DENVER ?“ Fresno State?™s Robin Mackin and Hawai`i's Justine Smethhurst have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. This is Mackin?™s first Hitter of the Week honor, but she has been named Pitcher of the Week five times. This is Smethurst?™s second Pitcher of the Week honor.
Mackin, a freshman from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, batted .583 (7-for-12) with three runs, three doubles, a home run, three RBI, as the Bulldogs went 2-1 to end the regular season. She had a .583 on-base percentage and 13 total bases for a 1.083 slugging percentage. Mackin went 2-for-4 with a run in the first game before going 2-for-4 with a double in game two and 3-4 with two runs, two doubles, a home run and three RBI in the finale. Helping the Bulldogs to their third consecutive WAC title and ninth in the last 11 years, she connected for her ninth and tenth double of the season in the finale which clinched the title outright for Fresno State. Mackin also hit her fourth home run on the season in the finale as the Bulldogs finished the year with a 12-3 league mark.
Smethurst, a freshman from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, pitched her second solo perfect game of the season with a 6-0 blanking of Utah State in the opening game of the series. She struck out six as she retired all-21 batters. Smethurst threw 94 pitches, 65 for strikes. She had 3-2 counts to three batters, including Amy Schaible's 11-pitch at-bat featuring five consecutive foul balls with a full count. Smethurst?™s earlier perfect game came against Longwood on March 16 and also had a combined perfect game in which she threw 3.0 innings and Jessica Morton finished the five inning game.
Other hitter of the week nominees included: Tanisha Milca of Hawai'i hit .444 with four hits as the Rainbow Wahine won two of three games last week … Danielle Sheridan of Louisiana Tech hit .545 with six hits last week as the Lady Techsters won of three games against Nevada ... Jessica Guillen of San Jose State hit .455 with six RBI … Sara Fleming of Utah State hit .556 with five hits and three RBI.
Other pitcher of the week nominees included: Merryann Barr of Fresno State went 1-0 with a 0.00 with six strikeouts … Leslie Higley of Utah State earned her first win of the season as the Aggies defeated the Rainbow Wahine.