United Athletic Conference

Complete Release (PDF)

 

Utah Valley's Abby Doughty and Brooke Carter have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 2-8.

 

Doughty, a sophomore outfielder from Vail, Ariz., batted .600, held an on-base percentage of .647 and slugged 1.467 to lead the Wolverines to a pair of wins over the weekend. She had multiple hits in four of the five games UVU played this weekend, including a three-hit outing against Northern Colorado on the first day of the tournament. Doughty also hit three home runs in three consecutive at bats, spanning across two games. She finished the weekend with nine hits, five RBIs, three home runs and a stolen base.

 

Carter, a sophomore right-hander from Spanish Ford, Utah, led the Wolverines to a win over Northern Colorado behind the first perfect game in UVU's Division I era. Against the Bears, Carter struck out eight batters in five innings en route to her fourth win of the season. For the weekend, she maintained a 1.45 earned run average, struck out 12 batters and walked only one in 9.2 innings pitched as UVU competed in the Northern Colorado Tournament held in Greeley, Colo.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Grand Canyon's Kristin Fifield batted .500 and hit two home runs this weekend, including a home run that was the eventual difference maker against St. Joseph's… NM State's Matalasi Faapito slashed .545/.667/.727 for the week while going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI against No. 17 Arizona State.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Grand Canyon's Ryan Denhart finished the weekend with a 1.40 ERA, including seven striking out batters in extra innings against UNLV… NM State's Analise De La Roca pitched 5.1 shutout innings against No. 17 Arizona State to earn the win over the nationally-ranked Sun Devils. 

 

This upcoming week, WAC teams are scheduled to play in 30 games, starting tomorrow as Kansas City hosts a doubleheader against SIUE. KC will also battle with Tulsa and Kansas as they travel to Lawrence, Kan. to take part in the Jayhawk Invitational. NM State starts their week tomorrow with a matchup with in-state rival New Mexico. Over the week the Aggies will also take on Kent State, No. 6 Oklahoma and Houston as they compete in the OU Tournament in Norman, Okla. Grand Canyon will be the only other team in action on Wednesday when they face off with South Dakota and Lehigh. The Lopes will also see Ohio State and Pacific over the week as they play host to the GCU Invitational.

 

Seattle U's week will start and finish on Thursday with a game against Utah. CBU heads to Fullerton, Calif., to play in the Easton Invitational where they'll see Boston U, Long Beach State, Sacramento State and CSU Fullerton. Utah Valley plays only a pair of games this week, hosting Utah State on Friday and Sunday. CSU Bakersfield starts play on Saturday when they begin a three-game series with UC Davis on the road.

 

After two weeks of non-conference play, NM State leads in team fielding with a .979 fielding percentage while Utah Valley has the top ERA at 2.99 and top batting average at .317. Individually, Utah Valley's Abby Doughty leads the conference in batting average (.456) and is tied with CSU Bakersfield's Karah Wiseman, SU's Stephanie Merwin and NM State's Hope Banales for the most triples with 2 apiece. Grand Canyon's Gianna Nicoletti has the most hits with 27. NM State's Ramsay Lopez has scored the most runs (19) and has the most total bases (52). Aggie teammate Matalasi Faapito leads the league with 23 RBIs. Faapito is also tied with SU's Cherise Silvan, UVU's Basia Query and Jade Miller and GCU's Savannah Tourville for the most doubles with five each. Jeanelle Medina of NM State has the most stolen bases as she has gone a perfect 7-for-7 on the season. Seattle U's Stefanie Madrigal has the best earned run average at 2.42 while teammate Shi Smith has the most strikeouts with 89.

 

On Friday, March 6, NM State took down No. 17 Arizona State when as they competed in the ASU Tournament in Tempe, Ariz. Behind a combined shutout effort from Analise De La Roca and Felicia De La Torre, the Aggies took down the Sun Devils 2-0. In 5.1 innings, De La Roca faced 24 batters and gave up only four hits.

 

Grand Canyon senior Brianna Aguilar reached 200 strikeouts for her career over the weekend. The Tucson, Ariz., native achieved the mark with her second strikeout against Montana on Friday, March 6. 

 

With a pair of home wins over Michigan State, California Baptist earned the sweep over the Big Ten foe. The Lancers won 3-2 in eight innings in Game 1 and dominated Game 2, winning 9-4. Senior pitcher Kerisa Viramontes struck out seven Spartans and gave up only four hits as she went all eight innings to earn the win in the first matchup. In the second game, the Lancers bats came alive as Amanda Argomaniz led the way with three RBIs.

 

On Sunday, March 1, NM State found themselves down eight runs after the top of the first inning against Houston at the Boyd Gaming Classic in Las Vegas. The Aggies went on to score 10 unanswered runs, five of them coming in the bottom of the first, to take the game 10-8. Freshman Matalasi Faapito led the charge with two hits and four RBIs while also throwing 6 1/3 innings to earn the win in the circle.

 

After being shutout in their first matchup on with Southeast Missouri State on Saturday, February 29 and scoring three or fewer runs in each of their previous six games, Kansas City's offense erupted against SEMO. Led by Delainey Fenoglio's three-hit, three-RBI performance the Roos put up 13 runs against the Redhawks. Kansas City would need every run as they squeaked out a one-run win to even the weekend series.

 

For only the second time in school history, Seattle U took down a nationally-ranked opponent. On Sunday, Feb. 23, the Redhawks defeated No. 18 Missouri 3-1. A three-run homer off the bat of junior Bailey Thompson in the first inning gave SU the early lead and eventually the win. Pitchers Carley Nance and Shi Smith combined to allow only one run on four hits in the victory. 

 

With a loaded non-conference schedule, this is already the fifth matchup with a Top 25 team for the Redhawks this season. They also took on No. 3 Oklahoma on and came ever so close to pulling off the upset as they fell 2-1.

 

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.

 

Of the 13 first team All-WAC players from last year, six return for the 2020 season, including Seattle U's Ally Choate, Carley Nance and Bailey Thompson, NM State's Nikki Butler, Grand Canyon's Savannah Tourville and Utah Valley's Abby Doughty.

 

Eleven of the second team All-WAC selections return for 2020, including three from Kansas City (Sydney Garcia, Mia Hoveland and Chyanne Onstad). Also returning are Grand Canyon's Brianna Aguilar and Ryan Denhart, California Baptist's Britanny Galvez and Caitlyn Lloyd, Seattle U's Madison Cathcart and Olivia Viggiano, Cydney Curran of CSU Bakersfield and Lyndsay Steverson of Utah Valley.