PLAYERS OF THE WEEK ?“ San Jose State?™s Mandy Winkley and Hawai'i?™s Kate Robinson have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. This is the first honor this season for both players.
Winkley, a freshman from Fremont, Calif., was 6-for-7 at the plate with two runs scored, two RBI, a double and a home run, as the Spartans won two of three games from Louisiana Tech. She hit .857 with a 1.429 slugging percentage and a .857 on-base percentage. The catcher/outfielder led the Spartans to victory in Saturday?™s game against the Lady Techsters with a two-run home run to left center field in the bottom of the seventh inning to give San Jose State a 7-6 victory. The Spartans were down 5-1 after four innings and rallied to take the series from Louisiana Tech. She had two hits in each game against Louisiana Tech. For the season, Winkley is hitting. 300.
Robinson, a sophomore from Honolulu, pitched a perfect game against New Mexico State in her first start of the year. The Rainbow Wahine stopped the Aggies 8-0 in six innings. Robinson, who had only appeared as a reliever this season, struck out a career-high 14 Aggies, including the last six of the game. It was her first no-hitter/perfect game. The six innings matched her career high of innings pitched. The 14 strikeouts was one short of tying Brooke Wilkins?™ record of 15 which was set in 1994. It is the third perfect game thrown by the Hawai'i itching staff this season. The Rainbow Wahine are now 7-1 in the WAC with a 1.5 game lead over Fresno State
Other hitter of the week nominees included: Valana Manuma of Hawai'i hit .455 with five hits and two RBI as the Rainbow Wahine won two games against New Mexico State … Sarah Hunt of Nevada hit .314 as the Wolf Pack swept Utah State at home ... Sara Fleming of Utah State hit .308 with four hits and two RBI against BYU and Nevada.
Other pitcher of the week nominees included: Jordan McPherson of Nevada went 2-0 against the Aggies with a 1.00 ERA … Courtney Lewis of San Jose State was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA with a one-hit complete game shut out against the Lady Techsters.
ON DECK ?“ Week four of the WAC season will see first-place Hawai'i taking a week off. San Jose State will host Nevada in a three game series. Second-place Fresno State will host New Mexico State, which is currently in fourth place. Utah State will look for its first WAC win on the road against Louisiana Tech.
PERFECT PITCHING ?“ In her first start of the year, Hawai'i?™s Kate Robinson threw a perfect game against New Mexico State in a 8-0 win last week. Robinson, who had only appeared as a reliever thus far this season, struck out a career-high 14 Aggies, including the last six of the game. For Robinson it was a career game. It was her first no-hitter/perfect game and the six innings matched her career high of innings pitched. The 14 strike outs was one short of tying Brooke Wilkins?™ record of 15 which was set in 1994. The total though did tie Paula Blanning?™s effort against Detroit Mercy earlier this season. It was the third perfect game thrown by the Hawai'i pitching staff this season. The first came in a 6-0 win over Longwood by Justine Smethurst on May 16th. The second was a combined, five-inning effort that saw Smethurst and Jessica Morton shut-out Grambling State, 25-0 on May 27 in Louisiana. Catcher Kristi Yoshizawa has caught and called all but one inning of all three perfect games.
UTAH STATE SHOWING SOME POWER ?“ Three Aggies went deep in the 11-7 win over Brigham Young last Tuesday as senior Sara Fleming hit her third home run in five games, senior Quela Leonhardt hit her second home run of the season, and senior Amanda Carver went deep for the first time this year. Sophomore Amy Schaible also connected on her first home run last week as she hit a solo-shot against Nevada on Saturday... Fleming?™s home run was the 18th of her career, which tied her with Jennifer Power (1991-94) for second-most in Utah State history. Fleming now trails Sandy Taylor (1997-00) by six home runs for the all-time lead in Aggie history. Fleming also doubled against BYU last week and is now tied with teammate Leonhardt for the second-most doubles in Utah State historry.
BY THE NUMBERS ?“ Hawai'i is 6-2 in one-run games. The Rainbow Wahine are also an impressive 11-4 in games where they have a five-run lead. Hawai'i is outscoring its opponents 189-98. New Mexico State is one of three teams to not have played an extra inning game this season along with Louisiana Tech and San Jose State. Utah State has yet to shutout a team this season. The Aggies are 0-12 in games where there was a shutout. New Mexico State has a great 10-2 record in one-run games. The Aggies are 0-6 in two-run games this season.
ANOTHER BULLDOG ACE ?“ Fresno State All-American Jamie Southern may have graduated, but the Bulldogs still have an ace in the circle. Freshman Robin Mackin has continued the Fresno State tradition of solid pitching. While she needs 10 more strikeouts to become just the third Bulldog to tally 300 or more strikeouts in a season at Fresno State, Mackin already has set the sixth-best single season strikeout mark (290), while recording a pair of no-hitters and setting a new single-game strikeout mark (17) this season. Mackin is 20-8 overall with 14 10-strikeout games.
