The 2006 Fresno State softball team, fresh off its third straight Western Athletic Conference title and ninth in the last 11 years, enters this week?™s 2006 WAC Softball Tournament as the No. 1 seed. Hawai'i was the last team other than Fresno State to win the WAC title, taking the crown in 2003. San Jose State had its best ever regular season finish, ending the season second in the WAC with an 11-6 league record. The Spartans captured a 2-1 eight inning win over Fresno State in the last week to help secure the second place finish.
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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK ?“ Fresno State?™s Robin Mackin and Hawai'i?™s Justine Smethurst 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.
RETURN OF THE WAC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT ?“ Fresno State will host the 2006 WAC Softball Tournament, May 11-13, at Bulldog Diamond. The three-day double-elimination championship will see the top six teams battle it out to capture the WAC?™s NCAA automatic bid. All-Tournament Tickets and Day Passes are currently on sale through the Bulldog Ticket Office. Tickets can be purchased online at www.gobulldogs.com or by calling (559) 278-3647. This is the second time that the Bulldogs have hosted the tournament. Fresno State hosted the 1999 tournament and won both the 1999 regular-season and tournament titles. Fresno State and Hawai?™i are the two lone current conference schools to have participated in the last WAC Softball Championship. The Bulldogs own a composite record of 3-0 while UH owns a composite record of 2-2 in championship play.
TWO SEEDS STILL UNDETERMINED ?“ Hawai'i and Nevada have both qualified for the WAC Tournament but will have to wait until their April 29 protested game is completed to determine which team is the third seed and which team will be fourth. In that game Nevada catcher Katie Stith was ruled ineligible after she was not properly re-entered into the game. Nevada head coach Michelle Gardner protested the call and the protest was upheld forcing the two teams to finish the game on Wednesday in Fresno, Calif. The game will be played at May 10 at 4:00 p.m. at Bulldog Diamond in Fresno. The game will resume where the protest occurred during the original game in Reno with Nevada batting in the bottom of the fourth inning and the Wolf Pack leading 2-1. The winner will be the third seed and will face sixth-seeded Louisiana Tech. The loser will be the fourth seed and will face fifth-seeded New Mexico State.
EXTRA-INNING HOME RUNS FOR TWO SPARTAN TEAMS ?“ The San Jose State baseball and softball teams must have been in-sync on Friday, May 5. That day, both teams won extra-inning WAC home games on walk-off home runs. The softball team defeated No. 20 Fresno State, 2-1, on a walk-off home run by Jessica Guillen in the bottom of the eighth inning. A few hours later, across the street from SJSU Field at Municipal Stadium, the baseball team got a walk-off home run from Ryan Angel as he swung at the first pitch in the bottom of the 10th inning for the victory. Guillen?™s home run went over the centerfield fence, while Angel?™s home run cleared the left field fence.
LOST GAMES ?“ When Nevada finishes its game against Hawai'i on May 10, it will be the only WAC team to have played a complete 18-game schedule. The other six teams have all lost at least one game due to inclement weather. Fresno State lost three WAC games this season.
HAWAI'I?™S SMETHURST PERFECT AGAIN ?“ Hawai'i freshman pitcher Justine Smethurst threw her second solo perfect game of the season against Utah State on May 5. Smethurst, a freshman from Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, shut down the Aggies in the opening game of the three-game series. She struck out six en route to retiring all 21 batters. Smethurst threw 94 pitches, 65 for strikes. She hit the full count mark only three times, including an 11-pitch battle featuring 5 consecutive foul balls. Smethurst?™s first perfect game came against Longwood on March 16. She also had a combined perfect game with Jessica Morton at Grambling State in which she threw 3.0 innings in the five inning, 25-0 win.
MACKIN MAKING HISTORY ?“ Fresno State freshman Robin Mackin, who is 9-2 in her last 11 starts, owns a season-best seven-game winning streak. Averaging 10.83 strikeouts per 7/IP this season, she is among the best of the best Bulldog rookie hurlers who went on to earn All-America honors their first year. Ranked No. 2 in school and WAC single-season history for strikeouts (360), Mackin is on pace to set a new season record for strikeouts per 7/IP. With 18 ten-strikeout games and two no-hitters to date, Mackin is one double digit strikeout performance away from tying the freshman and single-season record, which is 19 set by Jamie Southern in 2002. Mackin also is the third Bulldog to post a 300-strikeout season, joining Amanda .Scott and Southern. She is also the fourth rookie to post a 25-win season.
SINGLE-SEASON LEADERS ?“ Fresno State freshman Robin Mackin is rising up the single-season charts. Mackin is already second in the WAC in single-season strikeouts with 360. Fresno State All-American Jamie Southern holds the WAC record for strikeouts in a season with 400. In overall games, Mackin holds the single-season record for strikeouts per seven inning, averaging 10.83. Fresno State senior All-American Christina Clark?™s .500 average in league games is the tied for third. Clark?™s overall batting average of .443 is the 10th best in a single season.
