Hawai'i head coach Bob Coolen is currently one win away from earning his 600th career win. Coolen, who had 72 wins as the head coach at Bentley, has ammassed 527 wins at UH. He is currently in his 15th year at the helm of the Hawai`i program, and has a 527-342-1 record. Overall, he is presently 599-435-1.
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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK ?“ Fresno State?™s Christina Clark and Robin Mackin have been named the Western Athletic Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. This is Clark?™s first honor of the season, while Mackin has now earned three pitcher of the week honors.
Clark, a senior from Santa Ana, Calif., led the Bulldogs offensively last week as she batted a team-high .625 (10-for-16) with 11 runs, a triple, two home runs. She added five RBI and a team-best 11 total bases for a 1.125 slugging percentage. In the doubleheader versus St. Francis, she hit .600 (6-for-10) with five runs, three RBI, a home run, a walk and 1-1 in stolen bases. In the Bulldog Classic, she hit .444 (4-for-9) with a team-high six runs, a triple, a home run, two RBI, three walks and nine total bases for a 1.0000 slugging percentage. With three multiple-hit games, Clark has raised her season batting average to .420. Clark has a current six-game hitting streak and is batting .579 (11-19) with 13 runs, a triple, two home runs, five walks.
Mackin, a freshman from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada went 3-0 last week with two shutouts, a no-hitter and 34 strikeouts (14.0 strikeouts per 7/IP). She gave up just three hits, she posted a 0.00 ERA. Last week, Mackin notched her second no-hitter in a one week period. After no-hitting San Diego State on March 4, she had another no-hitter against Ball State six days later. Last week, she recorded wins over St. Francis, No. 22 DePaul and Ball State. Mackin tossed a one-hitter versus St. Francis and a two-hitter versus DePaul. At the Bulldog Classic, she allowed just two hits, two runs (none earned) and struck out 22 (12.8 strikeouts per 7/IP) in 12.0 innings for a 0.00 ERA. In her last five starts, she has tallied three shutouts and has three 10-strikeout games while allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits with 50 strikeouts
Other player of the week nominees included: Clare Warwick of Hawai'i hit .588 with 10 hits and six RBI in five games … Regan Clark of Louisiana Tech hit .300 in three games for the Lady Techsters.
Other pitcher of the week nominees included: Paula Banning of Hawai'i went 1-0 with a 0.00 … Kristin Rupp of Louisiana Tech pitcher four scoreless innings against 10th-ranked UL-Lafayette.
SWINGING IN THE RAIN ?“ The Fresno State softball team lost its fourth and fifth straight game to Mother Nature as rain has cancelled tonight?™s non-conference doubleheader against Southern Utah. Winners of six straight and ranked No. 23 in today?™s ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll, the Bulldogs will resume action in Southern California on Thursday when they participate in the Judi Garman Classic. San Jose State also lost a doubleheader against Colorado State. Hawai'i has become quite familiar with its tarp as it has had a large part of its last two tournaments washed away by the weather.
FRESNO STATE TRAVELS TO TOURNAMENT ?“ With some of the nation?™s top softball programs traveling to Southern California this week, the 2006 Judi Garman Softball Classic presented by Coach USA is a 16-team tournament field. There are nine top 25 teams participating in this year?™s tournament: No. 1 Arizona, No. 2 Texas, No. 6 Alabama, No. 9 Michigan, No. 10 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 11 Arizona State, No. 14 Oklahoma, No. 17 Washington and No. 20 Texas A&M.
FIRST TIME IS A CHARM ?“ The Aggies are scheduled to compete against four teams for the first time in 2006 as USU will face Illinois, San Diego and Miami (OH) in its early season tournaments, before hosting Harvard in its home opener on Mar. 28. The Aggies lost their first game 8-1 against Illinois in the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic Feb. 18 as well as dropping their first meeting with San Diego 2-1 on Feb. 24.
FRESNO STATE PICKED TO WIN 2006 WAC TITLE ?“ The Western Athletic Conference softball coaches selected Fresno State to win the 2006 WAC regular season crown. Fresno State has been picked to take the preseason crown 10 out of the last 11 years. In 2002, Hawai'i was chosen to win the title. The coaches also voted on 2006 preseason award winners. Fresno State swept both categories when shortstop Christina Clark was voted preseason Player of the Year and Robin Mackin earned preseason Pitcher of the Year honors. This is Clark?™s third-straight Preseason Player of the Year honor. This is the first Preseason Pitcher of the Year honor for Mackin.
