United Athletic Conference

This Week in WAC Softball - April 6

4/6/2022 12:00:00 AM

Complete Release (PDF)

TICKETSMARTER PLAYER AND PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Stephen F. Austin’s Mackenzie Bennett has been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week with Seattle U’s Stefanie Madrigal earning TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week honors.

Bennett compiled a .615 batting average for the Ladyjacks in helping them to four wins last week. In addition to her eight hits during 13 at-bats, she tallied a 1.231 slugging percentage and recorded a .643 on-base percentage. During Stephen F. Austin’s three-game sweep of Sam Houston, she went 7-for-10 at the plate with a pair of homeruns. The final two games of the conference series saw her notch back-to-back three-hit games.

Madrigal threw two complete games in 24 hours in helping the Redhawks to a three-game sweep of Dixie State. In her first start on Friday, she struck out two and worked around eight hits and a walk in recording the 2-1 victory. The only run she allowed was an unearned run. The next day she struck eight in tallying the complete game shutout as Seattle U won the game 7-0.

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included: Carley Nance went 5-for-9 at the plate with 10 RBI and three homeruns as Seattle U swept a three-game set from Dixie State … Grand Canyon’s Kinsey Koeltzow posted a .500 batting average in 10 at-bats, including the game winning homerun in the second game of the series against California Baptist … Kayla Bowen tallied a .583 batting average with six total RBI and five runs as NM State took two of three from Utah Valley … Utah Valley’s Megan Gibbs batted .667 with three home runs and an on-base percentage of .769 … Hannah Kinkade hit .500 for Lamar in eight at-bats with three RBI … Katelyn Mangrello posted a .400 batting average in California Baptist’s series at Grand Canyon

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Lamar’s Aaliyah Ruiz struck out 11 in 20 innings of work as she recorded three wins with a 1.05 ERA … Kassidy Wilbur had three wins in three appearances with 11 strikeouts in 11.2 innings inside the circle for Stephen F. Austin … Jacie Hambrick grabbed a win in two appearances for Grand Canyon as she recorded a 2.33 ERA with six strikeouts … Utah Valley’s Jordin King grabbed two complete games wins with 10 total strikeouts against NM State

THE WEEK(END) AHEAD
The conference schedule essentially hits the halfway point this weekend.

In the southwest division, Tarleton makes a trip to Sam Houston while Abilene Christian hosts Lamar for their three-game set. Stephen F. Austin has the “off” weekend in that five-team division.

Meanwhile, the west division features Utah Valley making a trip south to Phoenix to play Grand Canyon. Dixie State goes westward for their series at California Baptist. Wrapping up the division is Seattle U’s visit to NM State.

CONFERENCE LEADERS

Offense
Batting Average: Madison Carr (UVU) - .440
RBI: Carley Nance (SU) - 48
Runs: Gianna Nicoletti (GCU) - 38
Home Runs: Carley Nance (SU) - 12
On Base Percentage: Katelyn Dunckel (GCU) - .513 | Calie Burris (ACU) - .513

TOP 10 IN THE NATION
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 Total Stolen Bases 2nd (32)
Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Stolen Bases Per Game 2nd (0.94)
Carly Nance, SU Total RBI 3rd (48)
Carly Nance, SU RBI/Game 6th (1.37)

Pitching
Carly Nance, SU Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio 3rd (11.25)
Carly Nance, SU Walks Per Seven Innings 6th (0.68)
Sydnee Hebert, SFA Walks Per Game 5th (0.97)

Moreover, as a team Grand Canyon ranks second in the nation with 2.62 stolen bases per game; trailing only Southeastern Louisiana (2.63).

NCAA RPI
As a conference the WAC ranks 17th in adjusted RPI. There are 32 NCAA Division I softball playing conferences.
Both Grand Canyon (71st) and Seattle U (94th) rank in the top 100 with California Baptist’s ranking of 111th just behind the WAC RPI leaders. Among southwest division schools, Stephen F. Austin (122nd) has the best RPI ranking.

SEATTLE U, STEPHEN F. AUSTIN PICKED TO WIN 2022 WAC DIVISION TITLES
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.

PRESEASON ALL-WAC TEAM
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
!Stefanie Madrigal (SU) Jr., RHP
!Gianna Nicoletti (GCU) Sr., OF
!Linnah Rebolledo (UVU) Sr., INF/OF
Kalena Shepherd (UVU) Jr., C
$Olivia Viggiano (SU) Sr., OF
Kassidy Wilbur (SFA) Sr., RHP

SAM HOUSTON TO HOST 2022 WAC TOURNAMENT
Sam Houston will serve as hosts for the season ending WAC tournament from May 12-14 at the Bearkat Softball Complex in Hunstville, Texas.

2021 WAC REGULAR SEASON CONFERENCE  RECAP
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.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE 2021 WAC TOURNAMENT
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