WAC Softball Weekly Release - April 21
GRAND CANYON'S WARTMAN, BAKERSFIELD'S MONROE NAMED WAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Grand Canyon's Camree Wartman and Bakersfield's Kelsie Monroe have been named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for April 13-19. This is the first-ever honor for Wartman and the second honor of the season and of her career for Monroe.
Wartman, a sophomore second baseman from Riverton, Utah, hit .600 with a double, two home runs, five runs scored and an astounding 12 RBIs in a series sweep of Utah Valley last week. She posted a 1.300 slugging percentage, a .636 on-base percentage and was error free in the field over the three games. Wartman, who had at least one hit in each of the games, opened the series with a double, a grand slam and six RBIs in a 16-7 five-inning win. In the series finale, she hit another grand slam and tallied five RBIs. With her 12 RBIs on the week, she moved her total to a conference-best 21 RBIs in WAC games.
Monroe, a senior from Los Banos, Calif., went 1-1 with a 0.00 ERA and 11 strikeouts over 14.0 innings last week. In two appearances, she held New Mexico State, which entered the series ranked in the top 10 nationally in batting average, slugging percentage, scoring, home runs and on-base percentage, to just 10 hits, only one of which was an extra base hit (a double), a .200 batting average and one unearned run. In the first game of the series, Monroe took the hard luck loss, allowing one unearned run on six hits while striking out four. In the series finale, she picked up her sixth shutout of the season, handing the Aggies their first WAC loss in nearly a year and shutting out NM State for just the third time this season. She struck out seven in the victory. During the week, Monroe lowered her WAC-leading ERA from 2.72 to 2.47 and her opponent batting average from .233 to .230.
Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Missouri-Kansas City's Brooke Parker hit .600 with three stolen bases last week ... Rachel Rodriguez of New Mexico State hit .429 with a double and two stolen bases last week ... Utah Valley's Erin Romero hit .444 with one RBI on the week.
Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Grand Canyon's Taylor Nowlin went 2-0 with a 4.00 ERA and nine strikeouts over 7.0 innings last week ... Katie Kelley of Missouri-Kansas City went 1-0 with a 1.40 ERA and three strikeouts in one appearance last week ... Dallas McBride of New Mexico State went 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA and 14 strikeouts in three appearances and 14.0 innings of work.
WAC TOURNAMENT TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Tickets for the 2015 WAC Softball Tournament, which will be held May 7-9 at the NM State Softball Complex in Las Cruces, N.M., are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased as an all-session pass, which is good for all eight games (nine if the second game on Saturday is necessary), or as a single-day pass, which covers all games that day. Tickets can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com, by phone at (575) 646-1420 or at the NM State Softball Complex all days during the tournament. All-session tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for youth and WAC students. Single day tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for youth and WAC students.
NEW MEXICO STATE CLINCHES TOP SEED IN WAC TOURNAMENT
New Mexico State picked up a pair of wins at Bakersfield last weekend to secure the top seed in the WAC Tournament. The Aggies face second-place Grand Canyon this weekend and need to win at least one of the three games to secure their second WAC regular-season title.
UMKC'S PARKER SETS PROGRAM SINGLE-SEASON STOLEN BASES RECORD
Missouri-Kansas City junior Brooke Parker stole three bases last Friday to move her season total to 27, breaking the previous program record of 24 set by Kelley Fischer in 2011. Parker is already the program's career steals leader with 67 during her three-year career.
GRAND CANYON'S HENRY BECOMES PROGRAM ALL-TIME HITS LEADER
Grand Canyon senior Kayla Henry dropped a two-run single into left field in the third inning of her team's win over Utah Valley on April 18 to become GCU's all-time career hits leader. The senior now has 265 hits in her four-year career, surpassing Randi Johns' (2006-09) previous mark of 264.
NEW MEXICO STATE'S RODOLPH GETS 100TH WAC WIN
With her team's win in the series opener at Bakersfield on April 17, New Mexico State head coach Kathy Rodolph picked up her 100th career WAC victory. In her 10 years in the WAC, Rodolph is 101-82 (.552).
GRAND CANYON HAS OFFENSIVE OUTBURST AGAINST UTAH VALLEY
Grand Canyon's offense exploded for 46 runs in the series sweep of Utah Valley last weekend, including a 12-run inning (game three) and a pair of 11-run frames (game one and two). In game one of the series, GCU launched three home runs in the third inning, two of which were grand slams by Jenna Coates and Camree Wartman. Dating back to 2000, GCU becomes just the sixth team in NCAA Division I history to connect on two grand slams in the same inning.
UTAH VALLEY'S HENSLEY SETS PROGRAM SINGLE-SEASON ASSISTS MARK
Utah Valley junior shortstop Tiani Hensley continues to improve her single-season assist record for UVU with 161. The previous record of 127 was set by Samantha Telarroja in 2010.
UTAH VALLEY LEADS NATION IN DOUBLE PLAYS PER GAME
For the third week in a row, Utah Valley ranks first nationally with 0.71 double plays per game. The Wolverines have 34 double plays this season through 48 games.
UVU'S VANSWAY SETS SINGLE-SEASON MARK FOR DOUBLE PLAYS
Utah Valley sophomore second baseman Brittney Vansway tied a single-season record against BYU on April 7 for the most double plays turned in a year with 18. Junior shortstop Tiani Hensley is one back of Vansway, as she has turned 17 double plays so far this season.
NM STATE'S FINAU SETS RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE GAMES WITH A HOMER
New Mexico State junior Fiana Finau hit a home run in six straight games - against Arizona on March 21, at New Mexico on March 24, in all three of the WAC games against Utah Valley on March 27-28 and in the series opener at Seattle U on April 3 - to set a school record. Finau fell just short of the NCAA record of seven games.
NM STATE'S RODRIGUEZ BECOMES SECOND AGGIE EVER WITH 50 HOMERS
New Mexico State senior outfielder Staci Rodriguez belted her 50th career home run, a grand slam in the second game of the series at Seattle U on April 4 to become just the second Aggie ever to reach the milestone. She now has 53 homers on her career, 11 shy of all-time home run leader Hoku Nohara, who finished her career with 64.
SU'S MORROW SETS PROGRAM CAREER DOUBLES RECORD
Seattle U senior catcher Bubba Morrow set the Seattle U all-time career doubles record with her 33rd in game two vs. Portland State on April 1 and now has 36. Lisa Maulden (34) and Jenny Hurst (30) are also in the Top 5 in the same category. Morrow also sits in second place with 31 career home runs and 125 RBIs, trailing record holder Jane Purdy (2005-08) in both categories (37 homers, 162 RBIs).
NM STATE RANKS IN TOP 10 NATIONALLY IN SIX OFFENSIVE CATEGORIES
New Mexico State ranks in the top 20 nationally in six offensive categories. The Aggies are 12th in home runs per game (1.58), on-base percentage (.442), scoring (7.22) and slugging percentage (.599), 13th in batting average (.346), and 17th in doubles per game (1.68). NM State also ranks 30th in winning percentage (.740).