PLAYER OF THE WEEK Fresno States Christina Clark was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week. This is Clarks fourth honor of the season and second-straight.
Clark, a sophomore from Santa Ana, Calif., (Mater Dei), had a record-breaking week, as the Bulldogs went 3-1 against Hawaii on the island. Clark batted 7-for-14 (.500) with five home runs and 22 total bases for a 1.571 slugging percentage. On the first day, the shortstop hit two home runs in the first game, going 2-for-4 in the 7-0 win. In the night cap she added two more RBI.
On the second day, Clark set a WAC record with three home runs in the opener. In the 5-2 win over the Rainbow Wahine, Clark hit three home runs to break the WAC record which was two held by several players, most recently Nevadas Lindsey Hall and Fresno States Lori Hoffman in 2003. With the five home runs in four games, Clark broke the WAC record for home runs in a season with 18. Hawaiis Stacey Porter held the record with 17 in 2003.
Other player of the week nominees included: Mary Cohn, Louisiana Tech and Julie Shafer, Tulsa.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK Tulsas Maren Genow was named the WAC Pitcher of the Week. This is Genows first of honor of the season.
Genow a sophomore from Moore, Okla., (Moore) threw three complete game shutouts. She also pitched a 2-0 shutout against No. 13 Oklahoma. Genow had a 0.00 ERA, allowing only nine hits and one walk. With 17 strikeouts last week, Genow now has 239 strikeouts on her career. This season, the sophomore has 112. She is fourth on the Tulsa all-time chart. She is currently riding a 19.0 scoreless inning streak. In her last 45 innings, Genow has given up only one earned run (three total). She has 16 wins this season. She needs only four more to tie the school record for wins in a season. The Golden Hurricane are now second in the WAC with a 7-3 record.
Other pitcher of the week nominees included: Jaime Southern, Fresno State and Paula Blanning, Hawaii.
BATTER UP This week, second and third place will meet, as third-place Hawaii will play its first road WAC games of the season. The Rainbow Wahine will travel to second-place Tulsa for an unusual Sunday-Monday four-game set. Last season, the Golden Hurricane lost four-straight games on the road to the Rainbow Wahine. First-place Fresno State, winners of 11 of its last 12 games, will be at home for the only two doubleheaders this month. The Bulldogs host San Jose State and UTEP this week, looking to extend its two-game lead over Tulsa. San Jose State has lost four-straight, while the Miners have lost 20-straight.
CLARK BREAKS WAC RECORDS Fresno State sophomore Christina Clark hit five home runs against Hawaii, breaking the school's and WAC's single-season home run mark (18) after tying Fresno State's season home run record a year ago with 15. She is also the quickest player to hit 16 home runs in a season, 48 games.
Hitting three long balls in the Bulldogs' game one 5-2 win over the Rainbow Wahine on April 10, she also set a new Fresno State and league record for most home runs (3) in a contest. The old school record was two by Nina Lindenberg, who hit two in a game four different times in 1997. The old WAC mark was two by several different players, most recently in 2003 (Nevada's Lindsey Hall and Fresno State's Lori Hoffman).
SOUTHERN AND CLARK FINALISTS Fresno States Jamie Southern and Christina Clark were both named to the Amateur Softball Association's Top 25 finalist list for the Collegiate Player of the Year award. Sophomore All-America Clark and junior All-America Southern were two of 25 who made the first cut of the season.
After entering the season on the ASA's initial Top 40 watch list, this award is considered the Heisman Trophy in women's collegiate softball and is the only national player of the year award. The Top 25 list of players currently represents 18 colleges and six different Conferences.
The list will be reduced to 10 players on April 28 and three finalists will be announced on May 11. The winner of the 2004 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be announced May 26 at the opening ceremonies of the NCAA College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Southern was a final three finalist as a freshman in 2002.
CLARK NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK Posting a record high five home runs over the weekend, USA Softball announced today Christina Clark as the Player of the Week for April 5-11. The offense of the sophomore led the Bulldogs to a 3-1 record at Hawaii while padding Fresno State's first-place lead in WAC play.
Batting .500 (7-14) with seven runs, five home runs, two walks, seven RBI and 22 total bases for a 1.571 slugging percentage, she established five single-game and/or single-season records last weekend in Honolulu.
SOUTHERN NEARING 1,000 Jamie Southern is 26 strikeouts shy of being the 20th NCAA Division I player to post 1,000 career strikeouts. With 234 strikeouts to date, she is averaging nearly nine strikeouts per seven innings (8.62) this season. Southern would become the first Bulldog pitcher and WAC hurler to go down in NCAA Division I history as one of the top strikeout leaders of all-time as well as being the first Fresno State and WAC pitcher to amass 1,000 career strikeouts.
TULSA EXPLODES AGAINST MINERS Tulsa broke an 11-game road losing streak during conference play on April 8 with a sweep of UTEP in El Paso, Texas. The wins also snapped a three-game WAC losing streak this season for the Golden Hurricane. The Hurricane missed tying the WAC record for home runs in a game by one, as Utah hit five out against New Mexico in the 1995 season. Tulsa went on to hit seven home runs in the doubleheader. Kelly Miller and Stephanie Sliepen hit home runs in both games. Miller is among the league leaders in WAC games with eight runs scored and nine RBI.
EXTRA FRAMES Hawaii is the only school in the WAC to be undefeated in extra inning games. Hawaii is a perfect 4-0 in extra frames this season. The Rainbow Wahine defeated Wisconsin 7-5 in nine innings on Feb. 14, then turned around the next day and beat No. 13 DePaul, 8-7, in eight innings. Both of those games were a part of the Rebel Classic at UNLV. The last two extra-inning wins came against the College of Charleston in the Kipa Aloha Malihini Tournament. UH won 5-4 March 4 and 3-2 March 7 as both games went eight innings.
