PLAYERS OF THE WEEK ? New Mexico State’s Ashley Roszkos and Fresno State’s Robin Mackin have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. This is the first honor for both this season. Mackin earned either pitcher or player of the week honors five times last season, while this the first career honor for Roszkos.
Roszkos, a junior from Benicia, Calif. (Benicia), was the Troy Cox Classic Tournament MVP as she hit four home runs and had 10 RBI. In the final day of the tournament, she led NMSU to two victories by going 4-for-7 at the plate with three home runs and eight RBI. In the final game of the tournament against UTEP, she was 2-for-3 with two home runs and five RBI as NMSU captured the Troy Cox Classic Championship with its perfect 5-0 tournament record. She ended the tournament with a .467 batting average.
Mackin, a sophomore from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada (Newmarket), threw three complete games last week, earning all three of Fresno State’s wins. Mackin went the distance in Fresno State’s 3-2, 12-inning defeat of Santa Clara on Feb. 13, striking out 14. Overall, Mackin struck out 31 in 27 innings of work good for an average of eight strikeouts per seven innings of work. In those 27 innings, Mackin only allowed two earned runs. Fresno State took two of three from Louisville in which Mackin shut out the Cardinals in both wins.
Other hitter of the week nominees included: Nichole Willis of Fresno State hit .308 with four hits and one RBI as the Bulldogs went 3-1 last week ... Clare Warwick of Hawai?i hit .529 with nine hits as the Rainbow Wahine went 4-1 ... Emma Barnes of Louisiana Tech went 10-for-21 leading the Lady Techsters to a 4-4 record ... Brittany Puzey of Nevada had three hits and five RBI as the Wolf Pack went 3-1 ... Aubrie Stroman of Utah State had four RBI in four games for the Aggies.
Other pitcher of the week nominees included: Courtney Baughman of Hawai?i went 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA ... Jordan McPherson of Nevada went 2-0 with one shutout and one complete game ... Kim Watson of New Mexico State went 2-0 with 13 strikeouts in 16 innings.
ON DECK ? In week two of WAC softball, both Hawai?i and Utah State travel to Las Vegas for the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic. The Rainbow Wahine look to remain hot after winning five of their first six games. Nevada will travel to Santa Barbara for the Softball by the Beach Invitational. New Mexico State will host its second-straight tournament, hosting the Troy Cox Classic, while Louisiana Tech travels to the ULM Mardi Gras Classic.
BULLDOGS TAKE ON TOP RANKED TEAM ? When Fresno State faces No. 1 Tennessee on Friday afternoon at the OSU/Palm Springs Classic, it will be the fourth ranked opponent the Bulldogs will have faced this season. Fresno State has already played the No. 2 ranked team in the country in Texas A&M in its first game of the year.
RED-HOT WAHINE ? The Hawai?i offense came alive in Las Vegas, hitting .337 overall as a team. Clare Warwick had an impressive tournament at the plate, hitting a red hot .619 (13-for-21) with a double, a home run and six runs scored. Pitcher/first baseman Kate Robinson got her second win of the season with a one-hit shut-out of Southern Utah on Monday. But she also had a phenomenal time at the plate in the tournament, hitting .438 with two doubles, four home runs, and a team-high 11 RBI. UH also hit two grand slams in the tournament. The first was by catcher/outfielder Kaulana Gould to pull away from Cal State Northridge, 7-2. Then second baseman Alana Power hit hers against Southern Utah in a 16-0 win. On the season, Gould is hitting .361 with two doubles, two home runs, 12 RBI and 12 runs scored.
IN THE POLLS ? Fresno State remains the only WAC team ranked in both polls. The Bulldogs are No. 22 in both USA Today/NFCA Coaches’ Poll and No. 23 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. Both the USA Today/NFCA and the ESPN/USA Softball Polls have Hawai?i with the most votes received outside the top 25. Theoritically, they will be listed as No.26. In the NFCA poll, they received 43 points, and in the USA Softball poll, the Rainbow Wahine garnered 23 points.
