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.
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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK ?“Hawai'i?™s Kaulana Gould and San Jose State?™s Courtney Lewis have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. This is the first honor this season for both.
Gould, a sophomore from Ewa Beach, Oahu, came up with clutch hits, and she hit her first home run of the season, as the Rainbow Wahine swept Louisiana Tech. In the first game against the Lady Techsters, she went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and a run-scoring double. In game two, she went 2-for-4 with two RBI, two runs scored, and a stolen base. And in the final game of the series, Gould was 3-for-4 with a double, and RBI, and another run scored. Last week, she hit .533 with eight hits, five RBI and four runs scored. She is the starting centerfielder this year, but also has caught several games this year, including game two of the series.
Lewis, a senior from Big Bear City, Calif., went 2-0 on the week with a 0.00 ERA as the Spartans went 2-1 in their first WAC series of the year against New Mexico State. She faced 44 batters in the two games. She struck out 10, walked three and allowed six hits and no runs. Lewis pitched a complete game, four-hit shut out Friday night in a 2-0 victory, second consecutive shut out she pitched this season. The senior struck out eight batters in the victory. She pitched 3.2 innings of relief in game two Saturday to record her second win of the weekend. In that game, she allowed two hits and no runs and struck out two batters in the 5-1 win.
Other hitter of the week nominees included: Haley Perkins of Fresno State hit .600 who had six hits and three RBI in three games … Brittany Lorenzen of Nevada was 4-for-9 with three home runs as the Wolf Pack went 1-4 ... Brittany McConnell of San Jose State tied the school record for RBI in a game with five in game two on Saturday against New Mexico State.
Other pitcher of the week nominees included: Robin Mackin of Fresno State went was 1-1 with a 1.31 ERA with 27 strikeouts … Justine Smethhurst of Hawai'i was 2-1 with two complete games … Jordan McPherson of Nevada struck 17, while pitching in four of the Wolf Pack?™s five games.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN ?“ Week two of WAC play will feature undefeated Hawai'i hosting San Jose State for a three-game set. Utah State will play its first WAC game, hosting defending WAC Champion Fresno State. New Mexico State will host Louisiana Tech. Nevada will host its home tournament, taking a week off of WAC play.
LET THE SUNSHINE ?“ For the second-straight day, Utah State?™s softball home opener has been canceled due to wet weather. The Aggies were supposed to play at home on Tuesday against Harvard, but rain prevented the teams from playing. Wednesday?™s game against Utah has also been canceled due to rain. Weather has been a malady all season in the WAC with harsh weather hitting both California, Hawaii and Louisiana. Cold weather has threatened games in Nevada.
CLARK RE-WRITING RECORD BOOKS ?“ Fresno State All-American shortstop Christina Clark continues to climb up the school?™s, the WAC?™s and the NCAA?™s career charts. Clark was intentionally walked for the sixth time on the season in the Bulldogs?™ 2-1 win over Nevada. That intentional pass was the 13th of her career, which ranks No. 12 all-time in NCAA Division I history. In addition, Clark now ranks No. 20 all-time in NCAA Division I history for career runs (203), surpassing Arizona?™s Laura Espinoza (1992-95), after scoring two runs last week. While becoming the school?™s and the WAC?™s career leader in total bases two weeks ago, Clark notched a triple last week to now shares the sixth spot in the WAC?™s all-time annals and the seventh spot in school history.
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.
Fresno State Bulldogs (20-13, 2-1 WAC)
Fresno State is 20-13 on the season and has won 10 of its last 14 … with a 6-1 victory over Nevada to start league play, the Bulldogs improved to 24-5 in conference openers, 27-2 in league openers at home, 18-3 in conference openers under head coach Margie Wright, 20-1 in league openers at home, 13-1 in WAC openers overall and under Wright and 11-1 in WAC home openers overall and under Wright … With the 2-1 loss to Nevada in the series finale, the Bulldogs had their 15-game WAC win streak halted ... they also suffered their first loss on the season at home.
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (19-13, 3-0 WAC)
Hawai'i defeated Grambling State 25-0 in five innings, in the first games of a doubleheader ... Justine Smethurst and Jessica Morton combined for a perfect game ... the Rainbow Wahine set several school records with the win, including most hits, most runs scored, and most RBI ... Clare Warwick led UH by going 3-for-3 with four runs scored, five RBI, a double, and a home run ... Smethurst, who threw a perfect game against Longwood last week, started the game, threw 3.0 innings and retired the first nine batters she faced, four of them on strike outs.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (7-17, 0-3 WAC)
The Lady Techsters look to break an eight-game losing streak this week on the road against UT-Arlington and New Mexico State ... Louisiana Tech is 2-0 in shutouts this season ... Regan Clark leads the Lady Techsters in multiple-hit games ... she has four four-hit games and also has six multiple-RBI games ... Emma Barnes and Rochelle Sandberg have five multiple-hit games ... Barnes also has four multiple-RBI games.
Nevada Wolf Pack (12-21, 1-2 WAC)
Nevada had its doubleheader cancelled with Sacramento State ... Nevada will remain home through the week as it hosts its own tournament this weekend ... the Wolf Pack begins play on Friday, March 31 taking on Utah Valley State at 12 p.m. and Portland State at 2:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Pack plays North Texas at 12 p.m. and St. Mary?™s at 2:30 p.m. ... Candice Rainwater is tied for third in the league in doubles with seven ... Brittany Lorenzen is tied for second in home runs with six ... sophomore Jordan McPherson is third in strikeouts with 113 in just over 126 innings.
New Mexico State (18-13, 1-2 WAC)
The 17-11 record is the best non-conference mark recorded by the program since going 19-4 in 1998 ... NMSU looks to add to its WAC win total hosting Louisiana tech this week ... the Aggies lost two of the three against San Jose State last week ... New Mexico State has had some hot hitters ... Ashley Roszkos is first in the league in runs batted in with 25 ... she is also tied for third in total bases with 52 ... the Aggies are hitting .277 this season.
San Jose State Spartans (13-17, 2-1 WAC)
San Jose State is off to a solid start winning two of its first three games in league play ... the Spartans welcomed New Mexico State to the WAC by winning two of the first three WAC games ... Courtney Lewis is 4-4 this season ... Brittany McConnell is third in the WAC in RBI with 22 ... McConnell is also second in doubles (8) ... Lewis has been a force at the plate too ... Lewis is tied for first in the WAC in triples ... Lewis is also tied for third in the league in total bases with 52.
Utah State Aggies (4-19, 0-0 WAC)
The Aggies look to actually get a game in after several rain outs ... Utah State will play its first WAC game this week hosting WAC Champion, Fresno State ... the Bulldogs are 2-1 in league plays so far this season ... Amy Schaible currently ranks 11th in the WAC in batting average at .328, and fourth in triples with three... Heather Straight has the 13th-best ERA in the conference at 4.31 as well as ranking ninth in strike outs per game with 5.25... Sara Fleming has been hit by a pitch six times this season which is second most in the conference, she also averages 0.22 doubles per game which is fifth-best.