United Athletic Conference

 

NM State's Nikki Butler and Matalasi Faapito have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for April 12 through April 18.

 

Butler, a redshirt senior from La Habra, Calif., drove in seven runs for the Aggies last week as she slashed .571/.600/1.429 in NM State's series with Tarleton. Butler's week was highlighted by a two home-run outing on Friday, including a grand slam that broke the game open for the Aggies. On the year, Butler now ranks eighth in the WAC with an on-base percentage of .417.

 

Faapito, a redshirt freshman from Temcula, Calif., threw a no-hitter against Tarleton on Friday on her way to carrying the Aggies to a series win over the Texans. In the series opener, Faapito struck out five batters to complete the Aggies' first no-hitter since 2011. She followed Friday's outing with five more strikeouts in the series finale on Saturday, picking up her eighth win on the season.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Grand Canyon's Savannah Tourville finished the week 3-for-4 in the Lopes' series with No. 8 Arizona… Seattle U's Bailey Thompson batted .667 last week, including going 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs on Friday against California Baptist… Tarleton's Katy Schaefer shined for the Texans on Saturday as she was perfect at the plate with a home run and a pair of RBIs… Utah Valley's Emery Nielson went 4-for-7 in a series win over Dixie State, driving in a pair of runs against the Trailblazers.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: California Baptist's Kerisa Viramontes struck out seven batters and earned a complete game victory in a pair of outings for the Lancers… Seattle U's Carley Nance carried the Redhawks to a win over California Baptist on Saturday, giving up just two hits and zero runs... Tarleton's Julia Wernet led the Texans with a trio of strikeouts on Friday against NM State… Utah Valley's Devyn Cretz earned a pair of wins last week, including matching a career-high nine strikeouts on Sunday against Dixie State.

 

The season rolls on as Tarleton and Utah Valley open the week with a pair of non-conference matchups on Wednesday. Tarleton plays host to North Texas while Utah Valley is at home against Utah State. Conference play resumes this Friday begining with a double header between NM State and Dixie State in St. George, Utah. Seattle U pays a visit to Tarleton for a three-game series this weekend and Grand Canyon is on the road at California Baptist to round out the week.

 

Dixie State's bats continue to be the hottest as it hoists the best batting average (.299) while Seattle U's pitchers have combined for a league-best 3.66 earned run average. Tarleton's defense has been top-notch as they lead the conference in fielding percentage (.967). Individually, NM State's Matalasi Faapito leads the conference in batting average (.434) and home runs (12). Faapito and Dixie State's Hannah Hughbanks share the lead in hits (46) while Grand Canyon's Gianna Nicoletti is tops in the WAC in runs scored with 33. Dixie State's Mikaela Thomson holds the lead in RBIs (39). When it comes to extra-base hits, Dixie State's Hughbanks has hit the most doubles (15) while Seattle U's Olivia Viggiano is tied with Utah Valley's Basia Query as they each sit at five triples to pace the league. Inside the circle, California Baptist's Kerisa Viramontes has the most strikeouts with 122 and Utah Valley's Devyn Cretz holds the best ERA (2.84).

 

In WAC play only, Seattle U hitters have succeeded at a .322 clip to lead the way while the Redhawk pitchers have combined for a 2.60 ERA to pace the conference and California Baptist's fielding percentage of .984 leads all league teams. Individually, Seattle U's Bailey Thompson paces the league in several categories as she hold the top batting average (.536) and has recorded the most RBIs (14) and home runs (5). Dixie State's Hannah Hughbanks and Meagan Anders lead the conference in hits with 16 a piece while Hughbanks' nine runs scored is the best in conference play. Dixie State's Anders 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 43 while Seattle U's Carley Nance is maintaining a 1.64 ERA to lead the conference.

 

NM State redshirt freshman Matalasi Faapito pitched the first Aggie no-hitter since May 20, 2011, as she led the Aggies to an 8-0 win over Tarleton on April 16. In the victory, Faapito struck out five Texans and did not walk any batters.

 

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.