PLAYER OF THE WEEK Tulsas Heather Hiar was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week. This is Hiars third honor of the season.
Hiar, a senior from Cypress, Calif., (Cypress), recorded eight hits in 16 at-bats last week, including a 4-for-4 performance against Hawaii. She posted three doubles to set a new school record for doubles in a season with 16. The senior set a new school record for hits in a single season with 68 currently, needing one more hit to tie the career mark of 177. Hiar currently leads the team with a .356 batting average. She recorded a .688 slugging percentage on the week to go along with a .529 on-base percentage. The only blemish for the Golden Hurricane last week was a rain-shortened 1-0 loss to Louisiana Tech. Tulsa
Other player of the week nominees included: Christina Clark, Fresno State; Tracie Uchima, Hawaii; Mary Cohn, Louisiana Tech; Cindy Elkins, Nevada and Jessica Guillen, San Jose State.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK Nevadas Candice Rainwater was named the WAC Pitcher of the Week. This is Rainwaters first career player of the week honor.
Rainwater, a sophomore from Dana Point, Calif., (Dana Hills), got two wins in pitching 21 innings in two games, including a seven inning, five-hit, one-run win on April 22 and a 14-inning, 15-hit, three-run decision on April 24. She also was 6-for-15 as a hitter with two runs scored and two RBI, including the game winning single to score Jamie Waldron in the bottom of the 14th in game one. Nevada is now 7-7 in league play after winning only five WAC games last season. Overall, Nevada has won 32 games, compared to 22 last season.
Other pitcher of the week nominees included: Marla Pinkston, Louisiana Tech; Carol Forbes, San Jose State and Ami Day, Tulsa.
BATTER UP First-place Fresno State resumes WAC play this week on the road against San Jose State and UTEP. The Bulldogs have won four-straight WAC games and hold a 13-1 league record with the only blemish coming against Hawaii. Second-place Tulsa, who is two and a half games out of first, will take the week off. Nevada (7-7) and San Jose State (6-6) will battle for position this week. Third place Louisiana Tech has four games in Honolulu, as the Lady Techsters look to increase their WAC winning streak beyond six games. Hawaii will try to break a three-game WAC losing streak after the Rainbow Wahine dropped three of four games to Nevada last week.
SINGLE-GAME HIGHS The 14-inning marathon between Nevada and Hawaii on April 24 was the longest game of the season. Fresno States Jamie Southern holds the single-game high for strikeouts in a game, striking out 15 twice this season against Texas A&M on Feb. 15 and Campbell on Mar. 8. Offensively, Louisiana Techs Alison White leads the WAC with her seven RBI in a win over Jackson State on Feb. 7. Fresno States Christina Clark leads the league in total bases in a game with 12 against Hawaii on April 10. Clark also set the WAC record with three home runs in a game against the Rainbow Wahine on April 10.
WAC SOFTBALL ON TV College Sports Television has announced its 2004 softball line up and part of its softball package this season will feature Fresno States conference match up against Tulsa on May 8 in Fresno, Calif. CSTV will broadcast the first game of the WAC doubleheader and will re-air the game the next day on DirecTV.
IMPROVEMENTS Nevada has shown dramatic improvement from its rookie season to its sophomore campaign. During the last week of April last season, the Wolf Pack were 3-13 in league play and 20-33 overall. Nevada stood last in the WAC. This season, Nevada is 7-7 in the WAC and 32-24 overall. The Wolf Pack took three of four from the defending WAC Champions, Hawaii.
Tulsa also has improved its WAC record. Last season, the Golden Hurricane were 6-6 in the WAC and 32-23 overall. This season, Tulsa is 11-4 only 2.5 games behind conference leader Fresno State. Overall the Golden Hurricane are 40-16.
SOUTHERN REACHES 1,000 STRIKEOUTS Fresno States Jamie Southern became the 22nd NCAA Division I player to have 1,000 or more career strikeouts. She accomplished the feat in the Bulldogs 3-0 victory over UTEP on April 15. In the first game of the doubleheader, Southern struck out 10 to move her career total to 1,005. Tallying 25 strikeouts in four appearances last week, her career total stands at 1,020, which places her No. 21 all-time in NCAA Division I history. In a 15-day span in the month of April, five current Division I hurlers have reached the 1,000 career strikeout plateau. Southern is the only junior. She and four other senior right-handed pitchers have eclipsed the 1,000 mark.
CLARK BREAKS WAC RECORDS Fresno States Christina Clark hit five home runs against Hawaii, breaking 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 against Hawaii on April 10, she also set a new Fresno State and league record for most home runs (3) in a contest. 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 ten 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.
EXTRA FRAMES Hawaii lost its first extra inning game on April 24 in a 14-inning epic battle with Nevada, 4-3. Hawaii is now 4-1 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 6-4 record. With a 6-5 win against Saint Marys on April 5, San Jose State won its first extra inning game. The Spartans are 2-3.
LEAGUE LEADERS Fresno State All-Americans Christina Clark and Jamie Southern continue to dominate the WAC leader board. Clark, looks to write her name all of the WAC record, as she continues to lead the league in hitting. This week, Clark cracks the . 400 mark, batting .401. She is also the WAC leader in hits (71), runs scored (48), RBI (43), home runs (18) and total bases (139). Southern is the league leader in wins (28), strikeouts (280) and ERA (0.42). Nevadas Jiliane Hartfiel still leads the league in doubles. She is tied with Tulsas Heather Hiar with 16. Hartfiel is still the leader in triples (5). Louisiana Techs Amber Miles leads the WAC in stolen bases with 21 in 23 attempts. As a team, Tulsa leads the WAC in batting average (.287) and team ERA (1.27).
