NM STATE’S FINAU, GRAND CANYON’S NOWLIN NAMED WAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
New Mexico State’s Fiana Finau and Grand Canyon’s Taylor Nowlin have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 9-15. This is the first honor of the season and third of her career for Finau, and the first honor of the season and second of her career for Nowlin.
Finau, a junior infielder/designated player from Chula Vista, Calif., finished with a .444 batting average, a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .524 on-base percentage in six games last week, posting a double, three home runs, 11 RBIs and a stolen base. Finau began the week by slamming a home run and finishing with three RBIs against Middle Tennessee. She then went 3-for-4 with two RBIs vs. Harvard. Finau’s big game of the week came in the final one of the weekend, a 14-0 Aggie victory over San Jose State. She finished 2-for-3 against the Spartans with two home runs, three runs scored and six RBIs.
Nowlin, a sophomore from Peoria, Ariz., was sharp in the circle over the weekend, fanning 21 and allowing just one earned run in 16.2 innings of work. The left-hander finished the weekend with a 2-1 record and posted an impressive 0.42 ERA. In her first win of the week, she had nine strikeouts against Loyola Marymount. In her second victory, she allowed just one hit over 5 1/3 innings while striking out six. Nowlin has held opponents to a WAC-low .222 batting average this season.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Bakersfield’s Alexandrea Simmons hit .545 with a double and two triples last week ... Kelsey Barak of Grand Canyon hit .478 with four doubles and 10 RBIs ... Missouri-Kansas City’s Cinda Ramos hit .444 with a double, two homers and five RBIs ... Isabella Geronimo of Seattle U hit .714 with a stolen base and three RBIs in a doubleheader against Notre Dame de Namur ... Utah Valley’s Brianna Gatlin hit .467 with a double and a home run over five games.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Bakersfield’s Kelsie Monroe went 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA and six strikeouts over 14.0 innings ... Karysta Donisthorpe of New Mexico State went 2-0 with a 0.55 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 12.2 innings on the week ... Seattle U’s Mandie Sugita went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and five strikeouts in 8.2 innings against Notre Dame de Namur ... Makayla Shadle of Utah Valley went 1-0 with a 0.84 ERA and seven strikeouts in 8.1 innings of work.
UMKC ON PACE FOR HIGHEST SCORING TEAM IN PROGRAM HISTORY
UMKC is currently on pace for its highest-scoring season in program history, averaging 7.08 runs per game over its first 25 games. The ‘Roos are 7-1 when scoring eight or more runs, compared to a 6-11 mark when failing to reach the magic number of eight.
BAKERSFIELD OUT TO BEST START SINCE 2009
Bakersfield, which is currently on a four-game winning streak, is 11-12 on the season, just one game below .500, a win percentage they have not been at or higher than since March of 2010 (9-9). With 11 wins in their first 23 games, CSUB is out to its best start since the 2009 season (13-10).
GCU HAS SEASON-BEST 17 HITS AGAINST LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
Grand Canyon tallied a season-best 17 hits in its run-rule victory over Loyola Marymount on March 13. Seven Lopes had multiple hits in the game, led by Kayla Henry and Bianca Boling with three apiece.
BAKERSFIELD SETS PROGRAM DIVISION I RECORD FOR TRIPLES IN A GAME
During the second game of the Boise State doubleheader on March 15, Bakersfield’s Alexandrea Simmons led off the third inning with her second triple of the day, while Jo Larios’ three bagger was the second of the game for the ‘Runners, a CSUB single-game Division I record. In that game, CSUB also earned its first run-rule win since March 10, 2012, a 12-3 win over Maine.
NM STATE RANKS FIFTH NATIONALLY IN SLUGGING PERCENTAGE
New Mexico State currently ranks fifth nationally in slugging percentage (.607). The Aggies also rank eighth in home runs per game (1.58), 10th in scoring (7.65), 13th in batting average (.350), 14th in doubles per game (1.84) and 20th in on-base percentage (.438) and 47th in winning percentage (.710).
UMKC’S KELLEY SETS PROGRAM RECORD FOR RBIS IN A GAME
Missouri-Kansas City’s Katie Kelley set program marks for RBI in a single game with seven against Connecticut on March 7 and RBI over a five-game span with 16 from March 6-8.
