United Athletic Conference

Complete Release (PDF)

 

Grand Canyon’s Hannah Burnett has been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week with Abilene Christian’s Riley White earning TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week honors.

 

Burnett was a tough out as the Lopes went undefeated in four games during the Lopes Up Classic in Phoenix. In 11 at-bats she notched a .727 batting average. Burnett recorded two hits in each of the four games as Grand Canyon beat Incarnate Word, Colorado State, Pacific and Colgate. The infielder also stole three bases and crossed the plate three times. 

 

In three starts at Hawai’i’s tournament, White recorded a pair of wins while posting a 0.45 ERA and limiting the opposition to 10 hits in 15.2 innings of work with just one earned run. Her week was highlighted with her first career shutout as she limited Hawai’i to just three hits in seven innings of work during the Wildcats 2-0 victory. She closed the three-day, four-game event by notching a complete game against North Dakota. 

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Lauren Almeida helped Dixie State to a 3-1 record at their tournament by registering six hits, five RBI and four runs scored over the weekend … Megan Gibbs tallied six hits, four of which were homeruns, as Utah Valley won three games at Dixie State’s event … Lily Garcia notched a .545 batting average as Seattle U won two games at the Mary Nutter Classic … Carrie Burris went 7-for-15 at the plate for Abilene Christian with a .500 on-base percentage in five games … Amanda Argomaniz posted a seven RBI weekend for California Baptist at the Mary Nutter Classic … Hannah Kinkade tallied 11 RBI, six of which came against Houston Baptist, as Lamar posted two wins at Houston’s tournament 

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Ariel Thompson picked up two complete game wins for Grand Canyon while striking out nine in 14 innings … Tyler Denhart allowed just one-hit in five innings as Dixie State posted an 8-0 victory over Nevada … Brooke Carter appeared in four games and threw 18.2 innings with 23 strikeouts as Utah Valley won three times in four games … Stefanie Madrigal had two wins in three games as she struck out 11 in 15.1 innings … Alyssa Argomaniz went 1-1 with a save with a 1.72 ERA for California Baptist at the Mary Nutter Classic … Appearing in five games, Lamar’s Aaliyah Ruiz threw 16.2 innings with eight strikeouts

 

 

The highlight of this upcoming weekend is the start of conference play.  Stephen F. Austin travels to Abilene Christian for their three-game set that  begins on Friday. Lamar will trek to Sam Houston for their three-game series which also begins on Friday.

 

All told there are 45 games over the next week featuring WAC teams. Grand Canyon hosts a tournament for the fourth straight weekend as they welcome teams to the GCU Invitational. California Baptist also hosts a tournament this weekend in Riverside. Utah Valley travels to the UNC/CSU Tournament in northern Colorado. 

 

NM State goes to Las Vegas for the Boyd Gaming Classic. Dixie State is in northern California at the UC Davis Tournament and Seattle U travels south to the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif. 

 

Tarleton plays a three-game non-conference series against McNeese State to wrap-up the WAC playing teams this week.

 

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

 

Katelyn Dunckel, GCU - Batting Average, 8th (.535)

Katelyn Dunckel, GCU - Total Hits, 9th (23)

Denae Chatman, GCU - Homeruns, 6th (7)

Shaylon Govan, SFA - Homeruns, 6th (7)

Megan Gibbs, LU - Homeruns Per Game, 3rd (0.60)

Shaylon Govan, SFA - Homeruns Per Game, 7th (0.54)

Denae Chatman, GCU - Total RBI, 3rd (23)

Denae Chatman, GCU - RBI Per Game, 9th (1.53)

Shaylon Govan SFA - Slugging Percentage, 3rd (1.162)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU - Total Stolen Bases, 1st (16)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU - Stolen Bases Per Game, 5th (1.07)

Kassidy Wilbur, SFA - Total Strikeouts, 8th (74)

 

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