United Athletic Conference

Complete Release (PDF)

 

Seattle U’s Carley Nance 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.

 

Nance was a powerful force for the Redhawks during their three-game trip to Utah Valley. Nance hit .500 in her 10 at-bats while smashing three homeruns, registering eight RBI and crossing the plate five times. Moreover, she notched an on-base percentage of .583 in 12 plate appearances. Nance recorded at least one hit, RBI and run scored in each of the three games. Her best performance came during the final game of the series when she went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, three RBI with a pair of walks.  

 

Wilbur repeated as the league’s Pitcher of the Week by throwing two complete game wins and recording 19 total strikeouts. During Stephen F. Austin’s 1-0 win at Tarleton, Wilbur threw a two-hitter with nine strikeouts and just two walks in earning the shutout victory. The next day, she struck out 10 and allowed just one run during her second complete game win of the weekend. 

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Gabby Garcia recorded a .750 batting average as Stephen F. Austin swept Tarleton … Katelyn Mangrello had a .417 batting average in four games for California Baptist; including five hits against NM State in the Lancers three-game sweep … Katelyn Dunckel totaled three homeruns in a four-game week; including two against Dixie State as Grand Canyon won all three on the road … Calie Burris hit .444 with a pair of homeruns as Abilene Christian took two of three from Sam Houston

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Stefanie Madrigal posted a pair of wins for Seattle U where she struck out eight total batters in 12 innings of work … Ariel Thompson struck out 17 in 18.2 innings of work and post two wins for Grand Canyon in three appearances … California Baptist’s Alyssa Argomaniz threw 14.1 innings in three games; notching the win in two games

 

 

After a handful of mid-week non-conference games, the third weekend of WAC weekend games begins. 

 

In the southwest division, Sam Houston travels to Stephen F. Austin for a three-game set to begin conference games. Tarleton and Lamar tangle in Beaumont for three contests. 

 

The west division is highlighted by California Baptist’s trip to Phoenix for a series with Grand Canyon. Dixie State makes a flight to the great northwest for a series against defending WAC tournament champion Seattle U. Rounding out that division is NM State hosting Utah Valley.

 

Abilene Christian steps up its non-conference schedule with three games at Texas A&M beginning Friday and concluding Sunday.

 

 

Batting Average: Katelyn Dunckel (GCU) - .446

RBI: Carley Nance (SU) - 38

Runs: Gianna Nicoletti (GCU) - 36

Home Runs: Danae Chatman (GCU), Georgia Capell (TAR) - 10

On Base Percentage: Katelyn Dunckel (GCU) - .535

 

 

 

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)

Offense

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

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Total Stolen Bases 2nd (29)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Stolen Bases Per Game 2nd (0.94)

 

Pitching

Kassidy Wilbur, SFA Innings Pitched 3rd (119.1)

Kassidy Wilbur, SFA Total Strikeouts 8th (158)

Carly Nance, SU Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio 5th (11.25)

Carly Nance, SU Walks Per Seven Innings 9th (0.68)

Sydnee Hebert, SFA Walks Per Game 4th (0.97)

 

Moreover, as a team Grand Canyon ranks fourth in the nation with 2.61 stolen bases per game. 

 

As a conference the WAC ranks 17th in adjusted RPI. There are 32 NCAA Division I softball playing conferences.

Both Grand Canyon (89th) and Seattle U (91st) rank in the top 100 with California Baptist’s ranking of 10t8h just behind the WAC RPI leaders. Among southwest division schools, Stephen F. Austin (125th) 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