Ten Western Athletic Conference softball players earned Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I all-West Region honors. Three University of Hawai`i softball players were selected for this prestigious honor. Nevada placed a school-record three players on the NFCA all-West Region softball team, including first-team selection Noelle Micka. Senior Vanessa Briones and sophomore Katie Holverson were named to the all-Region second team.Seniors Kaulana Gould and Kate Robinson were named to the West region first-team and Brandi Peiler was named to the second team. Fresno State four on the team as Morgan Melloh, Haley Gilleland and Jenna Cervantez earned first team honors and Aja Scheuber was named to the second team.
Micka is the first Nevada player to earn first-team All-Region honors. The freshman catcher is having one of the finest single-seasons in school history with a .396 batting average, 16 doubles, three triples and seven home runs. She has 76 hits, 41 runs and 38 RBI on the season and she leads the team in all seven of those statistical categories. She has already set single-season school records in hits and total bases and she is tied for the record in runs. Her batting average is also a school record as it stands now.
Briones capped an amazing season with the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year award last season. After playing sparingly her first three seasons at Nevada, the senior outfielder emerged this year as one of the top offensive threats on the West Coast. In just 36 games, she batted .361 with 19 runs, 19 RBI, five doubles and five homes. She led the WAC in hitting with a whopping .429 average and a .755 slugging percentage. She joined Micka on the All-WAC first-team.
Holverson had one of the finest seasons of any pitcher in Nevada history. She went 20-6 with a 2.27 earned-run average on the year. She recorded 20 complete games and two shutouts on the year. She struck out 203 and walked just 73 on the season. In addition to being a dominant starter, she is an effective reliever as well as she led the WAC with six saves on the year, which is tied for seventh in the nation. That total of six saves is tied for seventh all-time in the WAC. She was a second-team All-WAC selection.
Entering this season, Nevada had only had one player previously selection to the All-West Region team - Brittany Puzey as a second-team selection last season.
For Hawai`i's Robinson, a senior from Honolulu, it is the second straight season that she's received the honor in the utility/pitcher category. This season, she has led the Rainbow Wahine to their second consecutive NCAA Regional appearance. She leads the 'Bows in virtually every offensive statistical category and has also gotten the job done on the mound, posting a 17-8 record overall. At the plate Robinson continues to lead Hawai`i in average (.384), runs (44), hits (68), home runs (19), runs batted in (51), walks (19), and slugging (.740) and on-base percentage (.440). As a pitcher, she set new career marks throwing 171.0 innings with 19 complete games and nine shutouts. Robinson has compiled a 1.84 ERA and has struck out 34 while striking out 136.
It is the first all-West Region honor for Gould, a senior centerfielder from Ewa Beach, O`ahu. Earlier this month became the first Rainbow Wahine to ever earn first-team all-conference honors all four years of her collegiate career. Gould finished the season strong, going on a 12-game hitting streak that was snapped in the second game of last week's WAC tournament. Overall, Gould hit .320 this season with 29 runs scored, nine doubles, a triple and a home run. She drove in 24 runs and led the team with 15 sacrifices. Most impressively, the senior posted a 1.000 fielding percentage over 57 games played.
For Peiler, a senior leftfielder out of Mililani, O`ahu, this is the second time she's received all-West Region second-team recognition. As a sophomore, she was the only Rainbow Wahine to represent UH on the elite list. This season, Peiler was second on the team with a .350 average with a team-high 10 doubles and three home runs. She finished the season strong, closing the conference season tied with a team-high .385 batting average. Peiler was also selected to the Division II all-West Region second-team as a member of the Hawai`i Pacific softball team as a freshman before transferring to UH.
Gould, Robinson, and Peiler are three of four players who have started in all 57 games this season. These three also graduated from Kamehameha Schools together in the Class of 2004.
This is the second-straight year that Cervantez has been named to the West Region first team for the Bulldogs. Cervantez was also named first team all-WAC for the third time in her career as a Bulldog. She ranks fifth all-time in school history with 27 home runs and seventh in a single-season with 13, a team-high.
Melloh, a freshman pitcher from Fishers, Ind., was named the WAC Freshman and Pitcher of the Year and adds to her resume by being named to the first team. She is currently ranked second in the NCAA in wins with 39, a school record and has been consistently ranked all year among D-I schools in ERA, strikeouts per 7 innings and saves. Melloh set a WAC Tournament record with 35 strikeouts over the weekend and her all-game totals in victories and strikeouts rank her first in the WAC, while her innings pitched place her second and strikeouts per 7 innings ranks her third.
At shortstop, Gilleland, a freshman from Fresno, Calif., has led the Bulldogs with her speed. Gilleland leads the team with 21 stolen bases on the season and ranks second in the Fresno State single-season record books. She has been ranked throughout the season amongst the NCAA leaders in sacrifice hits per game.
A senior designated player from Turlock, Calif., this is the first All-West Region honor for Scheuber. Scheuber ranks third in a single-season at Fresno State with 39 walks to lead the Bulldogs and has been ranked consistently in the NCAA all season in walks per game and slugging percentage.
The Bulldogs placed four players on the All-West Region team for the second-straight season and 92 total on regional teams under Coach Wright. Fresno State has had 102 total regional selections in the programs 30 years.
The all-West Region team members are voted on by coaches in the West Region. The region is made up of teams from the WAC the Mountain West Conference, the Big West Conference and independent Utah Valley State.
Only players who make all-Region teams are eligible for NFCA All-American honors, which will be announced later this month.