United Athletic Conference

Complete Release (PDF)

 

 

 

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)

 

 

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