United Athletic Conference

Complete Release (PDF)

 

Utah Valley’s Linnah Rebolledo has been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week with Grand Canyon’s Ariel Thompson earning TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week honors.

 

Rebolledo hit .636 with a 1.091 slugging percentage during the Wolverines three-game home sweep against California Baptist. The senior had seven base knocks in her 11 at-bats with six runs scored and four RBI. Three of her 11 hits went for extra bases. During the opening game of the set, she went 2-for-4 with a grand slam, double and three runs scored. In the second contest she had a hit in each of her four at-bats.

 

In two starts over the weekend, Thompson threw two complete game wins with the league’s first no-hitter of the season. The junior started the stretch on Friday with six strikeouts in seven innings while allowing just one run and five hits in the Lopes 7-1 road win against Seattle U. The following day she struck out three in her no-hitter and didn’t allow a walk during the 6-0 triumph against the Redhawks. 

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included:  Morgan Medford hit .500 at the top of line-up for Tarleton as they swept three home games against Abilene Christian … Shea Clements hit .600 with six runs scored and seven RBI as Dixie State took two of three against NM State … Camryn Middlebrook had six hits and six runs scored for Stephen F. Austin during their four-game week … Kristin Fifield produced four hits with a 1.000 slugging percentage as Grand Canyon swept three games at Seattle U … Sydney Soto led California Baptist with a .556 batting average in nine at-bats during the Lancers trip to Utah Valley

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Katie Zuniga threw her first career shutout while compiling two complete game wins for Utah Valley against California Baptist … Reagan Chism registered two wins over 11 innings in two appearances for Tarleton … Stephen F. Austin’s Kassidy Wilbur struck out 14 over 13 innings in three appearances … In relief Carissa Burgess threw 7.1 innings with eight strikeouts for Dixie State

 

The top two teams in the Southwest Division square off as Tarleton travels to Stephen F. Austin for a three-game set in eastern Texas. That division also features Abilene Christian hosting Sam Houston with Lamar hosting McNeese State for a non-conference series in Beaumont, Texas

 

West Division leader Grand Canyon hosts NM State while Seattle U travels down the Pacific Coast for a three-game set in Riverside, Calif. with California Baptist. On Thursday Dixie State and Utah Valley begin conference play with three games in northern Utah. 

 

 

Batting Average: Madison Carr (UVU) - .429

RBI: Carley Nance (SU) - 53

Runs: Gianna Nicoletti (GCU) - 47

Home Runs: Carley Nance (SU) - 13 

                   Georgia Capell (TAR) - 13

On Base Percentage: Calie Burris (ACU) - .521

 

 

 

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 Total Stolen Bases 2nd (38)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Stolen Bases Per Game 2nd (0.95)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Run Per Game 10th (1.18)

Carly Nance, SU Total RBI 5th (53)

Carly Nance, SU RBI/Game 7th (1.29)

 

Carly Nance, SU Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio 6th (9.17)

Carly Nance, SU Walks Allowed per 7 innings 9th (0.77)

Sydnee Hebert, SFA Walks Per Game 6th (0.86)

 

Moreover, as a team Grand Canyon ranks second in the nation with 2.60 stolen bases per game. 

 

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

Grand Canyon (70th) ranks in the top 100 along with Seattle U (98). California Baptist’s ranking of 115th just behind the WAC RPI leaders. Among southwest division schools, Stephen F. Austin (126th) 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.

 

 

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