This Week In WAC Softball - May 4
This Week In WAC Softball - May 4
UTAH TECH ON THE VERGE OF THE TOP SEED
In just its third season in the WAC, Utah Tech is looking to make a splash in its debut conference tournament as the league’s number one tournament seed. The Trailblazers enter the final week 16-5 (.762) and ahead of Grand Canyon (14-7, .667) for the top spot in the WAC Softball Tournament on May 10-13 in Phoenix. GCU owns the head-to-head tiebreaker by way of a series victory between if both were to finish with an identical conference record.
BATTLING FOR A TOURNAMENT BERTH
The top eight teams in the WAC conference standings during the regular season will earn a trip to the 2023 conference tournament at the GCU Softball Stadium. There are currently seven teams within three games of one another entering the final series of the season jockeying for a slot in the tournament field. Both Seattle U and Sam Houston are tied at 11-10 (.524), followed by California Baptist and Utah Valley at 10-11 (.476). UT Arlington and Abilene Christian have matching 9-12 (.429) records, with NM State in the hunt at 8-13 (.381).
UTAH TECH’S WINDLE AN NFCA FOTY TOP 25 FINALIST
Utah Tech outfielder Tanya Windle was named one of 25 finalists for the 2023 TUCCI/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year on April 28. Windle leads the WAC with a .439 batting average, a .519 on-base percentage and 68 hits as of May 5.
GCU’S FIFIELD THE NATION’S LEADER IN RBI
Grand Canyon slugger Kristin Fifield sat atop the NCAA DI softball statistics rankings in RBI according to the May 2 national stats report. Fifield has driven in 69 runs thus far this season to lead all players, ranking second nationally with 1.35 RBI per game. Fifield, GCU’s all-time home runs leader, was also fifth in home runs (18) and total bases (127) in the latest NCAA stats report.
THE WAC IN THE NCAA RPI
In the latest update of the NCAA RPI that was released on May 3, Grand Canyon paced the WAC with a ranking of 63. The RPI is the main metric used to seed and decide at-large qualifiers for NCAA Regionals. The Lopes own a 4-2 record against the current RPI Top 50, as part of a 5-4 overall mark against the latest RPI Top 100.