United Athletic Conference

 

Dixie State's Mikaela Thomson and Tarleton's Julia Wernet have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Feb. 22 through Feb. 28.

 

Thomson, a senior infielder from Herriman, Utah, finished the week hitting .412 with five home runs and 10 RBIs to help carry the Trailblazers to a 4-1 record last week. Thomson's week was highlighted by a three-home run, eight RBI performance in a win over Northern Colorado on Saturday. She also had a big game on Friday as she hit two bombs to help the Trailblazers to a 5-3 win over Utah State. On the season, Thomson ranks first in the WAC in home runs (5) and RBIs (11).

 

Wernet, a junior right-hander from West, Texas, earned wins in each of her last four decisions while striking out 17 batters in five outings last week. On Wednesday against Prairie View A&M, Wernet came on in relief with one out and the bases loaded. She escaped the jam and eventually went on to pitch the final 4.0 innings to help the Texans pick up their first Division I win. Wernet also collected complete-game victories over Incarnate Word and Stephen F. Austin in which she allowed just one run in each game. To top off her week, Wernet struck out a career-high 10 batters on Friday against UIW.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Grand Canyon's Tabitha Dyer went 6-of-13 at the plate with a .500 on base percentage during the GCU Purple Classic which included matchups with a pair of ranked opponents in No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 25 Iowa State… NM State's Hailey Tanori led the Aggies with eight hits and three doubles in their five games at The Spring Games last week… Tarleton's Katy Schaefer recorded a hit in seven of the eight games Tarleton played in last week as she helped the Texans finish the week with a 5-3 record… Utah Valley's Linnah Rebolledo batted .600 as she recorded six hits and six RBIs in the Wolverines' series with Southern Utah.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Dixie State's Carissa Burgess finished the week with 13 strikeouts and a 1.45 earned run average as she earned wins in all three of her outings during the Dixie State Tournament.

 

This week's slate of games get underway tomorrow evening as NM State travels to Gainesville, Florida, to take on the No. 6 ranked Gators. Meanwhile, there will be a full schedule this weekend as there are 28 games scheduled between Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Aggies will stay in the Sunshine State for the weekend as they will take on Central Michigan, North Dakota, Florida Gulf Coast, Middle Tennessee, Toledo and South Dakota in the span of three days.

 

Utah Valley is one of two WAC teams that will be in Las Vegas for the UNLV Invitational as Seattle U will join them. The Wolverines and Redhawks are set to get a taste of conference play as they will battle on Friday in a non-conference matchup. The two will also see Idaho State and UNLV during their stay in Sin City.

 

Dixie State is preparing for a three-game road series with UC Riverside this Friday and Saturday. Tarleton will be heading east to take part in the Louisiana Tech Invitational in Ruston, Louisiana. While there, the Texans are scheduled for a pair of matchups with both Louisiana Tech and No. 23 Baylor. California Baptist will be back at home to battle with San Diego State in a Friday double header before swapping roles and traveling to face the Aztecs on their home turf in San Diego. Grand Canyon has the latest start to the week as it won't be in action until its three-game home stand with Northern Illinois.

 

With three weeks in the books, Utah Valley hoists the best batting average (.304). Meanwhile, California Baptist has been the best in the circle, sitting atop the league in earned run average (4.30). Tarleton's defense has been top-notch as they lead the conference in fielding percentage (.980). Individually, UVU's Linnah Rebolledo has the best batting average at .565 while Grand Canyon's Gianna Nicoletti has the most hits (19) and runs scored (14). Dixie State's Mikaela Thomson leads the league in RBIs (11) and home runs (5). When it comes to extra-base hits, California Baptist's Brittany Galvez and Makayla Jordan are tied for the most doubles (6) 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 40 and GCU's Ryan Denhart holds the best ERA (3.19).

 

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.