After almost 200 non-conference games, the Western Athletic Conference season begins this week. The Aggies, New Mexico State and Utah State, will play their first WAC games. Fresno State is the defending WAC Champion, having won nine of the last softball titles. The WAC Softball Tournament also returns this season. The last tournament was won by Fresno State in 1999. The winner of the tournament will receive the WAC?™s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK ?“ Fresno State?™s Nichole Willis and Hawai'i?™s Justine Smethhurst have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. This is the first honor this season for both.
Willis, a sophomore from Clovis, Calif., had the timely hits for the Bulldogs at the Judi Garman Softball Classic last week in Fullerton, Calif. Batting .313 (5-for-16), she had two multi hit games, including a 2-4 performance with double and a RBI against No. 6 Alabama and a 2-3 outing with a run, a home run and four RBI versus UNLV. Her game against the Rebels lifted the Bulldogs into the consolation semifinals against No. 11 Arizona State. In the first game of pool play, Willis put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard with a RBI single versus the Tide. In the quarterfinals of consolation against UNLV, she hit a three-run home run.
Smethurst, a freshman from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia fired a perfect game against Longwood University. It was her first career shut-out or perfect game. She struck out six while facing the minimum 21 batters. In her second appearance of the tournament, she held the Kansas Jayhawks scoreless for 3.2 innings before giving up a home run. She ended up throwing 4.1 innings, giving up three runs on six hits with two strike outs.
Other player of the week nominees included: Kaulana Gould of Hawai'i hit .300 with three hits and two RBI in four games … Danielle Eakins of San Jose State hit .500 in two games for the Spartans ... Jessica Garnett of Utah State hit .235 with three RBI at the Capital Classic.
Other pitcher of the week nominees included: Robin Mackin of Fresno State went 2-2 with a 1.96 ERA with two shutouts and 35 strikeouts … Jordan McPherson of Nevada threw eight innings in the Wolf Pack?™s extra-inning win over Jacksonville ... Courtney Lewis of San Jose State pitched a complete-game shutout against North Dakota State … Heather Straight of Utah State was named to the Capital Classic all-tournament team after going 2-1 in three starts.
RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ?“ Rain continues to fall on the WAC non-conference season. Louisiana Tech lost several games last week to poor conditions in Louisiana. Hawai'i lost a day of play at the Bank of Hawai'i Invitational Tournament. Both Fresno State and San Jose State lost games last week as well. The WAC looks for an outlook of clear skies as the conference season begins.
DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY ?“ The 2006 season marks the 30th year of Utah State softball. The first Aggies team took the field in 1976 and finished with a 14-11 record. This season also marks the 25th anniversary of the Utah State 1981 AIAW National Championship team that went 34-12 and defeated Cal State Fullerton in the championship game.
CLARK SET MORE RECORDS ?“ Fresno State?™s Christina Clark set a new all-time total base record for Fresno State and the WAC. She eclipsed the 500 career total base plateau, making her the school?™s and the WAC?™s all-time career leader with 501, against UNLV after going 3-4 with a run, a double and two RBI to surpass Berg (500). Clark is only the second player in school and WAC history to amass 500 or more career total bases. Sharing team-high honors with 10 multiple hit games this season, Clark has tallied 60 total bases this year and is looking to be the second Bulldog to notch four consecutive 100-total base seasons.
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 to the Canada National Team. She was selected to the national team in January.
VOTE NOW ?“ The 25th Anniversary of NCAA Women?™s Championships will be celebrated throughout the 2005-06 championship season. Division I Women?™s Softball began in 1981 and will be celebrating its 25th Anniversary at the 2006 championship. To commemorate this milestone a 25th Anniversary Team consisting of 10 student athletes and 1 coach (coaches are denoted by an asterisk "*") will be named with your help. Please use the arrow buttons below to vote for 10 student athletes and 1 coach. The team will be announced in May. Several Fresno State players are on the ballot, including Nina Lindenberg, Amanda Scott, Julie Smith and head coach Margie Wright. Go to http://www.ncaasports.com/softball/womens/fanpolls to vote.
Fresno State Bulldogs (18-12, 0-0 WAC)
The Bulldogs enter the 2006 conference season with a 13-game league win streak ... as the league?™s preseason favorite, Fresno State owns a 13-year WAC record of 250-56 (.817) ... winning eight WAC titles since 1996 and five in the last six years, the Bulldogs are 23-5 in conference openers, 26-2 in league openers at home, 17-3 in conference openers under head coach Margie Wright, 19-1 in league openers at home, 12-1 in WAC openers overall and under Wright and 10-1 in WAC home openers overall and under Wright.
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (14-13, 0-0 WAC)
The Rainbow Wahine hit the road for their first conference games of the season ... they will travel to Ruston, La., to face Louisiana Tech in a three game series ... UH will also face Grambling State in a non-conference double header ... freshman Justine Smethurst (6-7) will help lead Hawai'i into its first away games of the season ... Hawai'i leads the all-time series record against the Lady Techsters, 12-3, with UH winning the last four games ... Tyleen Tausaga continues to lead the team with a batting average of .342 ... she also has team-highs in hits (26); doubles (4 - tied with Warwick); home runs (5); and RBI (17).
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (7-13, 0-0 WAC)
The Lady Techsters will travel to Louisiana-Monroe tomorrow to face the Lady Indians, in hopes of picking up a win and momentum before opening up with conference this weekend ... Louisiana Tech won its last outing against ULM (15-15) with a score of 13-7 on February 28 thanks to a 10-hit performance, including two home runs by junior outfielder Ashley Cameron ... but since then, the team has struggled for wins ... the Lady Techsters doubleheader with SE Louisiana has been moved to April 12.
Nevada Wolf Pack (10-14, 0-0 WAC)
Nevada is fifth in the league in pitching with a 3.98 ERA ... Jordan McPherson is third in strikeouts with 97 in 108.0 innings pitched ... McPherson is 6-9 in 22 appearances ... Candice Rainwater is tied for second in doubles with seven ... Brittany Puzey is second in the league in RBI with 22 behind New Mexico State?™s Ashley Roszkos ... the Wolf Pack look to break a five-game losing streak when they travel to WAC Champion Fresno State this weekend.
New Mexico State (17-11, 0-0 WAC)
The 17-11 record is the best non-conference mark recorded by the program since going 19-4 in 1998 ... NMSU now turns its attention to WAC play, which begins Friday at the NMSU Softball Complex against San Jose State ... the Aggies had doubleheaders against North Texas and UT-Arlington cancelled due to inclement weather in Texas ... New Mexico State is 7-1 when scoring eight or more runs this season ... the Aggies are also 13-1 when leading after six innings ... Ashley Roszkos has seven multiple RBI games.
San Jose State Spartans (11-16, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State?™s Courtney Lewis is fourth in the WAC in batting average, hitting .361 ... the Spartans are 6-1 when scoring six or more runs in a game ... Lewis is first for the Spartans in multiple hit games with eight, including two four-hit games ... she also has one multiple RBI game ... San Jose State opens WAC play on the road in Las Cruces, N.M., in a three-game set with New Mexico State ... the Spartans are the Aggies first WAC opponent.
Utah State Aggies (4-18, 0-0 WAC)
After playing its first 22 games out of state, Utah State will play its next 10 games in the state of Utah as the Aggies return to action on March 24 when they take on Harvard in Salt Lake City, Utah, followed by a game against Utah on March 26 ... the Aggies will then open its home schedule on March 28 with a doubleheader against Harvard and will play its next six games in Logan ... USU is coming off a 2-5 performance from a week ago, including a 1-3 showing at the Sacramento State Capital Classic.