United Athletic Conference

 

NM State's Nikki Butler and California Baptist's Kerisa Viramontes have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for April 19 through April 25.

 

Butler, a redshirt senior from La Habra, Calif., earned her second straight hitter of the week award as she slashed .545/.615/1.182 on the week. Butler hit a pair of home runs and drove across eight runs in the Aggies' road sweep over Dixie State last week. Her week was highlighted by a 4-for-4 showing on Saturday that included a grand slam in the fifth inning that put the Aggies ahead 7-4.

 

Viramontes, a senior from Mira Loma, Calif., led the Lancers to a series win over Grand Canyon last week as she finished the week with five strikeouts and a 2.23 earned-run average. In the series opener, Viramontes struck out four batters while giving up just one run across seven innings in the circle. She also earned the win in game two on Friday as she held the Lopes to just two hits in the final three innings of a nine-inning thriller.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: California Baptist's Ashley McBay batted .500 and brought in one run in the Lancers' series with Grand Canyon last week… Grand Canyon's Kristin Fifield finished the week with four RBIs and one home run against CBU… Seattle U's Olivia Viggiano went 5-for-10 at the plate, including coming through with a pair of triples in Saturday's opener against Tarleton… Tarleton's Katy Schaefer knocked in four runs and recorded a pair of doubles in a three-game series with Seattle U... Utah Valley's Rien Milliken posted an impressive 1.200 slugging percentage last week as she drove in seven runs and hit a pair of multi-run home runs in a double header against Boise State on Monday.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Grand Canyon's Lexy Coons led the Lopes to a shutout win over California Baptist on Saturday as she went the distance to earn the win… NM State's Matalasi Faapito finished 2-0 last week as she struck out four batters across two outings… Seattle U's Carley Nance struck out six batters on the way to earning the complete-game win over Tarleton on Saturday… Tarleton's Tristan Bridges posted 13 strikeouts as she finished with a 2-1 record last week, including a win over North Texas on Wednesday.

 

This week starts early as Utah Valley opens up with action at home against BYU this evening while Tarleton is on the road against Sam Houston on Wednesday. WAC play returns to the field with a trio of series beginning on Friday as Dixie State visits Seattle U, Tarleton hosts Grand Canyon and Utah Valley travels to NM State. California Baptist also prepares for a three-game homestand against Nevada. Utah Valley wraps up the week with a contest against UTEP on Sunday.

 

Dixie State's bats continue to find the ball as it hoists the best batting average (.304) while Seattle U's pitchers have combined for a league-best 3.55 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 (.431), home runs (13) and hits (46). Grand Canyon's Gianna Nicoletti and Dixie State's Meagan Anders share the lead for runs scored this season with 33. Dixie State's Mikaela Thomson holds the lead in RBIs (41). When it comes to extra-base hits, Dixie State's Hughbanks has hit the most doubles (18) while Seattle U's Olivia Viggiano sits at seven triples to pace the league. Inside the circle, California Baptist's Kerisa Viramontes has the most strikeouts with 127 and Seattle U's Carley Nance holds the best ERA (2.87).

 

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 holds the top batting average (.474) and is tied with NM State's Nikki Butler for the lead in home runs with five apiece. Following an eight-RBI week, Butler now leads the league with 20 RBIs. Dixie State's Hannah Hughbanks and Shea Clements and California Baptist's Ashley McBay lead the conference in hits with 19 each while Hughbanks' is tied with NM State's Ramsay Lopez in runs scored (15). Dixie State's Meagan Anders has four doubles to share lead with fellow Trailblazer, Hughbanks in that category. Seattle U's Olivia Viggiano has the most triples with five thus far. California Baptist's Kerisa Viramontes has struck out the most WAC batters at 48 while Grand Canyon's Lexy Coons is maintaining a 1.29 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.