UH’S DUHAYLONSOD-KALEIMAMAHU, FS’S MELLOH EARN WAC HONORS
Hawai?i’s Makani Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu and Fresno State’s Morgan Melloh have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 30-April 5. This is the second honor of the season and seventh career honor for Melloh and the first-ever honor for Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu.
Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu, a freshman designated player from Mililani, O?ahu, led Hawai?i to its first-ever series victory in Fresno, as the Rainbow Wahine went 2-1 against No. 22 Fresno State over the weekend. She hit .583 (7-for-12) and had team highs in hits (7), total bases (8), slugging percentage (.667) and on-base percentage (.643). In the first game, her single in the sixth started the rally that led to her pinch-runner, Alex Aguirre, scoring and putting Hawai?i up 1-0 with an inning to play. In the second game, Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu drove in UH’s second run with an opposite-field RBI single to lift UH to an early 2-0 lead. Then in the 16th, she again started the rally with a single and scored the winning run when Kanani Pu?u-Warren hit a three-run home run to seal the win in the longest game in Hawai?i history. In the series finale, Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu was perfect at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a double and accounting for half of the team’s offensive production. For the week, she tallied seven of Hawai?i’s 21 hits. She is currently on a five-game hitting streak.
Melloh, a sophomore from Fishers, Ind., went 2-1 with 58 strikeouts and a 0.63 ERA last week. She struck out 47 percent of the batters she faced, allowing only three earned runs in four games. In the first game vs. Pacific last Tuesday, Melloh struck out a season-high 15 batters and had a no-hitter with two outs in the seventh inning before giving up the only hit of the game. It was her fourth one-hitter of the season and her ninth shutout. Melloh earned the victory in game one vs. Hawai?i, striking out 15 batters and allowing no earned runs for the second-straight game. In a 16-inning marathon game two of the series, Melloh entered with one out in the third inning and proceeded to pitch eight perfect innings. She finished the game with a career-high 20 strikeouts in 13.2 innings of work, the longest outing of her career and just two strikeouts shy of the school single-game record. She came in relief in game three vs. Hawai?i, allowing no runs and striking out eight. Melloh currently leads the WAC with 286 strikeouts, 143 more then the next closest pitcher. She also recorded her 700th career strikeout on the week, becoming just the fourth WAC and Bulldog pitcher ever to amass 700 strikeouts in her career.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Kathy Cox of Boise State hit .444 on the week ... Fresno State’s Haley Gilleland hit the game-winning RBI in the Bulldogs’ 2-1 win over Hawai?i ... Amberly Waits of Louisiana Tech hit .545 on the week ... Nevada’s Brittany Puzey hit .571 and extended her hitting streak to 16 games ... Kayla Hayes of San Jose State hit .500 with six RBI on the week ... Utah State’s Jasmine Harris hit .833 with five RBI as the Aggies went 1-1 vs. Utah Valley last week.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Boise State’s Aubray Zell earned a complete-game victory in her only appearance ... Stephanie Ricketts of Hawai?i went 2-1 with a 1.62 ERA ... Nevada’s Katie Holverson went 2-0 in a pair of complete game with 13 strikeouts ... Amanda Pridmore of San Jose State went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in a pair of five-inning mercy wins last week.
HAWAI?I DEFEATS FRESNO STATE IN 16-INNING MARATHON GAME
The Rainbow Wahine beat No. 22 Fresno State 7-4 in 16 innings last Saturday in the longest game in Hawai?i history. Kanani Pu?u-Warren’s three-run homer in the top of the 16th lifted the Rainbow Wahine over the Bulldogs. Stephanie Ricketts threw a career game-high 12.1 innings in relief to earn the win, while Morgan Melloh notched career highs in innings pitched (13.2) and strikeouts (20). The game took three hours and 24 minutes to play. The next longest game in UH history was 14 innings against CS Fullerton on April 15, 1992 in Bob Coolen’s first season as UH’s head coach. Hawai?i fell in that game 2-1 at home to the Titans. Fresno State’s longest game ever played is 21 innings (4 hours, 25 minutes) in a 2-0 loss to UC Santa Barbara on April 9, 1982.
Boise State Broncos (18-15, 4-4 WAC)
The Broncos went 1-2 last week, dropping the WAC series at San Jose State 2-8, 4-2 and 0-8 ... In the second game, Kathy Cox hit a two-run double that gave the Broncos an early lead and they went on to snap their five-game losing streak ... Aubray Zell won her first game in more than two weeks and in doing so became the first Bronco to reach 10 wins in a season ... She also tossed her eighth complete game of the season, tied for the team lead ... Cox has recorded a hit in 20 of her last 22 games, including a current four-game hit streak ... Boise State ranks 13th nationally with 0.48 double plays per game and 36th with 5.2 runs per game ... Cox has 10 multi-hit and nine multi-RBI games ... The Broncos host WAC leader Nevada for a three-game series this weekend.
Fresno State Bulldogs (24-16, 6-3 WAC)
The Bulldogs went 2-2 last week, taking a single game from Pacific (3-0) before dropping the WAC series to Hawai?i 2-0, 4-7 (16 innings) and 1-2 ... Haley Gilleland stole two bases vs. Pacific, moving her into a tie for fifth all-time in the Fresno State career record books with 32 ... Gilleland also hit the game-winning RBI in the ?Dogs victory over Hawai?i ... Morgan Melloh struck out 58 batters over the four games, 47 percent of those she faced, including a career-high 20 in game two vs. the Rainbow Wahine ... Melloh became just the fourth Bulldog pitcher to amass 700 strikeouts in her career ... On Monday, the Bulldogs split a doubleheader with UC Santa Barbara, 3-1 and 0-1 ... Melloh picked up her 60th career win, striking out 22 in the two games ... The Bulldogs play a three-game series at Louisiana Tech this weekend.
