United Athletic Conference

Complete Release (PDF)

 

Grand Canyon’s Kristin Fifield has been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week with Abilene Christian’s Sidney Holman-Mansell earning TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week honors.

Fifield posted a .667 batting average with a 1.889 slugging percentage as the Lopes swept NM State in a weekend WAC series. The junior recorded nine RBI, five runs scored and also registered a stolen base. She also notched three homeruns in her nine at-bats. Fifield started her week with a 1-for-3 effort in the first game of the three-game series. The final two games were her most productive. In game two she went 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of homeruns with four RBI before closing the weekend with a 2-for-3 performance with another four RBI game including a homerun.

Holman-Mansell pitched three complete game wins as the Wildcats went undefeated in their four games last week. The righthander started her week on Wednesday with a seven-inning three-hitter as Abilene Christian knocked off Texas Tech. She gave-up three hits, allowed one earned run and struck out four. Two days later she struck out six and scattered six hits during the Wildcats seven inning win against Sam Houston. Twenty-four hours later she completed her week with a seven-inning, six-hit, four strikeout performance. 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included:  Madison Carr ran her school record on-base streak to 31 straight games as she hit .616 in four games for Utah Valley … Sydnee Hebert hit three homeruns and batted .545 as Stephen F. Austin won three of their four games … Abilene Christian’s Sadie Eichelberger went 6-for-10 with seven runs scored … Laura Lockard registered five hits in nine at-bats as Dixie State traveled to Utah Valley … Hannah Kinkade hit .500 for Lamar with a pair of homeruns in a three-game series with McNeese State

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: California Baptist’s Jordan Schuring struck out nine in 12.2 innings of work over two games against Seattle U with a 0.55 ERA … Carly Nance had a 10 inning complete for Seattle U with seven strikeouts and one run allowed … Kassidy Wilbur threw two complete game wins with 14 total strikeouts… Julia Wernet threw 9.2 innings of relief for Tarleton with six strikeouts and a 1.45 ERA … In three appearance Brook Carter compiled a 1.08 ERA in 13 innings pitched for Utah Valley … Dixie State’s Carissa Burgess went 1-1 in 9.2 innings of work with nine strikeouts

 

The two division leaders have a chance to clinch their respective divisions this weekend. Grand Canyon has already secured a share of the west division crown and will claim the outright title with one more win. In the southwest division, Stephen F. Austin would win the outright division title with two wins at Sam Houston.

 

In other action, Lamar travels to Tarleton with Utah Valley and Seattle competing in the northwest with seeding at stake for the WAC tournament. NM State travels to Riverside, Calif. for a three-game set against California Baptist to wrap-up the four conference series being played this weekend. Abilene Christian is off this weekend. 

 

 

Batting Average: Madison Carr (UVU) - .437

RBI: Carley Nance (SU) - 53

Runs: Gianna Nicoletti (GCU) - 52

Home Runs: 

Nance (SU), Capell (TAR), Fifield (GCU), Lopez (NMSU) - 13 

On Base Percentage: Calie Burris (ACU) - .526

 

 

Grand Canyon’s Gianna Nicoletti is just three stolen bases away from tying the league’s single season stolen base record. Nicoletti has registered 43 steals this season and is within striking distance of Utah’s Sandy Rhea’s 1997 record of 46.

 

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 (43)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Stolen Bases Per Game 1st (1.00)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Run Per Game 9th (1.21)

Carly Nance, SU Total RBI 9th (53)

 

Carly Nance, SU Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio 4th (11.67)

Carly Nance, SU Walks Allowed per 7 innings 4th (0.61)

 

Moreover, as a team Grand Canyon ranks second in the nation with 2.60 stolen bases per game and fifth with a .336 team batting average. The Lopes are 10th in runs per game (6.67). 

 

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

Grand Canyon (76th) ranks in the top 100 with Seattle U (104) just outside the top 100. California Baptist’s ranking of 112th just behind the WAC RPI leaders. Among southwest division schools, Stephen F. Austin (115th) 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