United Athletic Conference

 

Dixie State's Meagan Anders and Utah Valley's Devyn Cretz have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for March 29 through April 4.

 

Anders, a senior catcher from Las Vegas, notched eight hits last week to finish with a .571 average and four RBIs for the Trailblazers. In the series opener against Tarleton, Anders scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning while also tallying three hits, one home run and three RBIs. She also recorded a pair of doubles and an RBI across the final two games to help Dixie State earn the series win over the Texans.

 

Cretz, a senior from Corona, Calif., was the winning pitcher in each of the Wolverines' three wins last week as she finished the week with a 1.00 ERA across 21.0 innings in the circle. Cretz posted 14.2 consecutive scoreless innings during the week to lead her team to a win over Utah State and a series victory over California Baptist. Against the Aggies, Cretz struck out nine batters and allowed only one run. Meanwhile, in a pair of wins over the Lancers, Cretz gave up just five hits and did not allow a single run.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Grand Canyon's Anjolee Aguilar-Beaucage batted .625 last week as she posted a trio of extra-base hits in just eight plate appearances against NM State… NM State's Maya Martinez impressed on Friday against Grand Canyon as she finished the game with two home runs and five RBIs, including a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh… Tarleton's Georgia Capell recorded a hit in every game of the Dixie State series, including a season-high four RBIs in the opener… Utah Valley's Siena Sandoval batted .545 with a home run and a pair of RBIs to help the Wolverines to a 3-1 record last week.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Dixie State's Ashtyn Bauerle gave up just one run on Friday against Tarleton as she went seven innings to earn the complete-game win… NM State's Matalasi Faapito was responsible for both Aggie wins against Grand Canyon last week, including a dominant outing on Saturday in which she gave up only two hits.

 

This week's slate of games kick off today as Dixie State hosts Utah. Utah Valley also has an in-state battle as they travel to Ogden, Utah, to face Weber State. California Baptist and Grand Canyon are also in action Tuesday with the Lancers on the road at San Diego and the Lopes head to Arizona State. The Trailblazers wrap up their two-game series with Utah on Wednesday before traveling to Phoenix for a three-game series against Grand Canyon. NM State pays a visit to The Sunshine State as well, battling with the Mexican National Team and Arizona.

 

Seattle U's conference schedule continues this week as they are on the road at Utah Valley beginning Friday. Meanwhile, a series between California Baptist and Tarleton concludes this week's conference schedule.

 

Dixie State's bats continue to be the hottest as it hoists the best batting average (.304) while Seattle U's pitchers have combined for a league-best 3.79 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 (.430). Grand Canyon's Gianna Nicoletti paces the WAC in hits (43) and runs scored (32). Dixie State's Mikaela Thomson holds the lead in RBIs (32) while Thomson's nine home runs is tied with NM State's Faapito to lead the WAC. When it comes to extra-base hits, California Baptist's Makayla Jordan and Dixie State's Hannah Hughbanks have 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 98 and Utah Valley's Devyn Cretz holds the best ERA (2.65).

 

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, Tarleton's Georgia Capell holds a .600 batting average to sit atop the league. Dixie State's Meagan Anders leads the conference in hits (11) and runs scored (7). NM State's Kayla Bowen has recorded eight RBIs to lead the WAC. The home run leader in conference play is Seattle U's Bailey Thompson. Both Dixie State's Anders and California Bapitst's Katelyn Mangrello have four doubles to share the 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 25 while Seattle U's Carley Nance maintains a 1.40 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. 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.