United Athletic Conference

Complete Release (PDF)

 

After recording a five-win week, California Baptist swept the TicketSmarter Softball Athletes of the Week award. Katelyn Mangrello earned Hitter of the Week accolades with Jazmine Castaneda earning Pitcher of the Week honors

 

Mangrello went 8-for-12 at the plate with a 1.333 slugging percentage across the Lancers seven-game week. Six of the catchers eight hits went for extra bases as she also recorded nine RBI with a pair of runs scored. Magrello recorded multi-hit games during California Baptist’s wins against North Dakota and Columbia. The junior also reached base at a .667 clip during the seven games. 

 

Castaneda recorded the win in each of her three appearances. For the week she pitched 14.1 innings, struck out six and allowed just three earned runs. She limited the opposition to nine hits. The sophomore started the week by earning the win in relief against UC San Diego on Wednesday, March 9. In four innings she struck out a pair and allowed two hits. Two days later she got the win as the starter by throwing 6.1 innings against Harvard, where she struck out three and surrendered four hits. Castandeda concluded her week with a four-inning relief appearance against Columbia. 

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Calie Burris had three multi-hit games with a .500 batting average in four games for Abilene Christian … Kristin Fifield collected a hit in all four games for Grand Canyon, registering a .444 batting average during the week … Katy Schaefer help lead Tarleton to a three-game sweep of Sam Houston by recording seven RBI with a .500 on-base percentage … Olivia Viggiano notched a .429  batting average with three multi-hit games for Seattle U during their four-win week … Kasey Crawford‘s four-game weekend saw her register a .455 batting average with four extra base hits … Elia Bebel had three homeruns with a .429 batting average as Sam Houston played  five games

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Abilene Christian’s Sid Holman-Mansell went 2-1 on the week while striking out 16 in 20 innings of work … Ariel Thompson recorded a nine-strikeout week for Grand Canyon, highlighted by a complete game shutout against BYU … Grace Luderer struck out 11 in 12 innings for Seattle U and recorded a pair of wins … Julia Wernet got the win for Tarleton by allowing just three hits with three strikeouts in six innings of relief against Sam Houston … Attlyn Johnston earned the win for Dixie State against Southern Utah with a 10-strikeout game in six innings. 

 

Conference play begins in full force this weekend as all but one WAC team is competing  in a league game.

 

After a handful of mid-week non-conference games, there are five conference series scheduled to be played. Tarleton travels to Abilene Christian, California Baptists flys up to Seattle U, Grand Canyon crosses the state line to play NM State, Lamar makes the trip to Stephen F. Austin with Beehive State rivals Utah Valley and Dixie State rounding out the weekend slate.

 

Sam Houston goes to Oklahoma City to compete in the Hall of Fame Classic, highlighted by a contest against No. 1 Oklahoma. 

 

A handful of individuals from the WAC find themselves among the top 10 in the nation in offense and pitching

 

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU | Total Stolen Bases 4th (23)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Stolen Bases Per Game 5th (0.96)

 

Kassidy Wilbur, SFA | Innings Pitched 4th (89.1)

Kassidy Wilbur, SFA | Total Strikeouts 10th (116)

Carly Nance, SU | Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio 7th (13.33)

Carly Nance, SU | Walks Per Seven Innings 9th (0.55)

Sydnee Hebert, SFA | Walks Per Game 5th (1.00)

Kalena Shepherd, UVU | Walks Per Game 5th (1.00)

 

With the addition of four Texas schools during the summer of 2021, the WAC separated  the 11 playing softball members into two divisions. One division features Texas only schools with the remaining six institutions  playing in the Western Division. 

 

Defending WAC tournament champion Seattle U was picked to win the Western Division. NM State, runner-up at the WAC tournament in 2021, was selected in the number two position in the preseason head coaches poll. Grand Canyon was chosen third with Dixie State picked fourth as California Baptist and Utah Valley rounded out the six-team division. The Southwest Division preseason pick went to Stephen F. Austin with Sam Houston selected in the runner-up spot. Abilene Christian was chosen in the third position as Tarleton and Lamar completed that five-team division.

 

The top two spots on the preseason all-conference team went to a pair of Stephen F. Austin players. Shaylon Govan was selected as the conference’s preseason Player of the Year with Kassidy Wilbur voted the preseason Pitcher of the Year.

 

The 13-player preseason all-conference team features nine players who earned first- or second-team WAC accolades last season. (! - 2021 First-Team, $ - 2021 Second-Team)

 

$Kayla Bowen (NMSU) Sr., Util.

!Kristin Fifield (GCU), Jr., Util.

Gaby Garcia (SFA) Jr., C/OF

Shaylon Govan (SFA) Jr., INF/OF

!Hannah Hughbanks (DSU) Jr., OF/1B

!Ramsey Lopez (NMSU) r-Soph., INF

$Carley Nance (SU) Grad, LHP

 

Sam Houston will serve as hosts for the season ending WAC tournament from May 12-14 at the Bearkat Softball Complex in Hunstville, Texas. 

 

 

NM State won the regular season title. When there were seven teams playing for the conference title, the Aggies finished one game better than Seattle U. They won the title with a 14-4 league mark with the Redhawks completing their season with a 13-5 conference record.

 

Grand Canyon, Utah Valley and California Baptist all won eight regular season games. Dixie State (6 wins) and Tarleton (5) wrapped-up the regular season standings.

 

Seattle U took advantage of hosting the season ending WAC tournament by winning three games without a loss to win the four-team event and claim the league’s automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament. 

 

Seeds:1-NM State, 2-Seattle U, 3-Grand Canyon, 4-Utah Valley 

 

G TEAMS R-H-E 

1 Utah Valley 6-8-1

NM State 5-10-0

 

2 Grand Canyon 4-8-0

Seattle U 5-10-0

 

3 NM State 6-9-1

Grand Canyon 2-6-4

 

4 Seattle U 5-9-2

Utah Valley 1-3-0

 

5 NM State 4-7-0

Utah Valley 3-8-0

 

6 Seattle U 7-8-0

NM State 5-7-2