AGAINST THE BEST ? WAC schools are 3-6 against ranked teams this young season. Hawai?i is 3-0 with two wins against then-No. 15 Nebraska and a win against No. 24 Auburn. San Jose and Utah State have both lost to No. 10 California. Fresno State lost to Northwestern and Texas A&M, while Nevada lost to UCLA and Arizona.
NEW MEXICO STATE WINS TOURNAMENT? Junior Ashley Roszkos went 4-for-7 at the plate with three home runs and eight RBI to lead the New Mexico State softball team to victories over Loyola Marymount and UTEP while capturing Troy Cox Classic Championship Sunday, Feb. 18, at the NMSU Softball Complex. The Aggies won all five games in which they played.
MACKIN’S SUMMER VACATION ? The Fresno State softball program continues to produce elite athletes on the international level. Sophomore pitcher Robin Mackin had a solid summer representing her home country of Canada. Mackin, a native of Newmarket, Ontario, helped Canada not only qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, but also was part of history when the women’s national softball team became the first Canadian sport to qualify for the upcoming summer Olympics. Taking fifth place at the XI International Softball Federation World Championships in Beijing, Canada earned the final berth that was available at the Worlds when it defeated Italy, 3-0. Mackin combined with fellow pitcher Lauren Bay with a no-hit performance and eight strikeouts versus the Italians in the deciding game.
FRESNO STATE TO HOST 2007 TOURNAMENT ? For the second-straight season, the WAC Softball Tournament will be held in Fresno, Calif. This will be only the second tournament since 1999. This season, all seven teams will advance to the double-elimination tournament. The tournament will be held at Bulldog Diamond from May 10-12.
Fourth-seeded Nevada captured its first WAC Tournament last season. The Wolf Pack defeated third-seeded Hawai?i twice on the final day to win the tournament. Nevada was led by pitcher Jordan McPherson who pitched all 41 innings of the WAC Tournament without allowing an earned run.
FRESNO STATE PICKED TO WIN 2006 WAC TITLE ? The Western Athletic Conference softball coaches selected Fresno State to win the 2007 WAC regular season crown. Fresno State has been picked to take the preseason crown 11 out of the last 12 years. In 2002, Hawai?i was chosen to win the title. The coaches also voted on 2007 preseason award winners. For the second-straight season Robin Mackin earned preseason Pitcher of the Year honors. Hawai?i first baseman Tyleen Tausaga earned preseason Player of the Year honors. The last Rainbow Wahine player to earn preseason Player of the Year honors was shortstop Kate Judd who earned the award before the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
Fresno State edged out Hawai?i with 35 points to the Rainbow Wahine’s 30. Defending WAC Tournament Champions Nevada was picked to finish third with 28 points. This is the second-straight year that Wolf Pack have been picked third in the preseason. The Bulldogs and the Wolf Pack were the only WAC teams to advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season. Fresno State is the only team in the nation to play in all 25 NCAA Tournaments.
New Mexico State finished fourth with 21 points followed by San Jose State with 14 points. Louisiana Tech was picked to finish sixth with 10 points, while Utah State was picked to finish seventh with nine points.
RETURNING ALL-WAC PLAYERS ? The WAC will feature 11 players who were 2006 first team all-WAC performers. Fresno State returns WAC Pitcher and Freshman of the Year, sophomore Robin Mackin. The Bulldogs also return sophomore third baseman Haley Perkins. Hawai?i returns first baseman Tyleen Tausaga, pitcher Justine Smethurst and outfielder Kaulana Gould. All three Louisiana Tech first-team all-WAC honorees return, including catcher Regan Clark, second baseman Rochelle Sandberg and outfielder Emma Barnes. New Mexico State also returns outfielder Kristi Randall, outfielder Rishelle Gastelum and designated player Stacey Lien. Second team returnees include: 2B Jenna Cervantez, Fresno State; 3B Jessica Elson, Louisiana Tech; OF Shannon Garvin, Fresno State; OF Tanisha Milca, Hawai?i; OF Mandy Winkley, San Jose State; DP Audrey Andrade, Hawai?i; 3B Sarah Hunt, Nevada and P Jordan McPherson, Nevada.