United Athletic Conference

 

Grand Canyon's Gianna Nicoletti and California Baptist's Kerisa Viramontes have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 8 through Feb. 14.

 

Nicoletti, a junior outfielder from Fullerton, Calif., led the WAC with a .500 batting average on the opening weekend of play. She picked up hits in five of six games on the weekend, including a 3-for-4 game in the season-opener against Utah on Thursday night. On the week, she was 9-for-18 from the plate, driving in four RBIs and scoring six runs. She also earned five walks and struck out just once to post a .625 on-base percentage.

 

Viramontes, a senior from Mira Loma, Calif., earned a pair of wins on the week to lead the Lancers. On Thursday, she struck out 11 UC Davis hitters and allowed just two runs, only one of them earned, on five hits over nine innings in an extra-inning complete game win. On Friday, she picked up her second win in her second complete game in a 9-3 win over Sacramento State. On the week, she finished with 13 strikeouts and posted a 1.75 earned-run average.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: California Baptist's Amanda Argomaniz paced the Lancers to a 3-1 opening weekend with seven RBIs and a pair of multi-hit games against UC Davis and Sacramento State … Dixie State's Shea Clements hit .286 with a pair of doubles on the weekend as the Trailblazers opened their inaugural Division I season at UNLV … NM State's Ramsay Lopez hit a two-home run in the bottom of the sixth to help lead the Aggies to a 6-3 win over Pittsburgh on Friday.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Dixie State's Carissa Burgess picked up the Trailblazers first-ever Division I win, allowing one run on four hits in a 5-4 win over Southern Utah on Saturday … Grand Canyon's Ryan Denhart picked up a pair of wins for the Lopes at home against Weber State and Montana … NM State's Felicia De La Torre struck out eight batters and scattered three hits over five innings to earn the win in a 6-3 victory over ACC-foe Pittsburgh.

 

The second week of WAC softball opens up this evening as Dixie State plays host to Southern Utah as the Trailblazers will look to pick up its second win over the Thunderbirds. Friday is highlighted by a matchup between Dixie State and No. 3 Washington in the Dixie State Classic. Utah Valley will also be in St. George, Utah, as it takes on tough competition that includes Montana, BYU and Washington. Seattle U will be in Tucson, Ariz., for the Hillenbrand Invitational and will share the field with Southern Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. 

 

Tarleton will head north to Frisco, Texas, to compete in the North Texas Tracey Beard Classic, including a matchup with No. 7 Texas. The Lancers of California Baptist will set up shop in Las Vegas for the UNLV Desert Classic as they will battle with Utah, UNLV and Weber State during the weekend. NM State continues its stay in Florida as they have a three-game series with No. 24 UCF. Meanwhile, Grand Canyon makes its first road trip for a pair of series with San Diego and UC San Diego.

 

Seattle U will host the 2021 WAC Softball Tournament. All eligible teams will advance to the double-elimination tournament, which will be held at Logan Field on May 13-15. This is the third time the Redhawks have hosted the event, as they did so in 2014 and 2016.

 

For the second year in a row, Seattle U is the preseason favorite to win the 2021 Western Athletic Conference softball title in a vote of the league's seven head coaches, who could not vote for their own team.

 

The Redhawks edged out the top spot in the preseason poll with 32 points as they collected four first-place votes. NM State was just behind them in second with 31 points, garnering the remaining three first-place votes. Utah Valley finished in third with 25 points while California Baptist slid into fourth, tallying 20 points. Grand Canyon landed in fifth with newcomer Dixie State taking sixth as it earned 19 points and 12 points, respectively. Tarleton rounded out the poll with eight points.

 

The Preseason All-WAC Team, as selected by the coaches, was also announced. The Preseason All-WAC Team includes last year's WAC Preseason Player of the Year and WAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year as NM State's Nikki Butler and Grand Canyon's Ryan Denhart each earned a selection. Along with Butler and Denhart, four other WAC Player of the Week award winners are included among this year's All-WAC team. Utah Valley's Devyn Cretz and Abby Doughty, NM State's Matalasi Faapito and California Baptist's Katelyn Mangrello each earned at least one player of the week award during the shortened 2020 season.

 

Joining those six on the Preseason All-WAC Team was Madison Cathcart and Ally Choate of Seattle U; Kaylee Dietrich of Grand Canyon; Carissa Burgess and Hannah Hughbanks of Dixie State; Brittany Galvez of California Baptist; Destiny Crumpley and Georgia Capell of Tarleton.