United Athletic Conference

 

Kansas City's Sydney Garcia and Utah Valley's Devyn Cretz have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 3-9.

 

Garcia, a senior outfielder from Kansas City, Mo., hit an impressive .500 clip with a .857 slugging percentage in five games at the Maverick Classic in Arlington, Texas. Her weekend was highlighted by a walk-off RBI double against Southland preseason favorite Stephen F. Austin on Valentine's Day. Garcia also went yard in the bottom of the fifth against SFA. In the Roos second matchup with SFA, the Kansas City native batted .750 with three RBIs to lead the Roos to a 9-2 win. For the weekend, Garcia finished with seven hits, two doubles, one home run, five RBIs and two stolen bases.

 

Cretz, a senior right-hander from Corona, Calif., picked up her second Pitcher of the Week award as she went 2-0 with a save at the Marucci Desert Classic in Las Vegas. She earned wins over Montana and UNLV, pitching a combined 15 innings while maintaining a 0.00 earned run average. Against UNLV, Cretz retired 16 of the final 18 hitters she faced and pitched seven shutout innings to snap the Rebels six-game win streak. Against Weber State, the senior came in following a six-run sixth inning that gave the Wolverines a 6-5 lead. The Wildcats went three up, three down as Cretz struck out two of the final three batters to earn the save.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Samantha Pech went three-for-eight on the weekend with one RBI and a .500 on-base percentage as the Runners competed at the Libby Matson Tournament in Stockton, Calif… NM State's Ramsay Lopez hit .455 with five hits, two home runs and seven RBIs while also earning five walks as the Aggies split a four-game series with Omaha… Seattle U's Cherise Silvan hit a .467 clip while slugging .667 as she managed seven hits, three doubles and 2 RBIs at the Libby Matson tournament… Utah Valley's Abby Doughty hit a game-winning grand slam with UVU trailing 5-2 against Weber State in the bottom of the sixth on Sunday while also batting .400 with eight hits, one home run and six RBIs over the weekend to lead the Wolverines to 5-1 record at the Marucci Desert Classic.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: California Baptist's Giana Lopez pitched two shutout innings and allowed only one hit against sixth-ranked Texas on top of earning a complete game shutout win against Ole Miss… CSU Bakersfield's Talia Nielsen picked up her first collegiate win and struck out a combined eight batters as she went 1-1 at the Libby Matson Tournament... NM State's Matalasi Faapito posted a 3.20 earned run average in 15.1 innings during a four game series against Omaha… Seattle U's Shi Smith collected a win as the Redhawks took down Stanford 5-2 and also earned a save in a 4-3 win over Nevada at the Libby Matson Tournament.

 

This week includes a slate of 28 games across the conference highlighted by a matchup between 2019 WAC Champion Seattle U and No. 3 Oklahoma as the Redhawks compete in the prestigious Mary Nutter Classic in Palm Springs, Calif. SU will also see UC Davis, Notre Dame, Missouri and Long Beach State in a span of three days. Utah Valley will look to continue its hot start as they take on Nevada and Saint Mary's (CA). NM State will head to El Paso, Texas to compete in the UTEP Tournament where they'll face IUPUI and Omaha. California Baptist will battle with Colorado State, Boise State and Yale at the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif. Grand Canyon will play host once again as they take on Drake, Utah State and CSUN at the GCU Purple Classic. Meanwhile, Kansas City will make the long trip to Hawaii to compete against Iowa, Hawaii and Portland State at the Hawaii Invitational.

 

After two weeks of non-conference play, NM State leads in team batting with a .333 batting average and also in fielding with a .982 fielding percentage while Utah Valley has the top ERA at 2.83. Individually, NM State's Matalasi Faapito leads the conference in batting average (.542) and total bases (29). The Aggies' Ramsay Lopez has scored the most runs (10) and has the most RBIs (13). Faapito and Lopez also share the lead for home runs (5). Utah Valley's Devyn Cretz holds the top ERA at 0.71 while teammate Basia Query has the most hits this season with 14. Query, SU's Cherise Silvan and CBU's Mackenzie Budinger have hit the most doubles with four a piece and six athletes are currently tied at one triple for the season. CSU Bakersfield's Cydney Curran has stolen the most bases (4) while Seattle U's Carley Nance has the most strikeouts (33).

 

Grand Canyon will host the 2020 WAC Softball Tournament. All six eligible teams will advance to the double-elimination tournament, which will be held at the GCU Softball Stadium on May 6-9. This is the second time the Lopes have hosted the event, as they did so in 2019.

 

In a preseason vote of the six WAC softball coaches, who could not vote for their own team, Seattle U was selected as the preseason favorite to win the title. 

 

The Redhawks took the top spot in the preseason poll with 35 points and five first-place votes. Grand Canyon was selected second with 30 points and the other two first-place votes while NM State was just behind in third with 28 points. California Baptist finished with 17 points to put them in fourth place. Utah Valley was picked to finish fifth with 16 points followed by Kansas City in sixth with 13 points. CSU Bakersfield rounded out the poll, garnering eight points.

 

NM State senior catcher Nikki Butler was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year and Grand Canyon junior Ryan Denhart 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. 

 

Seattle U led the way with five players selected to the Preseason All-WAC team, followed by Grand Canyon with three selections. Utah Valley and California Baptist each claimed two spots while NM State earned one selection.

 

Joining Butler and Denhart on the Preseason All-WAC Team were Madison Cathcart, Ally Choate, Carley Nance, Shianne Smith and Bailey Thompson of Seattle U; Brianna Aguilar and Savannah Tourville of Grand Canyon; Abby Doughty and Lyndsay Steverson of Utah Valley; Britanny Galvez and Caitlyn Lloyd of California Baptist.