Fresno State Athletics
`Dogs Look to Defend Tournament Title
5/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 11, 2010
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State softball team heads to Las Cruces, N.M. this week for the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, May 12-15, at the New Mexico State Softball Complex. The Bulldogs will look to defend their WAC Tournament title from a season ago where they went a perfect 3-0 at Bulldog Diamond to claim their third WAC Tournament. This season, the `Dogs are the No. 2 seed in the six team tournament and clinched a first round bye. The `Dogs will face the winner of No. 3 Boise State and No. 6 New Mexico State on Thursday at 1 p.m. PST. Fresno State concluded the regular season with a 36-17 overall record and a 15-6 league mark.
Scouting the Field
Hawai'i is the No. 1 seed in this week's tournament after winning the regular season title. The Rainbow Wahine also have a first round bye and will face the winner of No. 4 Louisiana Tech and No. 5 San Jose State on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Hawai'i is 41-12 overall and went 19-1 in WAC play. They are ranked No. 23 in the NFCA poll and No. 21 in the USA Today poll. Hawai'i is led by Stephanie Rickets in the circle with a 22-6 record and 2.18 ERA. Kaia Parnaby is 18-6 with a team-high 172 strikeouts. As a team they have hit 128 home runs on the season. Hawai'i had last week off and has not played a game since the Bulldogs were in Hawai'i two weeks ago. Hawai'i won the series, 2-1, but Fresno State was the only team to win a game off of the Rainbow Wahine this season in conference play and snapped UH's 18-game winning streak.
Boise State is the No. 3 seed in just its second year as a program. They will take on NMSU on Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Broncos are 26-30 overall and finished with a 13-8 mark in the WAC. Last week, Boise State took two games at Nevada to conclude the regular season. The Broncos are led by Kathy Cox who is hitting .353 with 17 home runs, 43 RBI and a .699 slugging percentage. In the circle, Allie Crump is 15-15 with 124 strikeouts in 161.0 innings pitched. Aubray Zell has a team-low 3.25 ERA with a 9-8 record and 75 strikeouts. Fresno State won the series vs. Boise State, 2-1, at Bulldog Diamond earlier this season. The `Dogs lead the overall series 6-1.
The No. 4 seed is Louisiana Tech. The Lady Techsters will open up the tournament at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday vs. SJSU. Overall, LA Tech is 26-19 and finished at 11-10 in WAC play. The Lady Techsters won the WAC Tournament two years ago in Hawai'i. Last week, they went 1-2 at Fresno State. Last year's WAC Player of the Year, Amberly Waits, leads the team with a .423 batting average, 10 home runs and a .738 slugging percentage. In the circle, Meghan Krieg has been the workhorse with a 18-14 record and 2.20 ERA in 209.2 innings.
The Spartans of San Jose State are the No. 5 seed with a 32-23 overall and record and a 8-13 mark in league play. Last week, SJSU went 1-2 against NMSU at home. SJSU is led by Kelli Fangonilo at the plate with a .353 batting average. Brittany McConnell has a team-high eight home runs and 45 RBIs. In the circle, Amanda Pridmore leads the way with a 16-11 record, 2.92 ERA and 134 strikeouts. Fresno State took the series by winning two games at SJSU in the regular season.
The host NMSU Aggies sneaked into the tournament in the final spot last week after taking the series at SJSU. The Aggies have been hot the last two weeks moving from eighth to sixth to make the tournament. New Mexico State is 27-26 overall and finished at 7-14 in the WAC. Four Aggie pitchers have pitched in 60+ innings this season. Carissa Theis has pitched in a team-high 98.0 innings. She has a 8-9 record with a team-high 69 strikeouts. Torrey Schroeder has a team-high 10 wins. At the plate, Hoku Nohara is batting .371 with 14 home runs and 57 RBIs. Kyle Randall has 28 stolen bases in 34 attempts.
BSN to Broadcast WAC Tournament
Fresno State announced that Bulldog Sports Network (BSN), with the help of Aggie Vision, will broadcast select Bulldog softball games live from the Western Athletic Conference Tournament the last three days. Ralph Wood will be providing the play-by-play.
Fans in Fresno can watch the Bulldog games Thursday-Saturday on RTV 7.2. RTV 7.2 is carried on the following cable systems: Comcast channel 191, on Northland Cable in the mountain communities of Oakhurst (Ch. 99), Coarsegold (Ch. 12) and Mariposa (Ch. 12) and on Sebastian Cable in Kerman on channel 8.
Please note that if the `Dogs play in elimination games 6 &9 those games will not air on television.
ESPN Radio will also have a presence at the WAC Tournament as Guy Haberman will call all of the Fresno State games live on 790 The Deuce. Fans can also follow live stats for all Bulldog games at www.gobulldogs.com via gametracker.
"We Are Your Team" - Follow the Bulldog softball team as they head to next week's Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Las Cruces, N.M., May 12-15 as the No. 2 seed. Follow on BSN, ESPN Radio and www.gobulldogs.com.