Hawai?i Rainbow Wahine (17-20, 5-4 WAC)
The Rainbow Wahine went 2-1 last week, winning the WAC series at Fresno State 0-2, 7-4 and 2-1 ... Makani Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu hit .583 over the four games, including a 4-for-4 performance in the finale ... Kanani Pu?u-Warren hit a three-run home run to seal the win in UH’s longest game in school history ... Stephanie Ricketts went 2-1 with 12 strikeouts ... It was the first time in school history that Hawai?i captured a series in Fresno. In 2007, the Rainbow Wahine won their first-ever series over the Bulldogs 2-1 in Honolulu. Hawai?i won two games before at Bulldog Stadium in 2001 and 2003, but that was when the conference played a four-game series ... Amanda Tauali?i ranks 12th nationally with 12 home runs this season ... The Rainbow Wahine host Utah State for a three-game series this weekend.
Louisiana Tech Techsters (19-16, 4-4 WAC)
The Lady Techsters went 1-2 last week, dropping the series at Nevada, 3-9, 7-3 and 0-2, but snapping the Wolf Pack’s nation-leading 25-game home winning streak ... Amberly Waits hit .545 for the week with one triple, one home run, three RBI and two runs scored ... Waits ranks 11th nationally in slugging percentage (.871), 13th in RBI per game (1.15) and 19th in batting average (.441) ... Meghan Krieg ranks 19th in the nation with 9.6 strikeouts per seven innings, while Wanda Malone ranks 26th with two saves this season ... Waits leads the WAC with 13 multiple RBI games and ranks second with 15 multi-hit games ... Waits ranks fifth all-time in the WAC with 16 career triples ... Tech plays a single game at Northwestern State on Wednesday before hosting Fresno State for a three-game series this weekend.
Nevada Wolf Pack (26-11, 6-2 WAC)
The Wolf Pack went 2-1 last weekend, taking the series from Louisiana Tech, 9-3, 3-7 and 2-0 ... Nevada is now in first place in the WAC standings, half a game ahead of Fresno State ... Brittany Puzey, the WAC’s top hitter in league games, batted .571 and extended her career-best hitting streak to 16 games, the second-longest streak in the WAC this year ... Katie Holverson posted a 2-0 mark and a 1.00 ERA, giving up two earned runs in 14 innings and striking out 13 while walking just three ... Holverson has won 15 WAC games in a row, dating back to 2007, and has won each of her last 10 decisions ... Kym Silagyi ranks third in the nation with six triples this season ... The Wolf Pack play a single game at UC Davis on Wednesday before traveling to Boise for a three-game series vs. the Broncos this weekend.
New Mexico State Aggies (21-14, 1-4 WAC)
The Aggies were idle last week after their three-game series at Utah State was rescheduled due to field conditions ... NMSU ranks fourth nationally in batting average (.335), sixth in home runs per game (1.29), seventh in slugging percentage (.536) and 11th scoring (6.03) ... The Aggies lead the WAC in batting average, slugging percentage, hits, home runs and stolen bases ... Tiare Jennings ranks 10th in RBI per game (1.17), 17th in home runs (11), 22nd in runs (1.03), 23rd in home runs per game (0.31), 25th in slugging percentage (.793) and 27th in batting average (.432) ... Hoku Nohara ranks 22nd in the nation in home runs (10), 25th in on-base percentage (.525), 29th in slugging percentage (.781) and 47th in batting average (.417) ... The Aggies host San Jose State for a three-game series this weekend.
San Jose State Spartans (17-24, 4-5 WAC)
The Spartans went 4-1 last week, winning two games vs. Santa Clara (7-1, 9-1) before taking the series vs. Boise State over the weekend, 8-2, 2-4 and 8-0 ... Kayla Hayes hit .500 on the week, raising her average 27 points (.302) ... Amanda Pridmore went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA. She allowed five hits, all of which were singles ... Sarah Taylor’s stolen base last Friday was the 41st of her career, moving her to fifth on the Spartans’ career stolen base list ... Taylor ranks third nationally with six triples and 10th in triples per game (0.15) ... Pridmore ranks 26th in the country with two saves ... Hayes is 13th nationally in sacrifice flies (3), while Kelli Fagnolino is 17th in triples (4) ... The Spartans host Pacific for a single game on Tuesday before playing a three-game series at New Mexico State this Friday and Saturday.
Utah State Aggies (8-23, 1-5 WAC)
The Aggies went 1-1 last week, splitting a doubleheader at Utah Valley, 5-6 and 7-0 ... Utah State broke a seven-game home run drought when Megan McDonald and Jasmine Harris went deep in the win ... Harris was 5-for-6 (.833) over the two games ... Kate Greenough notched the complete-game shutout ... It was the Aggies’ first shutout of the season ... Utah State fell 1-0 at Utah on Monday ... The Aggies out-hit Utah 5-2 but were not able to plate a run ... Lindsey Benson allowed only two hits, which were back-to-back with two outs in the bottom of the seventh ... Rayna Bradshaw is on a three-game hitting streak ... The Aggies host Utah for a doubleheader on Tuesday before traveling to Hawai?i for a three-game series vs. the Rainbow Wahine this weekend.