CSUB’S RAEBER TIES PROGRAM SINGLE-GAME DOUBLES RECORD
Bakersfield junior outfielder Sydney Raeber tied the CSUB Division I record for doubles in a game in Game 1 of the Lobo Classic on March 6. She finished with three doubles against host New Mexico.
SU’S MORROW APPROACHING CAREER DOUBLES RECORD
Seattle U senior Bubba Morrow has 31 doubles on her career, good for second place all-time in program history. She is two shy of the Seattle U all-time career record of 33 held by Allegra Wilde.
BAKERSFIELD’S MONROE BECOMES ALL-TIME WINS LEADER
With a win complete-game shutout of Pacific on Feb. 28, Bakersfield’s Kelsie Monroe set the CSUB Division I record for career wins with 25. She now has 27. She also became the CSUB Division I all-time leader in innings pitched earlier this season and currently has 461.0. Monroe recently posted five straight complete-game wins, including three shutouts.
UVU PICKS UP FIRST-EVER WIN OVER RANKED OPPONENT
Behind three home runs and a complete-game shutout from Bailey Moore, Utah Valley handed No. 25 Cal State Fullerton a 9-0 defeat in the Wilson/DeMarini Desert Classic finale on Feb. 15. The win marked UVU’s first in program history over a ranked opponent at the NCAA Division I level.
NM STATE SCORES MOST RUNS EVER AGAINST NEBRASKA
When it defeated No. 18 Nebraska 16-11 on Feb. 6, it was the most runs ever allowed by the Huskers in a game in the 39-year history of the program. The Aggies had 11 extra base hits in the game – five doubles, a triple and five home runs.
NEW MEXICO STATE PICKED TO WIN 2015 WAC TITLE
In a preseason vote of the six WAC softball coaches, who could not vote for their own team, New Mexico State was selected as the preseason favorite to win the title.
The Aggies took the top spot in the preseason poll with 23 points and three first-place votes, edging out Grand Canyon in second place with 22 points and the other three first-place votes. Seattle U was third with 14 points, while Utah Valley and UMKC tied for fourth place with 13 points each. Bakersfield rounded out the poll with five points.
PRESEASON ALL-WAC TEAM
New Mexico State senior outfielder Staci Rodriguez was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year and Missouri-Kansas City’s Katie Kelley was selected as the Preseason Pitcher of the Year in a vote of the league’s six head coaches, who could not vote for their own players.
New Mexico State placed the most players on the Preseason All-WAC Team with four, while Grand Canyon and Seattle U had three apiece and UMKC had two.
Joining Rodriguez and Kelley on the Preseason All-WAC Team are Grand Canyon’s Kelsey Barak, Kayla Henry and Nicole Newbury; UMKC’s Cinda Ramos; New Mexico State’s Emma Adams, Fiana Finau and Lacey Rother; Seattle U’s Izzy Geronimo, Lisa Maulden and Bubba Morrow; and Utah Valley’s Brittney Vansway.
RETURNING ALL-CONFERENCE PLAYERS
Of the 13 first team All-WAC players from last year, 11 return for the 2015 season, including reigning WAC Player of the Year Lacey Rother of New Mexico State. Also returning are Rother’s teammates Fiana Finau and Alyssa Ruiz; Grand Canyon’s Kelsey Barak, Nicole Newbury and Lauren Regester; Isabella Geronimo, Lisa Maulden and Bubba Morrow of Seattle U; and Missouri-Kansas City’s Katie Kelley and Cinda Ramos.
Nine of the second team All-WAC selections return for 2015, including four from New Mexico State (Emma Adams, Makayla McAdams, Brennalyn Nakamura and Staci Rodriguez). Also returning are Lindsay Davis and Jenny Hurst of Seattle U, Bakersfield’s Madison Bundy, Kayla Henry of Grand Canyon and Utah Valley’s Brittney Vansway.
NEW MEXICO STATE TO HOST 2015 WAC TOURNAMENT
New Mexico State will host the 2015 WAC Softball Tournament. The five eligible teams advance to the double-elimination tournament, which will be held at the NM State Softball Complex May 7-9. This is the third time the Aggies have hosted the event (2010, 2012).