Tulsa is the only school to have not played an extra inning game this season. Nevada is the only other WAC school to have a winning record in extra inning games with a 3-2 record. With a 6-5 win against Saint Marys on April 5, San Jose State won its first extra inning game. The Spartans are 1-3.
LEAGUE LEADERS Fresno State All-Americans Christina Clark and Jamie Southern dominate the WAC leader board. Clark, has showed no sign of the dreaded sophomore slump, as she continues to lead the league in hitting with a .395 batting average, increasing from .385 last week. She is also the WAC leader in hits (62), runs scored (43), RBI (42), home runs (18) and total bases (127). Southern is the league leader in wins (25), strikeouts (255) and ERA (0.33). Nevadas Jiliane Hartfiel still leads the league in doubles (16) and triples (5). Louisiana Techs Amber Miles leads the WAC in stolen bases with 16 in 17 attempts. As a team, Tulsa leads the WAC in batting average (.284) and team ERA (1.28).
AGAINST THE BEST The WAC is 11-30 against ranked teams so far this season. Last week, the WAC lost four games to No. 12 Stanford alone. Hawaii is 2-6 against ranked teams. Hawaii has two wins with wins against Oregon State and DePaul. The Rainbow Wahine also have a losses to Tennessee, No. 4 California and most recently two road games to the Cardinal. Fresno State is 8-7 against ranked teams with its most recent wins coming against No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 13 Pacific. The Bulldogs also have wins against South Carolina, Arizona State and Texas to name a few. Fresno State has losses against No. 2 UCLA, No. 1 Arizona, No. 4 Florida State and No. 12 Stanford. Louisiana Tech is 0-5 with a loss to then-No. 12 Louisiana-Lafayette and another instate rival No. 13 LSU. The Lady Techsters also lost twice to Tennessee. Nevada lost to both No. 3 Arizona and No. 23 Arizona State. The Wolf Pack have also lost a pair of games to Louisiana-Lafayette. 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. Tulsa also has a loss to Alabama. UTEP has lost to UCLA, Georgia Tech and No. 13 Tennessee. The Golden Hurricane earned a home win against No. 13 Oklahoma on April 5.
ON THE BASEPATHS All-American Jamie Southern is five strikeouts shy of becoming the 20th NCAA Division I player to tally 1,000 career strikeouts. She is ranked 20th all-time in NCAA Division I history with 995 strikeouts. She is the first WAC pitcher to eclipse the 900 career strikeout plateau when she struck out 13 Long
Island Blackbirds on March 16. Southern entered the year with 740 career strikeouts and has a current season total of 255. Looking to post her third-straight 300-strikeout season and be the first Bulldog and WAC pitcher to accomplish that feat. Southern would also become the first WAC hurler to amass 1,000 career strikeouts.
Hawaii makes its first WAC road trip of the spring next week heading to both Tulsa and Nevada for eight games in seven days. With All-American Stacey Porter playing with the Australian national team, the Rainbow Wahine have had to turn to other players for offensive support. Freshman Tyleen Tausaga has also provided a big offensive boost. Tausaga is tied for second in the WAC in RBI with 32, just 10 behind Porters team-high last season. Junior Stacey Ritter has four home runs this season, while sophomore Ashley Ruff has five. Junior Denise Dahlberg has six home runs and a slugging percentage of .489, fifth-best in the league.
Louisiana Tech holds the season-high for runs scored so far this season with 30 against Jackson State on Feb. 6. The Lady Techsters and Miners combined for 63 at bats on April 10, tying Tulsa and San Jose State who also had 63 on the same date. Louisiana Tech was just short of the WAC record for stolen bases in league games with five against UTEP on April 10. Louisiana Tech had five against the Miners.
Nevada returns to WAC action this week. After being swept by Sacramento State last week, the Wolf Pack look to break a three-game losing streak at home against San Jose State and UTEP. The Wolf Pack won one of four against the Spartans last season and will face the Miners for the first time. Freshman Jiliane Hartfiel has had a solid rookie campaign. Hartfiel leads the league with five triples and is fifth in RBI with 30. She also has 50 hits, two less that Stacy Muellers team-leading 52 of last season.
San Jose State looks to break a four-game losing streak on the road this week. The Spartans have shorter trips this week, traveling to Reno to take on Nevada on April 15 and to Fresno to take on the Bulldogs on April 17. The Spartans had won three in a row before losing doubleheaders to Louisiana Tech and Tulsa at home. In WAC games, Elisa Barrios is tied for third in stolen bases with three in as many attempts.
UTEP looks to break a 20-game losing streak and a 10-game WAC losing streak this week. The Miners are looking for their first ever WAC win. This week, the Miners take to the road and will face Nevada and first place Fresno State. Overall, UTEP is sixth in the league in batting average (.204) and seventh in ERA (4.91). In WAC games, the Miners are also sixth in batting average (.212) and seventh in ERA (8.11). In league games, UTEP has scored only 17 runs in 10 games, while allowing 71.
Tulsa outscored its opponents 30-4 last week. The Golden Hurricane pitching staff allowed only four runs in five games for a 0.88 ERA, including three shutouts. Tulsa posted a .338 batting average with six starters hitting over .300. Tulsa is averaging 4.37 runs per game. In 2002, Tulsa averaged 4.03 runs per game for a school record.
The Hurricane is averaging 7.24 hits per game. In 2002, Tulsa averaged 6.88 hits per game for a school record. Tulsa broke the school record for home runs in a season against UTEP. TU now has 35 homers in 2004, last season the Hurricane set the record with 31. Sophomore Katie Torres has tied the school record for home runs in a season and a career, with 12 and 19, respectively.
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.