United Athletic Conference

Complete Release (PDF)

 

Grand Canyon’s Gianna Nicoletti has been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week with Stephen F. Austin’s Kassidy Wilbur earning TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week honors.

 

Nicoletti was nearly an impossible out for the opposition. The senior hit .778 in her nine at-bats while recording an .846 on-base percentage as Grand Canyon took two of three games from New Mexico State to begin their WAC schedule. She recorded at least two hits in each game while scoring six runs during the series while driving in two additional runs. Nicoletti also recorded three steals in the final game of the set. Moreover, she worked four walks as she reached base in all but two of her 13 plate appearances. 

 

Wilbur recorded 35 total strikeouts in 23 innings pitched as the Ladyjacks posted three wins in four games. She pitched in all four games with three starts. In the games she started, Wilbur went 3-0 with three complete games while registering a 1.67 ERA. In back-to-back starts against Louisiana Tech on Tuesday and Lamar on Friday the senior struck out 12 in each game. In her final start of the week, Wilbur notched a four-hit, eight-strikeout performance in the shutout victory against Lamar. 

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included:  Mekenzie Madokoro was key in Seattle U’s two wins against California Baptist as she had a pair of two-hit games while scoring twice … Dixie State’s Shea Clements had seven hits, four runs scored and eight RBI in four games … Lamar’s Kaylee Ancelot had five hits with five RBI in three games … Katelyn Mangrello recorded six hits for California Baptist while driving in a run and scoring another … Georgia Capell hit .500 in 14 at-bats for Tarleton with two homeruns and five runs scored … Gaby Garcia had five hits with three RBI and three runs scored in four games for Stephen F. Austin … Kalena Shepherd had seven hits and 10 RBI in 17 at-bats during a three-win in five-game stretch for Utah Valley … Miranda Lista notched a .400 batting average with eight RBI for Abilene Christian in five games

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Stefanie Madrigal had a complete game win, five-hit outing for Seattle U against California Baptist with a pair of strikeouts … Tarleton’s Tristan Bridges had six strikeouts in three games … Aaliyah Ruiz threw a complete game win with five strikeouts for Lamar against Stephen F. Austin … Jacie Hambrick appeared in two games for Grand Canyon, she pitched 6.1 innings and earned a win against NM State … Tyler Denhart struck out 13 in 14.2 innings for Dixie State in three appearances … California Baptist’s Jazmine Castandeda threw 16.2 innings in three games, posting a 0.42 ERA with four strikeouts

 

After a handful of mid-week non-conference games, it is full-on WAC contests this weekend.

 

The schedule begins on early Friday afternoon with Seattle U competing against Utah Valley then Grand Canyon has its first pitch at Dixie State. Rounding out the west division games is California Baptist at NM State. In the southwest division, Abilene Christian travels to Sam Houston while Tarleton hosts Stephen F. Austin

 

Lamar has the “off” weekend among the league’s 11 softball playing members. 

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

 

Player, School Category Rank (Stat)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Runs Per Game 7th (1.25)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Total Stolen Bases 2nd (27)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Stolen Bases Per Game 1st (0.96)

Kassidy Wilbur, SFA Innings Pitched 4th (105.1)

Sydney Holam-Mansell, ACU Innings Pitched 8th (101.2)

Kassidy Wilbur, SFA Total Strikeouts 8th (139)

Carly Nance, SU Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio 4th (13.33)

Carly Nance, SU Walks Per Seven Innings 4th (0.55)

Sydnee Hebert, SFA Walks Per Game 7th (0.88)

 

As a conference the WAC ranks 18th in adjusted RPI. There are 32 NCAA Division I softball playing conferences.

Both Grand Canyon (84th) and Seattle U (87th) rank in the top 100 with California Baptist’s ranking of 105th just behind the WAC RPI leaders. Among southwest division schools, Stephen F. Austin (122nd) has the best RPI ranking.

 

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