FRESHMAN MAKES NATIONAL SENSATION ?“ After helping the Canada Elite Team to a third place finish at the 2005 Canada Cup and Team Canada qualify for the 2006 World Championship as well as the 2007 Pan American Games, freshman pitcher Robin Mackin was selected the Canada National Team. She was selected to the national team in January.
Fresno State Bulldogs (16-9, 0-0 WAC)
Freshman pitcher/designated player Merryann Barr was named to the 2006 Bulldog Classic All-Tournament Team ... Barr batted a team-high .700 (7-10) with three runs, a double, a walk and eight total bases for an .800 slugging percentage ... in the circle, she went 1-0 with a two-hitter and four strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work in Fresno State?™s run-rule victory over San Diego ... Fresno State is 16-9 on the season and has won six straight and 12 of its last 16 … against St. Francis, the Bulldogs had season-highs in runs (15), hits (19) and total bases (27).
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (12-10, 0-0 WAC)
The Rainbow Wahine host their last tournament, the Bank of Hawaii Invitational, this weekend ... Hawai'i will battle Kansas, Longwood, No. 16 Northwestern, and San Diego State in the tournament that runs from March 16-19 at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium ... the Rainbow Wahine are coming off the Hawaiian Airlines Spring Fling Tournament, in which several players played well ... the team won three games and loss two tough games to UC Santa Barbara and Penn State ... junior first baseman Tyleen Tausaga hit .375 for the tournament, and on the season, she?™s hitting .371 to lead the Hawai'i squad.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (7-12, 0-0 WAC)
The Lady Techsters will continue their five-game home stretch with Northwestern State on March 15 at the Lady Techster Softball Complex ... Louisiana Tech is led by sophomore catcher Regan Clark (.356, 3 2B, 2 HR, 16 RBI, 8 BB) ... sophomore second baseman Rochelle Sandberg (.339, 2 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 2 BB) and freshman outfielder Emma Barnes (.338, 4 2B, 4 3B, 10 RBI, 7 BB) are also among the Lady Techster leaders.
Nevada Wolf Pack (10-14, 0-0 WAC)
Nevada is fourth in the league in pitching with a 3.54 ERA ... Jordan McPherson is third in strikeouts with 76 in 87.2 innings pitched ... McPherson is 5-7 in 18 appearances ... Katie Stith has had the longest hitting streak this season at six games ... Kimberly Silagyi has the most multiple-hit games with seven ... the Wolf Pack have three players with games with five or more RBI, Brittany Puzey, Candice Rainwater and Sarah Hull.
New Mexico State (17-9, 0-0 WAC)
Pitcher Sarah Seagraves is two wins and four strikeouts away from tying for fifth place on the NMSU all-time lists in those categories ... Mailei Hilva needs two more putouts to tie Breana Bohls for fifth place on the program career list ... New Mexico State closes non-conference play with a pair of doubleheaders Monday and Tuesday at North Texas and Texas-Arlington, respectively. First pitch at former Sun Belt rival UNT is scheduled for 4 p.m. Central (3 p.m. Mountain).
San Jose State Spartans (10-15, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State?™s Courtney Lewis is tied for first in the WAC in triples with four ... Lewis is also tied for first in doubles (7) and second in hitting (.372) behind Fresno State?™s Christina Clark (.420) ... Lewis has 44 total bases so far this season ... the Spartans had a doubleheader with Colorado State rained out on Tuesday, March 14 ... after playing North Dakota State on March 15, the Spartans take the rest of the weekend off before starting WAC play against New Mexico State.
Utah State Aggies (2-14, 0-0 WAC)
Utah State will play its first game in 17 days as the Aggies were scheduled to play in the Colorado State Spring Tournament on March 4-5, which was cancelled ... the Aggies will continue the 2006 season as they travel to Sacramento, Calif., to play a doubleheader against Wisconsin on March 15, before playing in the Sacramento State Capital Classic on March 17-19 ... USU is coming off a 0-4 performance at the San Diego Invitational on Feb 25-26 as it lost to San Diego (6-7), Nevada (2-8), and twice to UC Riverside (0-8, 4-5) with its lone win being a 7-6 upset against 18th-ranked Oregon on Friday... sophomore Amy Schaible currently has a five game hitting streak where she has a .562 batting average.