, Karlie Reiss, San Jose State and Jessie Smith, Tulsa.
Hawaiis Stacey Porter hit .417 as the Wahine went 1-3 against No. 13 Fresno State at home. The sophomore had five hits and four runs scored. She also added three home runs to her WAC-leading 13 home run total.
Loyola Marymounts Kelli Edelbrock hit. 545 as the Lions went 4-2 last week. She had six hits with one run scored and one RBI as the Lions went on to complete a tripleheader sweep of Louisiana Tech.
Portland States Megumi Hackett hit .563 (9-for-16) with two RBI as the Vikings went 3-1 in WAC play and 5-1 overall. She hit safely in all six games for the Vikings. The junior had a two-out bases loaded double to give the Vikings the come-from-behind win over Louisiana Tech, 3-2.
San Jose States Karlie Reiss recorded a hit in all four of the Spartans games. She hits .643 with nine hits and six RBI. She had three multi-hit games, including a 3-for-3 performance against LMU.
Tulsas Jessie Smith extended her hitting streak to 10 last week. The senior hit .500 with seven hits, including one double. She leads the team in hitting with a .359 batting average.
Other pitcher of the week nominees included: Jamie Southern, Fresno State, Shannon Tabion, Hawai'i and Sami Strinz, Loyola Marymount.
Fresno States Jamie Southern was 4-0 with a 1.50 ERA in four starts. She allowed six earned runs in 28.0 innings striking out 25. She earned wins over No. 9 Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and two WAC wins over the Hawaii.
Hawaiis Shannon Tabion ended the week with a 1-1 record and a 1.40 ERA. In only her second and third WAC starts of the season, she went eight innings in a 3-2 loss to Fresno State. She allowed only three earned runs in 15.0 innings.
LMUs Sami Strinz went 4-0 last week with a 0.85 ERA with two complete games. The sophomore allowed only three earned runs in 24.2 innings with 14 strikeouts.
SEIBERT BREAKS VIKING STRIKEOUT RECORD Junior Morgan Seibert broke the Portland State all-time strikeout record against the Pac-10s Oregon on April 22. Seibert broke the school's 19-year career strikeout mark by recording the 550th strikeout of her career in the first game of a doubleheader against the Ducks.
The record was held by Deb Fitzhugh who played from 1980-1983. She also holds the Portland State no-hitter record. The junior (11-11), who entered the game needing five strikeouts to tie Fitzhugh for the record, struck out six in a complete game loss to take the title.
Seibert stands fifth all-time in the WAC in strikeouts. She is 82 strikeouts behind Sacramento States Susie Bugliarello (1994-96). Fresno State All-American Amanda Scott (1997-00) holds the record with 851 strikeouts.
HAWAII SNAPS FRESNO STATE WINNING STREAK Fresno State extended its season-high winning streak to 12 games before falling, 5-1, in the finale of the four-game set with Hawaii on the island. Hawaii captured its fourth win over a ranked opponent with a 5-1 win over Fresno State on Apr. 21. The win was not easily accomplished as the game was played over two days. Weather halted play on Saturday, April 20 with the bases full of Bullodgs. Almost 22 hours later, the Wahine regrouped and won the final game of the series.
AROUND THE HORN (NOTES FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE) FRESNO STATE remains on the road this week by playing at Louisiana Tech on April 25 and Tulsa on April 27. Last week, the Bulldogs went 5-1 on the road, playing in Oklahoma City and Honolulu. The Bulldogs have been on a roll lately with a 13-5 record in their last 18 games ... HAWAII is led offensively this season by two Australians. Leading the squad is junior shortstop Kate Judd, who is batting .362 overall and .467 in 16 WAC games. Judd also has four doubles, five home runs, and nine RBI. Fellow Aussie Stacey Porter is second, batting .351 overall with a team-best 13 home runs and 41 RBI ... LOUISIANA TECH sophomore Lindsey Meadows threw a perfect game on April 23 against Grambling State as the Lady Techsters went on to sweep the doubleheader at home. Meadows and La. Tech stopped GSU, 8-0, as she struck out a career-high 13 batters, including eight of the first nine ... LOYOLA MARYMOUNT pitcher Jennifer Heliotes is among the nations leaders in saves with four. She also stands second in career saves in the WAC, only two behind Fresno State All-American Amanda Scott, who ended her career with 10 ... portland state has an action-packed week, making up games postponed due to weather. Along with its four-game set with Hawaii, the Vikings have already faced Oregon and Oregon State this week. Before the week is over, Portland State will take on Oregon one more time for a total of 10 games ... SAN JOSE STATE looks to get back on track this week after spliting with Cal Poly last week. The Spartans have already swept Santa Clara and face Tulsa and La. Tech this weekend ... TULSA is now 41-12 the season. The Hurricane is assured its first winning season in the softball program's history. TUs 41 wins eclipses the number of wins the Hurricane had for the previous two seasons combined.
