United Athletic Conference

 

Seattle U's Bailey Thompson and Grand Canyon's Ryan Denhart have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 22 through March 28.

 

Thompson, a senior catcher from Tucson, Ariz., led the Redhawks to a pair of victories over NM State as she finished the week three home runs, seven runs batted in and a .500 batting average. Thompson's week was highlighted by a two-home-run, four-RBI outing in a 6-4 victory over the Aggies on Friday.

 

Denhart, a senior from Los Alamitos, Calif., was instrumental in a sweep of Utah Valley last week as she was responsible for two of the Lopes' three wins over the Wolverines. On Friday, she held UVU scoreless during three innings to set up Grand Canyon for a five-inning victory. Denhart backed up that performance with a complete game victory on Saturday in which she allowed only one run and struck out nine batters on her way to finishing the week with a 0.70 earned-run average.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: California Baptist's Ashley McBay posted three RBIs and a double last week as the Lancers went 2-1 in their series with Dixie State… Grand Canyon's Lilly Bishop slashed .667/.667/1.222 to help the Lopes complete a three-game sweep of Utah Valley last week… NM State's Kayla Bowen finished the week with a pair of home runs and eight RBIs while batting at a .471 clip… Tarleton's Bailee Riggs went 3-for-3 at the plate against Incarnate Word as she finished the week with a .417 batting average to lead the Texans.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: NM State's Chloe Rivas gave up just three earned runs in three appearances for the Aggies… Tarleton's Julia Wernet went the distance in both starts last week, including tallying four strikeouts in 7.2 innings against Incarnate Word… Seattle U's Carley Nance logged 10 innings in the circle last week, giving up just two earned runs while striking out nine.

 

This week's slate of games gets underway this evening as Dixie State takes on in-state rival Southern Utah. The Trailblazers will be back in action on Friday for a three-game home series with Tarleton. Before meeting with Dixie State, Tarleton will be in San Marcos, Texas, for a contest against Texas State on Tuesday. Utah Valley's week kicks off with a road game against Utah State before they head west to take on California Baptist. The Lancers' schedule also includes a double header against Loyola Marymount on Wednesday. Meanwhile, NM State plays host to Grand Canyon for a trio of games across Friday and Saturday. 

 

Dixie State's bats continue to be the hottest as it hoists the best batting average (.297) while Seattle U's pitchers have combined for a league-best 3.90 earned run average. Tarleton's defense has been top-notch as they lead the conference in fielding percentage (.968). Individually, GCU's Gianna Nicoletti has been on a tear to star the year, leading the conference in batting average (.430), hits (40) and runs scored (31). Dixie State's Mikaela Thomson and Seattle U's Bailey Thompson share the lead in RBIs (26) while Thomson's nine home runs lead the WAC. When it comes to extra-base hits, California Baptist's Makayla Jordan has hit the most doubles (10) while Seattle U's Olivia Viggiano sits at five triples to pace the league. Inside the circle, California Baptist's Kerisa Viramontes has the most strikeouts with 79 and fellow Lancer Gretchen Goldsmith holds the best ERA (2.65).

 

Grand Canyon Head Coach Ann Pierson tallied her 500th win at the helm of the Lopes softball program as the Lopes defeated Idaho State on March 19. Pierson came to Phoenix in 2004 and is amidst her 18th season leading Grand Canyon. She has led the Lopes to 30-plus wins in each of the last four full seasons. 

 

Seattle U's Madison Cathcart has been among the best to ever step to the plate in the WAC. Last week she placed herself in a tie for the most walks in WAC history when she recorded her 18th of the season and 138th career base on balls. Cathcart is also only one double shy of tying the all-time WAC record for doubles in a career.

 

In back-to-back games, California Baptist was able to find late-game magic as they walked off in both games of a doubleheader with Long Beach State. In the opener, Mia Alvarez connected on an infield hit to bring across Maile Olson for the game-winning run. Makayla Jordan was the hero in Game 2 as she knocked a hit into center field to bring in Samantha Demyon.

 

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.

 

On Jan. 14, the WAC announced the addition of five new schools in the upcoming years. Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin and Southern Utah were all offered and accepted membership invitations. With the addition, the WAC will have six schools in Texas, more than any other conference in the country, and three schools in Utah, also a national best. The four Texas schools will join the league on July 1, 2021 and Southern Utah will follow 365 days later, officially joining the WAC on July 1, 2022.