United Athletic Conference

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Utah Valley’s Madison Carr 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.

 

Carr notched a .714 batting average with 10 hits in 14 at-bats as the Wolverines took two of three against NM State. The senior crossed home plate five time in the series with a pair of RBI and five stolen bases. Carr had at least three hits in each of the contests with a series best four hits during Friday’s opener against the Aggies. 

 

In two starts last week, Holman-Mansell earned two complete game shutout victories against Stephen F. Austin. On Friday she allowed three hits with five strikeouts during the 2-0 victory at the conference’s Southwest Division champions home field. Twenty-four hours later she allowed just one hit with four strikeouts and no walks in the Wildcats 3-0 triumph. The two shutouts were her fourth and fifth of the season.  

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees included:  Seattle U’s Olivia Viggiano tallied a .600 batting average during the Redhawks road sweep against Dixie State … Gianna Nicoletti registered a .545 batting average for Grand Canyon with five stolen bases as she broke the WAC’s single season stolen bases record (previously 46; set in 1997 by Utah’s Sandy Rhea) … Riley Carley posted six hits in 10 at-bats for NM State with a pair of homeruns and four RBI

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees included: Stefanie Madrigal struck out four in her complete game as Seattle U knocked off Dixie State 2-1 … Ariel Thompson earned two wins for Grand Canyon in 11 innings of work with six strikeouts … Lamar’s Haila Linton threw a pair of complete games with eight total strikeouts in those contests

 

 

The Western Athletic Conference has announced the bracket for the 2022 WAC Softball Tournament May 11-14 at Sam Houston’s Bearkat Softball Complex in Huntsville, Texas.

 

Grand Canyon is the top seed after winning the West Division regular season and title and posting the best WAC winning percentage during the regular season. A host of players for the Lopes tallied a batting average of at least .300 led by Katelyn Dunkel’s .416 batting average. As a team, Grand Canyon was among the top 20 teams in the nation in batting average (.333)

 

Stephen F. Austin’s will enter as the No. 2 seed after claiming the WAC’s Southwest Division crown. Mackenzie Bennett hit a team best .320 while Kassidy Wilbur’s 19 wins inside the circle led the conference.

 

Seattle U is the third seed and will be led at the plate by Olivia Viggiano’s .339 batting average and Stefanie Madrigal’s 15 wins and 74 strikeouts from the pitching rubber. Abilene Christian will serve at the fourth seed and will be led offensively by Calie Burris who leads the conference with a .518 on-base percentage.

 

The No. 5-8 seeds will open the event on Wednesday with a pair of single elimination games. Utah Valley is the fifth seed and will play eighth seed Lamar. The No. 6 seed is the host Bearkats and they will battle No. 7 NM State. After those two single elimination games are complete, the winners will move on, and the rest of the event will be played in double elimination format.

 

The tournament begins on Wednesday, May 11, with the first game at 10 a.m. local time. All games will be shown live on ESPN+. International viewers can watch on the WAC Digital Network at www.wacigitalnetwork.com.

 

 

The Western Athletic Conference announced its 2022 All-WAC teams and major awards as selected by the league’s 11 head coaches. Carley Nance, from Seattle U, was named WAC Player of the Year with Stephen F. Austin’s Kassidy Wilbur claiming Pitcher of the Year accolades, Seattle U’s Grace Luderer was named WAC Freshman of the Year. Hannah Hughbanks was named the Defensive Player of the Year while playing first base for Dixie State. Grand Canyon’s Shannon Hays was voted the conference’s Coach of the Year.

 

Nance did everything for the Redhawks this season. As a hitter she posted a .648 slugging percentage while getting on-base at a .414 clip. She was second in the WAC with 14 homeruns while leading the league with 56 RBI. Inside the circle, Nance was third in the WAC with a 2.38 ERA while recording six wins and a pair of saves in 17 appearances. The lefthander was ninth in the conference with 87 strikeouts. 

