PLAYER OF THE WEEK Tulsa's Stephanie Sliepen was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week. She earned her first player of the week honor this season.
Sliepen, a junior from St. Charles, Mo., (Francis Howell North), recorded a pair of three-run home runs, en route to a 1.333 slugging percentage. She led the Golden Hurricane to a 3-0 record, including a win over host school Mississippi. She posted a .727 on-base percentage after going 6-for-6 on Feb. 14. She leads the team in hits with nine.
Other player of the week nominees included: Veronica Green, Fresno State; Stacey Ritter, Hawai'i; Jessica Aycock, Louisiana Tech; Stacy Mueller, Nevada; Courtney Lewis, San Jose State.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK Fresno State's Jamie Southern was named the Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week, respectively. Southern earned Pitcher of the Week honors three times last season and Player of the Week once. Southern, a junior from Clovis, Calif., (Clovis), went 3-0 with three shutout victories. She threw a perfect game against No. 18 Texas A&M, notching her fourth career no-hitter and third career perfect game. She struck out 15 Aggies to tie a single-game school record for most strikeouts in a seven-inning game. The junior opened the year with a one-hitter against UMass, while fanning six. She recorded her second shutout victory over Western Michigan and picked up first 10-strikeout game of the year with 11. She struck out 32 for 11.79 strikeouts per seven innings in three starts
Other pitcher of the week nominees included: Judith van Kampen, Nevada; Kelli McCollister, San Jose State; Renee DiPuccio, UTEP and Amy Day, Tulsa.
BATTER UP This week, tournament play continues for five teams. Hawaii, Tulsa, Fresno State, Louisiana Tech and UTEP will all play in road tournaments. Fresno State will play at the Campbell/Cartier Tournament which will feature No. 20 Oregon and No. 4 Washington. Hawaii also plays at the Campbell Cartier and will also face the Ducks. Louisiana Tech will face No. 13 and host LSU at the Tigers home tournament. First-year program, UTEP looks to remain unbeaten at the UNLV Tournament.
AGAINST THE BEST The WAC is 2-11 against ranked teams so far this season. Hawaii has one of the wins with a win against Oregon State. The Rainbow Wahine also have a loss to Tennessee.
Behind the perfect game of junior Jamie Southern, Fresno State is 1-0 against ranked teams with a win over then-No. 15 Texas A&M. Louisiana Tech is 0-1 with a loss to then-No. 12 Louisiana-Lafayette. In Phoenix, Nevada lost to both No. 3 Arizona and No. 23 Arizona State. San Jose State has played the toughest schedule this season. The Spartans are 0-7 with six losses to teams in the top 10, including Stanford, Alabama and California.
NO HITS HERE UTEP freshman Renee Dipuccio allowed no runs in the Miners program opener. She went the distance in game one allowing one run on no hits in the Miners first program win, 9-1 over Sul Ross. DiPuccio retired the first nine Lobos she faced before a pair of UTEP throwing errors in the top of the fourth allowed Sul Ross to plate its only run of the game.
Fresno State junior Jamie Southern was equally strong throwing a perfect game against No. 15 Texas A&M. Last week, she recorded three shutout victories that included the perfect game against Texas A&M. Southern, who struck out 32 for an average of 11.79 strikeouts per seven innings. She notched her fourth career no-hitter and third career perfect game against the Aggies while tying the school's single-game strikeout mark (15) for a seven inning game. The perfect game was the 12th thrown in school history while, the no-hitter was the 55th recorded by a Bulldog.
FRESNO STATE PICKED TO WIN TITLE The WAC softball coaches selected Fresno State to win the 2004 WAC regular season crown. Fresno State has been picked to take the preseason crown eight out of the last nine years. In 2002, Hawaii was chosen to win the title. The coaches also voted on 2004 preseason award winners. Fresno State swept both categories when shortstop Christina Clark was voted preseason Player of the Year and Jamie Southern earned preseason Pitcher of the Year honors. Southern is the first WAC player to earn Pitcher of the Year honors three-straight years. Fresno State edged out Hawaii with 34 points to Hawaiis 33. Tulsa finished in third with 26 points. Second-year WAC team Nevada finished fourth with 18 points after a strong freshman campaign. Louisiana Tech and San Jose State tied for fifth with 15 points. UTEP, playing its first season of softball, was picked to finish seventh with six points.
NEW ADDITIONS UTEP begins its first year of softball this season. The Miners will be led by co-head coaches Kathleen and James Rodriguez. The team will call the $1.8 million Helen of Troy Softball Complex home.
UTEP is the WACs second new program in as many years. Last season, Nevada began its first season of softball since 1989. The Wolf Pack had a successful first season, placing two on the all-WAC team. The WAC has returned to a seven-team conference after only fielding six teams last season.
SOUTHERN NEARING MILESTONE With 772 career strikeouts, Fresno State junior Jamie Southern needs 228 strikeouts to become just the 19th NCAA Division I player to amass 1,000 career strikeouts. To crack the NCAA Division I career list, she needs 207 to share the No. 30 spot with Rhonda Wheatley (979, Cal Poly Pomona). Still further, Southern is 80 shy of breaking the school and WAC career mark of 851 (Amanda Scott, 1997-2000).
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS The following players have been named to all-tournament teams.
Tyleen Tausaga, UH Paradise Classic
Lori Hoffman, FS Campbell/Cartier
Ashley Aycock, LT Louisiana Classic
Jessica Elson, LT MSU Round Robin
Amber Miles, LT MSU Round Robin
Jessica Guillen, SJSU NMSU Tournament
Courtney Lewis, SJSU NMSU Tournament
*Tournament MVP