United Athletic Conference

 

NM State's Maya Martinez and Seattle U's Shi Smith have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for April 26 through May 2.

 

Martinez, a redshirt freshman infielder from La Mirada, Calif., had a breakout series against Utah Valley as she posted a .545 batting average and a 1.545 slugging percentage in her 11 at bats. Martinez drove in five runs as she hit three home runs and a pair of doubles against the Wolverines. Her week was highlighted by a two-home-run outing on Friday in which she hit a walk-off home run to complete a 9-0 comeback.

 

Smith, a senior from Gresham, Ore., was absolutely dominant as she finished the week with a 0.00 earned-run average to earn two wins in the circle. On Friday, she tossed a complete game, giving up just one hit and earning four strikeouts in the 8-0 win over Dixie State. She also came on to close out a nine-inning Redhawk win on Saturday. In Saturday's outing, Smith struck out seven Trailblazer batters in just four innings pitched.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Dixie State's Hannah Hughbanks collected six hits and a home run as she finished week with a .545 batting average… Grand Canyon's Kristin Fifield finished the week hitting .667 as she racked up a pair of extra base hits and a pair of RBIs against Tarleton… Seattle U's Cherise Silvan slashed .750/.800/1.500 in the Redhawks' series sweep over Dixie State as she managed a double, a triple and a home run during the week… Tarleton's Georgia Capell crushed a grand slam against GCU on Saturday for her 50th career home run… Utah Valley's Kyla Hardy hit a pair of three-run home runs in the Wolverines 8-1 win over BYU on Tuesday, helping snap the Cougars 16-game win streak.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: California Baptist's Kerisa Viramontes had a pair of standout performances against Nevada as she struck out 13 batters and maintained a 1.00 ERA across 14 innings… Dixie State's Ashtyn Bauerle finished the week with a 2.50 ERA as she gave up just five runs across 14 innings in the circle… NM State's Chloe Rivas went 2-0 last week, including a four-inning outing on Saturday in which she allowed just one earned run… Tarleton's Julia Wernet led the Texans to a win over GCU on Saturday, giving up just one run in the complete-game victory.

 

The final week of the regular season opens on Friday as Tarleton travels to Orem, Utah, to take on Utah Valley with their series concluding with a double header on Saturday. Meanwhile, the fellow WAC series also begin on Friday with Grand Canyon hosting Seattle U and California Baptists hosting NM State. Dixie State closes out the week with a non-conference matchup against Utah State on Sunday.

 

Dixie State's bats continue to find the ball as it hoists the best batting average (.298) while Seattle U's pitchers have combined for a league-best 3.29 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 (.422) and home runs (15). Dixie State's Hannah Hughbanks leads the league with 58 hits while her 18 doubles also pace WAC hitters. Grand Canyon's Gianna Nicoletti and Utah Valley's Linnah Rebolledo share the lead for runs scored this season with 36 apiece. Dixie State's Mikaela Thomson and Seattle U's Bailey Thompson each have driven in 41 runs to lead the WAC in RBIs. When it comes to extra-base hits, 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 140 and Seattle U's Carley Nance holds the best ERA (2.77).

 

In WAC play only, NM State hitters have succeeded at a .349 clip to lead the way while Seattle U pitchers have combined for a 2.16 ERA to pace the conference and Tarleton's fielding percentage of .975 leads all league teams. Individually, NM State's Nikki Butler holds the top batting average (.474) while also leading the league in home runs (7) and RBIs (24). Dixie State's Hannah Hughbanks leads the conference in hits with 25 each while NM State's Ramsay Lopez in runs scored (19). Dixie State's Meagan Anders has seven 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 Seattle U's Carley Nance is maintaining a 1.67 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.