BATTER UP The WAC begins its 13th week of the 2002 season. Once again, the WAC stays busy this week with at least one game Monday-Sunday.
Fresno State remains on the road, holding on to its two game advantage over Hawaii. The Bulldogs will take on Louisiana Tech and third place Tulsa this weekend. The Wahine will play four games against Portland State.
Loyola Marymount, which is tied for third place with Tulsa, takes the week off from WAC action. San Jose State faces Tulsa and Louisiana Tech on the road.
CAREER RECORDS Several WAC players are etching their names into the WAC career recordbook.
Fresno States Lindsay Fossatti moved into first in WAC career walks, passing teammate Anglea Cervantez who had 97 walks. Currently, Fossatti has 110 walks. Bulldog freshman pitcher Jamie Southern is 23 strikeouts away from 10th on the all-time strikeout list. She has over 300 Ks in her freshman season.
Portland State junior Morgan Seibert moved into fifth in career strikeouts with 554. She passed Colorado States Nikki Johnson (1995-97). She is also fourth in strikeouts per seven innings with 6.58. Southern leads that category with 8.09 strikeouts per seven innings.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS Fresno State has experienced more than its share of close games this season. The Bulldogs have played eight extra inning games this season and are 5-3 in extra frames. Ten of Fresno State's 14 losses have come by two or less runs, including eight one-run losses. The Bulldogs have lost 13 games on the road with 10 of those losses coming against Top 25 teams. Six losses have come against teams ranked in the Top Five (LSU, Arizona State, UCLA -twice and Stanford - twice).
WEST REGIONAL RANKINGS Four of the seven WAC schools were ranked in the second West Regional poll. The remaining five schools are all located in California. This season is the first time that Tulsa has been ranked regionally. The first and second rankings will rank 10 teams in each region in alphabetical order. (As of April 11)
*Cal Poly
*Cal State Fullerton
*Cal State Northridge
Fresno State
Hawaii
*Long Beach State
Louisiana Tech
*Pacific (California)
Tulsa
Bold = WAC schools
* = WAC opponents
SOUTHERN NAMED FINALIST Fresno State freshman Jamie Southern was one of 25 finalists named for the inaugural USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award, the Amateur Softball Association announced. Ten finalist will be named May 3, and three finalists will be announced May 31. The winner will be announced June 7 and will be presented the award in November during the ASA National Council Meeting in Reno, Nevada.
IMPROVEMENTS Two WAC teams have already surpassed their win total from the 2001 season. With 41 wins in 53 games, Tulsa has exceeded last years win total of 26.
Twenty-one of TUs 39 wins are by shutout. Offensively, the teams 24 home runs are a school record for most in a single season. The 1996 squads school previously held the record for the most with 21 homers.
San Jose State has also topped last seasons WAC win total by two with five wins so far this season.
MARIANI REACHES 600 WIN PLATEAU Portland State head coach Teri Mariani reached yet another milestone in her 26-year career as the Vikings' head coach, earned her 600th career win in game one of her team's doubleheader sweep of Louisiana Tech on April 18.
Mariani earned her first coaching win back in 1978. She now has a career record of 601-476 (.558). She has led the Vikings to nine postseason appearances, including a Division II third-place national finish in 1991.
She now joins Fresno State head coach Margie Wright and Louisiana Tech head coach Bill Galloway as WAC coaches with at least 600 career wins. Both Wright and Galloway have over 800 Division I career wins. Wright reached the 1,000 win mark earlier this season. Galloway is nearing the 900 plateau in Division I wins.
NON-CONFERENCE MARK WAC teams are 137-101 (.577) in non-conference games. The WAC is 14-49 against teams that have been ranked in the NFCA poll. San Jose State is 1-10 with losses to No. 2 UCLA, No. 9 Washington, No. 23 San Diego State and No. 3 Arizona. The Spartans have upset No. 7 Arizona State, but fell to Oregon State on March 25.
Fresno State is 8-10 with wins over No. 5 California and No. 23 San Diego State and losses to No. 1 UCLA, No. 8 Arizona State and No. 10 Cal State Fullerton. At the NFCA Classic, the Bulldogs went 2-2 against ranked teams with wins over No. 24 Mississippi State and No. 6 Washington. Fresno State fell to No. 2 Stanford and No. 5 LSU. Fresno State also added wins over No. 10 Pacific and No. 18 Louisiana Lafayette. The Bulldogs captured a 4-0 win against No. 11 Oklahoma in Oklahoma City on April 16.
Hawaii is 4-8 with two wins over No. 23 San Diego State and a win over No. 14 Oregon State. Last week, the Wahine went 1-3 against Fresno State. Portland State is 0-7 against ranked teams. Loyola Marymount (1-7) captured its first win over a ranked team with a win over No. 10 Fresno State. Tulsa is 0-3 against ranked teams. The Hurricane played their first ranked team with a 14-6 loss to No. 9 Oklahoma. The Lady Techsters are also 0-2 with two losses to Fresno State. (Ranking on date played).