LEADERS OF THE WAC ?“ In WAC games, Hawai'i?™s Justine Smethurst and San Jose State?™s Courtney Lewis are first in the league in wins with four. Smethurst is second in strikeouts (36) behind fellow freshman Robin Mackin of Fresno State (47). In WAC games, Nevada?™s Sarah Hunt is leading the WAC in hitting (.533). Hawai'i?™s Valana Manum is first in hits with 13.
In overall games, Mackin leads the league in strikeouts with 290 compared to Nevada?™s Jordan McPerhson who has 142. Mackin is first 20-game winner in the league with a 20-8 record with a 1.43 ERA. At the plate, reigning WAC Player of the Year, Christina Clark, leads the league in hitting (.423). Clark is also first in hits (47) and runs scored (38).
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 (26-13, 4-1 WAC)
This season, nine games have been lost to Mother Nature ... counting this season and last season, 20 total games have been cancelled due to weather ... while 2005 has seen the most rain outs (11) in the last seven years, the last time a season was played with no inclement weather being a factor was in 1999 ... since 2000, 41 games have been lost to rain ... senior Christina Clark is first in the WAC in hits with 47 and batting average (.423) ... Clark is also the WAC leader in doubles (13) and total bases (77) ... freshman phenom, Robin Mackin, leads the league in strikeouts by a large margin with 290.
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (23-14, 7-1 WAC)
The Rainbow Wahine are off to a hot start in WAC play with a 7-1 record ... their only loss came against New Mexico State, 1-0, last week ... this week, Hawai'i will take a week off ... Hawai'i is first in the WAC in hitting (.301) and second in pitching with a team ERA of 2.30 ... in WAC games only, the Rainbow Wahine hit are first with a .353 batting average and are first in pitching with a stellar 0.66 ERA ... Tyleen Tausaga is second in the league in RBI with 29 ... she is also tied for second in home runs with seven.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (9-23, 1-8 WAC)
After a 12-day road trip, Louisiana Tech returns to action at home at 4:00 p.m. Wednesday when they host the Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions in a non-conference single game ... Tech finished 2-6 while on the road ... Louisiana Tech is led offensively by centerfielder Emma Barnes (.343, 28 runs, 14 RBI), catcher Regan Clark (.320, 4 HR, 24 RBI) and second baseman Rochelle Sandberg (.297, 3 HR, 17 RBI) ... the Lady Techsters lead the all-time series record against the Lady Lions 40-10.
Nevada Wolf Pack (19-23, 4-2 WAC)
Nevada swept Utah State to move to 4-2 in WAC games ... the Wolf Pack are now in third place in the WAC half a game behind Fresno State and two games behind first-place Hawai'i ... Jordan McPherson is second in the WAC in innings pitched (164.2) and strikeouts (142) ... McPherson is 11-13 this season with a 2.42 ERA ... Brittany Puzey is third in the WAC in RBI with 28 ... Nevada?™s nine walks against Sacramento State on March 11 is the most in the WAC this season.
New Mexico State (22-15, 5-4 WAC)
The Aggies are currently in fourth place in the WAC, half a game behind third-place Nevada ... they are 2.5 games behind first place Hawai'i ... this week, New Mexico State is at home against second-place Fresno State ... Ashley Roszkos is first in the WAC in RBI with 34 ... she is also second in home runs with seven and third in total bases with 65 ... Stephanie Herrera is first in the WAC in stolen bases with 10 ... pitcher Sarah Seagraves is third in the league in strikeouts with 134.
San Jose State Spartans (15-20, 4-4 WAC)
San Jose State is now 15-20 overall and 4-4 in the WAC ... the Spartans are scheduled to play a doubleheader Wednesday at UC Davis ... the Spartans return home this weekend for a three-game series against Nevada ... San Jose State is 11-0 when leading after five innings ... the Spartans are also 8-4 when they score in the first inning ... Courtney Lewis is fourth in the WAC in batting average (.358) ... she is also tied for first in triples with five and fifth in total bases with 60.
Utah State Aggies (5-25, 0-5 WAC)
The Aggies are still looking for their first conference win in the WAC ... this week, Utah State will take on Utah in a mid-week non-conference game ... in WAC action, the Aggies will take on Louisiana Tech in Ruston ... Utah State has one win on the road in this season ... Amy Schaible is tied for second in the WAC in triples with four ... Heather Straight was the winning pitcher in all five Aggie victories ... Straight is 5-7 with a 4.46 ERA and 41 strikeouts.