 

Wilbur was a stalwart in the circle for the Ladyjacks. While helping the program to the WAC’s Southwest Division crown, she tied for the league lead in wins (19) while striking out a conference best 219 batters. She limited the opposition to a .211 batting average while recording a WAC high 37 appearances. In her 18 complete games she registered a league high six shutouts. 

 

Luderer impressed during her first collegiate season. The righthanded pitcher tallied a seven-win campaign with 97 total strikeouts in her 26 appearances. She threw eight complete games for the Redhawks and limited the opposing batters to a .243 batting average.  

 

Hughbanks was stellar at first base for the Trailblazers. In 302 chances she committed just two errors while recording a .993 fielding percentage. She was apart of a league high 17 double plays and was sixth in the conference in putouts (288) and total chances (302). 

 

In his first year at the helm, Hays led the Lopes to the WAC’s Western Division title and the league’s best regular season record (19-5). Grand Canyon will serve as the No. 1 during the upcoming WAC postseason tournament. The Lopes offense was stellar as they led the league in batting average (.333), runs scored (314), total bases (614), RBI (275), on-base percentage (.401) and slugging percentage (.512).

 

Pitcher of the Year: Kassidy Wilbur, Stephen F. Austin

Player of the Year: Carly Nance, Seattle U

Freshman of the Year: Grace Luderer, Seattle U 

Defensive Player of the Year:  Hannah Hughbanks, Dixie State

Coach of the Year: Shannon Hays, Grand Canyon

 

First Team 

Georgia Capell (Tarleton)

Madison Carr (Utah Valley)

DeNae Chapman (Grand Canyon)

Shea Clements (Dixie State)

Katelyn Dunckel (Grand Canyon)

Kristin Fifield (Grand Canyon)

Hannah Hughbanks (Dixie State)

Ramsay Lopez (NM State)

Carley Nance (Seattle U)

Gianna Nicoletti (Grand Canyon)

Linnah Rebolledo (Utah Valley)

Ariel Thompson (Grand Canyon)

Kassidy Wilbur (Stephen F. Austin)

 

 

Katelyn Dunckel (Grand Canyon)

Lily Garcia (Seattle U)

Hannah Hughbanks (Dixie State)

Madison Kahwaty (Seattle U)

Kinsey Koeltzow (Grand Canyon)

 

Batting Average: Madison Carr (UVU) - .446

RBI: Carley Nance (SU) - 56

Runs: Gianna Nicoletti (GCU) - 58

Home Runs: Ramsey Lopez (NMSU) - 15

On Base Percentage: Calie Burris (ACU) - .518

 

Wins: Kassidy Wilbur (SFA) - 19

Innings Pitched: Kassidy Wilbur (SFA) - 179.1

Complete Games: Sid Holman-Mansell (ACU) - 19

Strikeouts: Kassidy Wilbur (SFA) - 209

Saves: Alyssa Argomaniz (CBU) - 4

ERA: Stefanie Madrigal (SU) - 2.24

 

Over the final weekend of the season Grand Canyon’s Gianna Nicoletti  set the conference single season stolen base record. Headed into the conference tournament, she has 49 stolen bases to her credit. Utah’s Sandy Rhea had the record when she tallied 46 during the 1997 campaign.

 

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)

Madison Carr, UVU Batting Average 7th (.446)

Madison Carr, UVU Hits 4th (75)

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Total Stolen Bases 2nd (49)

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

Gianna Nicoletti, GCU Run Per Game 7th (1.18)

 

Carley Nance, SU Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio 3rd (10.88)

Carley Nance, SU Walks Allowed per 7 innings 5th (0.66)

 

Moreover, as a team Grand Canyon ranks second in the nation with 2.51 stolen bases per game and seventh with a .333 team batting average. 

 

As a conference the WAC ranks 20th in adjusted RPI. There are 32 NCAA Division I softball playing conferences.

Grand Canyon (83rd) ranks in the top 100 with Seattle U (103) just outside the top 100. California Baptist’s ranking of 114th just behind the WAC RPI leaders. Among southwest division schools, Stephen F. Austin (135th) 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

!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 will serve as hosts for the season ending WAC tournament from May 11-14 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