United Athletic Conference

 

Dixie State's Hannah Hughbanks and Tarleton's Julia Wernet have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 8 through March 14.

 

Hughbanks, a sophomore outfielder from Chino Hill, Calif., managed an impressive .833 batting average across a pair of wins over Southern Utah on Sunday. In the opener, she went 3-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and a stolen base to lead the Trailblazers to an 11-9 win. Hughbanks also brought in two runs in the second meeting to help Dixie State sweep the Thunderbirds behind an 8-7 victory.

 

Wernet, a junior from West, Texas, picked up her second award of the year behind a pair of complete-game wins last week. She opened the week with a winning effort against Prairie View A&M in which she struck out five Panther batters. Wernet topped that performance with a three-hit shutout victory against Texas Southern on Friday.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Grand Canyon's Gianna Nicoletti hit .462 as she tallied six hits to lead the Lopes last week… NM State's Matalasi Faapito finished the week going 4-for-7 at the plate, including two home runs in the Aggies' double-header against South Florida… Seattle U's Bailey Thompson led the Redhawks to a pair of wins over Portland State, highlighted by a three-hit, two-RBI outing performance on Saturday… Tarleton's Destiny Crumpley posted a team-high six RBIs to lead the Texans to a trio of wins in Austin, Texas.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Dixie State's Carissa Burgess struck out 12 batters on her way to a complete-game victory in the Trailblazers' final matchup of the weekend… NM State's Matalasi Faapito pitched 8.2 innings for the Aggies, giving up only three runs in a series with USF … Seattle U's Shi Smith helped lead the Redhawks to a pair of wins as she struck out 13 batters in four outings, five of which came in just 3.2 innings against No. 8 Washington.

 

This week's slate of non-conference matchups kicks of this evening as California Baptist hosts Long Beach State. The Lancers will also travel to Pacific and Saint Mary's for a pair of doubleheaders this weekend. Utah Valley's week starts tomorrow as it will be at home against Weber State. The Wolverines are also scheduled for a three-game road series with Montana. Tarleton opens the week on Wednesday at home against Abilene Christian before heading to Lubbock, Texas, to compete against UTEP and Texas Tech in the Jeannine McHaney Memorial Classic.

 

Seattle U shares an opponent with Utah Valley as the Redhawks will battle with Montana. NM State and Grand Canyon will be in Phoenix competing in the GCU Invitational against the likes of Idaho State and Southern Utah. Meanwhile, Dixie State squares off at home with Weber State on Friday and Saturday. 

 

Grand Canyon hoists the best batting average (.284) while NM State sits atop the league in earned run average (4.01). Tarleton's defense has been top-notch as they lead the conference in fielding percentage (.932). Individually, UVU's Basia Query has the best batting average at .434 while Grand Canyon's Gianna Nicoletti has the most hits (29) and runs scored (22). Dixie State's Mikaela Thomson leads the league in RBIs (19) and home runs (6). When it comes to extra-base hits, California Baptist's Brittany Galvez has hit the most doubles (8) while Grand Canyon's Kristin Fifield has recorded the most triples (3). Inside the circle, Seattle U's ace Shi Smith has the most strikeouts with 65 and UVU's Katie Zuniga holds the best ERA (3.25).

 

NM State concluded its week in an exciting fashion as they walked off twice on Sunday. The Aggies received some seventh inning heroism from Hailey Tanori to pull out a 2-1 victory over South Dakota. Tanori hit a two-RBI single to propel the Aggies past the Coyotes after falling behind 0-1 in the top of the first inning.

 

The Aggies' magic took an extra inning the second time around as Ramsay Lopez hit a walk-off home run in the eighth inning to secure the victory over Toledo. With the pair of thrilling wins, the Aggies are now riding a six-game win streak. This is the longest win streak for NM State since winning six in a row in March 21-31 of 2018. 

 

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 they 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.