PLAYER OF THE WEEK Nevada's Brittany Lorenzen was been named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week. The freshman earned her first WAC honors, and the first for the Bulldogs.
Lorenzen, a freshman from Henderson, Nev., (Basic) was an offensive leader for the Wolf Pack last week. Lorenzen hit an RBI single in the Wolf Pack's 4-3 win over Cal Poly SLO. For the week, the shortstop had eight hits with three RBI. Nevada is one of only three teams in the WAC with a .500 record or better.
Other player of the week nominees included: Mitzi Ing, Fresno State and Megan Delgado, San Jose State.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK Fresno State's Laura Ferreira was named the WAC Pitcher of the Week. The freshman earned her first WAC honor. The Wolf Pack have been honored three times this season.
Ferreira, a sophomore from El Sobrante, Calif., (Holy Names) earned her first collegiate win in her second career start, leading the Bulldogs to a 5-1 victory over Santa Clara in the second game of a doubleheader. Making her home debut, Ferreira scattered five hits over seven innings, while giving up one run and two walks with three strikeouts. After giving up one run in the second, Ferreira sat down 16 of the final 21 batters, giving up two walks and three hits.
Other pitcher of the week nominees included: Courtney Lewis, San Jose State.
BATTER UP All six WAC teams are in action this week with Fresno State, Hawaii, Tulsa and San Jose State all hosting tournaments. No. 1 UCLA travels to Fresno as one of the participants in the Hedrickss Hallowell Chevrolet Classic. The Bulldogs face the Bruins on Sunday, March 9. The Rainbow Wahine hosts the Chevron Malhini Softball Tournament and such teams as Boston College, Baylor, Loyola Marymount and UC Riverside. Baylor has already faced Louisiana Tech and Tulsa this season.
After being snowed out last week at home, Tulsa looks to get back into action, hosting the Embassy Suites Tulsa Invitational. San Jose State hosts the 17th annual National Invitational Softball Tournament. Four ranked teams will travel to San Jose, including No. 8 California, No. 11 Arizona State, No. 17 Oregon State and No. 23 Oregon.
Nevada will stay instate and play in the UNLV Tournament. Louisiana Tech has one doubleheader against Northwestern State on March 5.
NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS After the first month of competition, WAC schools hold a non-conference record of 37-53 (.411). WAC schools are 2-8 against teams ranked in the top 25. Fresno State is 0-4 with losses to No. 4 Nebraska, No. 12 Texas, No. 24 Texas A&M and No. 4 Michigan. San Jose State is 0-2 with losses two losses to No. 2 California. Hawaii is 2-2, recently defeating No. 23 Oregon State and No. 3 California. (rankings at time of meeting).
IN THE POLLS No teams received votes in this weeks poll.
LINEUP CHANGE The WAC will be without affiliate members. Portland State and Loyola Marymount are leaving the league this season, the WAC welcomes Nevada. This is the first season of softball for the Wolf Pack since 1989. LMU and Portland State had both been in the league for three years.
NEW ADDITIONS Nevada and Louisiana Tech both welcome new coaches. Nevadas head coach is Michelle Gardner a former Big Ten Player of the Year at Michigan. She comes from Arizona State where she was an assistant for four years. This is her first season as a head coach.
Also making her head coaching debut is Louisiana Techs Sarah Dawson, a former All-American pitcher at Louisiana-Monroe. Dawson replaces Hall of Fame head coach Bill Galloway who retired after the 2002 season. Both Galloway and Fresno State head coach Margie Wright have more than 800 Division I career wins. Wright reached the 1,000 win mark during the 2002 season.
NEWS AND NOTES Junior center fielder Mitzi Ing was one of two Bulldogs to collect at least one hit in each game of the non-conference doubleheader against Santa Clara. As the No. 6 batter, Ing went 1-2 with a walk in the first game while going 1-2 with a run and a sacrificein game two. Defensively, Ing had a diving catch in no-mans land, between center and second base, against the first batter in game one. She now has hit safely in five of last seven games and is batting .333 (6-18) with four runs, five walks, hit by pitch, two sacrifices and six total bases.
Nevadas Carrie Mackey leads the team with with a.367 mark and Brittany Lorenzen is right behind at .356. Stacy Mueller at .340, Elkins at .308 and Annie Stevens sports a .302 mark. Mueller leads in RBI with (9), total bases (29 and slugging percentage (.617). Judith van Kampen leads in innings pitched (53) and strikeouts (48). Lorenzen has managed at least one hit in every game shes played, leading the team with an active 13-game hitting streak still alive.
San Jose State hosts the 17th annual National Invitational Softball Tournament, March 7-9, at the Twin Creeks Sports Complex in Sunnyvale. There will be 11 teams from seven states that will compete for this years championship trophy including defending NIST champion No. 11 Arizona State and defending national champion No. 8 California.
The tournament features four teams ranked in the top-25 of the February 25th ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Poll: No. 8 California, #11 Arizona State, #18 Oregon State and #23 Oregon. Two other teams have received votes in the poll, Minnesota and Georgia Tech.
Tulsa looks to get back into action after snow prohibited the Golden Hurricane from playing last week. Hawaii also had the week off last week and returns at home this week.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS The following players have been named to all-tournament teams.
Lori Hoffman, FS Campbell/Cartier
Jamie Southern, FS Campbell/Cartier
April Crowell, UH Chevron Classic
Stacey Porter, UH Chevron Classic
Tracie Uchima, UH Chevron Classic
Cindy Elkins, UN Troy Cox Invite
Becca Baldridge, SJSU NMSU Tournament
Ami Day, TU Mardi Gras Classic*
Maren Genow, TU Mardi Gras Classic
Compass Bank Invite
Stephanie Sliepen, TU Compass Bank Invite
Brandi McGuire, TU Metrodome Classic
Danielle Olsen, TU Mardi Gras Classic
Crissy Strimple, TU Metrodome Classic
Mardi Gras Classic
Stacey Walkingstick, TU Mardi Gras Classic
*Tournament MVP