AGAINST THE BEST The WAC is 12-32 against non-conference ranked teams so far this season. 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 0-7 with a loss most recently to No. 7 Louisiana-Lafayette. The Lady Techsters also have losses 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 1-7 with six losses to teams in the top 10, including Stanford, Alabama and California. San Jose States win came against Long Beach State. Tulsa also has a loss to Alabama and a win against Oklahoma.
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 Fresno State junior Jamie Southern owns a three-game hitting streak and is batting .364 (4-for-11) with a run,
three doubles, three RBI and seven total bases for a .636 slugging percentage. Senior Mitzi Ing has batted safely in six of her last seven and is hitting .400 (8-for-20) with a triple, two sacrifices, a walk, 10 total bases and a .500 slugging percentage. Fresno State is trying to capture its seventh WAC title in nine years as well as its 18th conference crown overall. The Bulldogs are looking to make their NCAA record-setting 23rd NCAA Tournament appearance, as well as hoping to host its 19th NCAA Regional (regional site hosts will be announced next Mon., May 3, 12:00 p.m., ET).
Hawaii will look to break a three-game losing streak this week, returning home for a four-game set against third-place Louisiana Tech. The Rainbow Wahine are 7-1 against Louisiana Tech winning all four games in Ruston last year and taking 3-of-4 in Honolulu in 2002. Bulldogs head coach Sarah Dawson is 0-4 against UH. Hawaii head coach Bob Coolen is 7-1 against Louisiana Tech. Rainbow Wahine pitcher Melissa Coogan is 3-1 against the Bulldogs and Shannon Tabion is 2-0. Hawaii dropped three of four games in Reno against Nevada over the weekend. UH won the opener, 9-3, winning its first road game of the spring, scoring six times in the seventh inning. UH lost the next three, including a 14-inning marathon in game three, 4-3. UH batted .270 as a team in the four games led by outfielder Tracie Uchima who was on fire collecting 10 hits in 19 at-bats for a .526 batting average. Other starters who hit well were Tyleen Tausaga (.353), Justina Kahaku (.333), and April Crowell (.312).
Louisiana Tech has won six-straight WAC games, the longest current winning streak in the league. The Lady Techsters have already won as many WAC games then all of last season when they were 6-14 in league play. Louisiana Tech is in third place in the WAC at 6-5 and are batting .260 overall with a staff 2.36 ERA. Individually, the offense is led by Brittany Stanley, Amber Miles, and Bridget Broadnax. Stanley leads the team with a .348 batting average. Miles is hitting .317 and leads the league in stolen bases with 21. Broadnax is among the league leaders, hitting .313.
Nevada won five of its last six games, sweeping UTEP two weeks ago and taking three of four last week from Hawaii. The Pack took three of four from Hawaii in Reno, losing 9-3 and then winning 3-1 Thursday and taking a 4-3 marathon in 14 innings and a 3-0 shutout on April 24. This week, the Wolf Pack will take on UTEP on April 29 in El Paso, Texas, They will also face San Jose State on May 1 on the road. Freshman Jiliane Hartfiel leads the WAC in triples with six and doubles with 16, tied for third in runs scored (33) and third in hits (58), is fourth in stolen bases with 13 (13-16), runs scored with 33 and total bases (89).
San Jose State has won two-straight WAC games after sweeping UTEP. The Spartans improved to 6-6 in the WAC. San Jose State is one win away from tying last seasons WAC win total of eight games, despite the fact that the Spartans have won only 13 games overall. The Spartans are led by junior Carol Forbes who is fifth in the league in innings pitched with 150.1. Forbes is also sixth in ERA (2.00). She has allowed only six home runs this season.
UTEP looks to break a 26-game losing streak and a 16-game WAC losing streak this week. The Miners are looking for their first ever WAC win. The Miners last win was against Marist on March 16, 4-3. This week, UTEP will host Nevada and first-place Fresno State. The Miners are last in the WAC in hitting and pitching in WAC games. UTEP is hitting .196 and have a team ERA of 6.42. Overall, the Miners are hitting .210 with a team ERA of 4.78.
Tulsa is averaging 4.20 runs per game this season in 2002 Tulsa averaged 4.03 runs per game for a school record. The Golden Hurricane is averaging 7.23 hits per game in 2002 TU averaged 6.88 hits per game for a school record. Tulsa broke the school record for home runs in a season against UTEP. Tulsa now has 39 home runs in 2004, last season the Hurricane set the record with 31. The first six years of Tulsa's program (1993-98), the Hurricane only registered 36 homers. The Tulsa pitching staff has broken into the school record books. TU hurlers currently have the program's lowest ERA ever at 1.27, the fewest walks (54) and lowest opponent batting average (.207).
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.
WAC ADDS NEW MEXICO STATE AND UTAH STATE On Oct. 23, 2003, the WAC issued invitations to New Mexico State and Utah State effective July 1, 2005, the same date that Rice, SMU and Tulsa are moving to Conference USA. In softball, Utah State is 7-32 this season. New Mexico State is 9-37. The Aggies have two wins over UTEP and loss to San Jose State.