United Athletic Conference

 

Dixie State's Hannah Hughbanks and Tarleton's Tristan Bridges have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for April 5 through April 11.

 

Hughbanks, a sophomore outfielder from Chino Hills, Calif., posted a .667 batting average that included six RBIs, four doubles and one home run across five games. Hughbanks led the Trailblazers to a series win over Grand Canyon as she collected seven hits in eight at bats against the Lopes. She also drew four walks and finished the week with zero strikeouts.

 

Bridges, a sophomore from Denton, Texas, was masterful in three outings for the Texans last week, allowing just three earned runs in 15.1 innings in the circle. In Friday's opener, Bridges pitched all seven innings and suffered a loss despite allowing only one hit and one unearned run. She then came on in relief to earn the win for the Texans in the second game of a double header on Friday while also pitching to a complete game victory on Saturday. On the week, she maintained a 1.37 ERA and held the Lancers to a .125 batting average.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: California Baptist's Tiana Patrick posted six RBIs to go along with a .429 batting average as she led the Lancers to a 3-2 record on the week… Grand Canyon's Savannah Tourville batted .444 last week, managing a trio of doubles in the Lopes' series against Dixie State… NM State's Matalasi Faapito batted .400 in two games against No. 8 Arizona last week... Seattle U's Bailey Thompson finished the week with four RBIs as she went 4-for-9 at the plate… Tarleton's Katy Schaefer turned in a team-high five RBIs last week to lead the Texans to a series win over California Baptist.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: California Baptist's Kerisa Viramontes struck out 17 batters in addition to allowing just three runs in 20.2 innings last week for the Lancers... Dixie State's Carissa Burgess went 20.0 total innings for the Trailblazers last week, including a shutout victory over Grand Canyon on Friday… Grand Canyon's Jacie Hambrick led the Lopes to a win over Dixie State on Friday as she gave up zero earned runs and struck out six Trailblazer batters… Seattle U's Carley Nance struck out five Utah Valley batters in Friday's opener as she earned the complete game win.

 

This week's slate of games gets underway on Wednesday as Grand Canyon takes on Pac-12 foe Arizona in a double header while Utah Valley travels to Brigham Young. Conference play resumes on Friday as California Baptist visits Seattle U, Utah Valley hosts Dixie State and Tarleton pays a visit to NM State for a trio of three game series on the radar.

 

Dixie State's bats continue to be the hottest as it hoists the best batting average (.303) 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, NM State's Matalasi Faapito leads the conference in batting average (.429). Grand Canyon's Gianna Nicoletti and Dixie State's Hannah Hughbanks share the lead in hits (46) while Nicoletti's 32 runs scored is tops in the WAC. Dixie State's Mikaela Thomson holds the lead in RBIs (38) while Thomson's 11 home runs are tied with NM State's Faapito to lead the WAC. When it comes to extra-base hits, Dixie State's Hughbanks has hit the most doubles (14) 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 115 and Utah Valley's Devyn Cretz holds the best ERA (3.09).

 

In WAC play only, Dixie State hitters have succeeded at a .322 clip to lead the way. Seattle U pitchers have put together a 2.67 ERA to pace the conference and Tarleton's fielding percentage of .978 leads all league teams. Individually, NM State's Matalasi Faapito holds a .500 batting average to sit atop the league. Dixie State's Hannah Hughbanks leads the conference in hits (13) and runs scored (9). Seattle U's Bailey Thompson has recorded 11 RBIs to lead the WAC. Thompson also leads the way with four home runs in WAC matchups. California Bapitst's Katelyn Mangrello has four doubles to lead in that category. Seattle U's Olivia Viggiano has the most triples with three thus far. California Baptist's Kerisa Viramontes has struck out the most WAC batters at 36 while Seattle U's Carley Nance and Grand Canyon's Lexy Coons mach maintain a 2.25 ERA to lead the conference.

 

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. 

 

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.

 

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.