TWO BULLDOGS NAMED TO NCAA 25TH ANNIVERSARY TEAM ?“ The NCAA announced its Division I Softball 25th Anniversary Team and Fresno State was honored with two selections on the ten-player squad in former Bulldog All-Americans Laura Berg (Santa Fe Springs, Calif.) and Amanda Scott (Clovis, Calif.).
Based on their outstanding achievements during NCAA championship competition, Berg was one of two outfielders selected while Scott was one of four four-time NCAA First Team All-Americans and one of six pitchers voted to the prestigious list.
Berg, who also helped the 1994 Bulldogs squad to a fifth place showing, batted .471 (8-17) with three runs, two RBI, a stolen base and eight total bases as the lead off batter in the 1998 WCWS. She would go on to be a three-time USA Softball Olympic gold medalist as well as currently serving as a Bulldog assistant coach. In her collegiate career, Berg finished with a .414 batting average and ranks No. 2 all-time in NCAA Division I history with 396 career hits.
Scott, who also was part of the 1999 Bulldogs team that placed fifth at the WCWS, garnered WCWS MVP honors after pitching a three-hit shutout victory over two-time NCAA defending champion Arizona in the 1998 title game. At the WCWS that year she would 3-1 with a pair of shutout and 16 strikeouts in 23.2 innings for a perfect 0.00 ERA. In her collegiate career, Scott would end up being the university?™s first NCAA Top VIII Award winner, a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient and a two-time Honda Awards Softball finalist.
Fresno State Bulldogs (34-15, 12-3 WAC)
Fresno State won its third-straight WAC title, ninth in the last 11 years and 20th overall in the program?™s history after closing out last weekend by winning two of three on the road versus San Jose State ... head coach Margie Wright notched her 16th conference title in 21 years at Fresno State ... winning 14 of their last 16 and 24 of their last 30, the Bulldogs are hitting .300 on the season and have seven starters with 24 or more RBI … Christina Clark made school history when she became just the second Bulldog to post four consecutive 100-total base seasons.
Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (25-19, 7-6 WAC)
Freshman Justine Smethurst threw her second complete-game perfect game of the season when she shut down the Aggies in the opening game of the three-game series ... she struck out six en route to retiring all 21 batters ... she earned WAC Pitcher of the Week honors for her efforts ... this is the second time Smethurst has received the Pitcher of the Week honor ... the Rainbow Wahine will be either the third of fourth seed in the WAC Tournament ... Hawai'i must complete a game with Nevada in Fresno to determine the seeds.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (18-29, 6-11 WAC)
The Lady Techsters secured the sixth seed in the WAC Tournament by winning one of three games against Nevada in Reno last week ... the Lady Techsters will face either Nevada or Hawai'i ... Regan Clark and Emma Barnes both have 15 multiple-hit games ... Clark also has nine multiple-hit RBI games ... offensively, the Lady Techsters have had some hot bats this season ... Barnes is first in the league in triples with seven ... Ashley Cameron is first in the WAC home runs with nine.
Nevada Wolf Pack (28-29, 9-8 WAC)
Nevada is just one of three teams this season that beat nationally-ranked Fresno State ... the Pack beat the Bulldogs when they were No. 23 in the country ...the other two schools to beat Fresno were San Jose and La Tech ... Nevada had one player named WAC Player of the Week this season, freshman Brittany Puzey ... the Wolf Pack?™s 28 win sets a program mark for most wins in a season passing 27 set in 1982 ... Nevada recorded 1,520 at bats passing 1,467 at bats in 1985 ... the Pack scored 238 runs so far this season passing 214 set in 1977 ... Nevada?™s 412 hits set a record passing 364 hits set in 2003.
New Mexico State (25-21, 8-9 WAC)
At 25-21 overall heading into the tournament, the Aggies are assured of finishing the season with a winning record for the first time since going 32-27 in 1998 ... Mailei Hilva has started 84 consecutive games at first base dating back to the 2005 season and has only missed one start in her two-year career ... the Aggies are 18-0 when leading after four innings but just 2-16 when trailing at the same point ... no Aggie has hit a home run in the seventh inning this season ... NMSU has not had a game go to extra innings since a 3-2 win at Western Kentucky April 16, 2005, a span of 64 games.
San Jose State Spartans (23-25, 11-6 WAC)
Coming off its best conference finish in school history, San Jose State enters the 2006 WAC Tournament as the number-two seed after finishing conference play with an 11-6 record ... the three-day double-elimination tournament will be played May 11-13 at Bulldog Diamond in Fresno, Calif. ... San Jose State finished WAC play with 11 wins, which ties for the most wins by a Spartan team since joining the conference during the 1996-97 school year ... this is the Spartans first appearance at the WAC Tournament ... the conference last held a softball tournament in 1999, but San Jose State did not qualify that season.
Utah State Aggies (8-38, 3-14 WAC)
Utah State ended the season winning one of three games from Hawai'i ... the Aggies did have a perfect game thrown against them when the Rainbow Wahine?™s Justine Smethurst stopped them 6-0 ... Utah State did not make the WAC Tournament ... only the top six teams advance to the WAC Tournament.