Fresno State opens 2021 campaign against No. 1 UCLA

Fresno State at UCLA Tournament
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vs. No. 1 UCLA • Fri, Feb. 12 • 2:00 p.m. PT
Series History: UCLA leads 46-11 | Streak: UCLA W4 | Last: UCLA 8-0, 5 inn. (2019)
vs. LMU (Doubleheader) • Sat, Feb. 13 • 12:00 p.m. PT • 2:30 p.m. PT
Series History: Fresno State leads 14-6 | Streak: LMU W1 | Last: LMU 8-5 (2019)

Bulldog Bites

Head Coach Linda Garza enters her fifth season at the helm of the program with a 127-70 record.
Fresno State returns eight starting position players including 2020 All-MW selections Schuylar Broussard, Hailey Dolcini and McKenzie Wilson.
Fresno State will face a Top 10 team during its opening weekend for the sixth consecutive season.
The last time Fresno State beat a Top 5 team was in 2020 when the Bulldogs defeated No. 3 Texas 4-3 at the Judi Garman Classic.
The Bulldogs have their sights set on a MW title and a 34th trip to the NCAA Regionals. Fresno State has played in the postseason four of the last five seasons. Fresno State has won 23 conference titles, 59 NCAA Regional games, and have made 12 trips to the Women's College World Series with one title win in 1998 and four runner-up finishes.
Fresno State recorded a 30-win season for the 38th consecutive year in 2019. The program has had an overall winning record in all 42 seasons of its existence.

Quotables (Head Coach Linda Garza)

"One of the reasons why we're able to recruit the athletes that we recruit is that we don't back down. When you come to Fresno State, you come to be a champion. You come to compete against programs and players that you've always dreamed of competing against. We have to get through UCLA at some point. We know that we are usually sent there for regionals, so the more times that we have some opportunity to be in those environments, maybe the one time we chip it away from them. That propels us through the rest of the season. We're not scared of anybody and we're not going to back down and we're going to play our schedule and I just think it's the Bulldog way - anywhere, anytime, any place. If it bites us in the butt at some point, it bites us, but at least we were willing to get in the ring and get bit."
"I have a ton of compassion for all of Fresno State Athletics and what we've had to go through. Our team was not prepared for this and I think they've done a great job. They didn't ask for this to happen. They didn't ask to stay off the field for 10 months. They were ready to play and take the risk at any point when we would have allowed it. They weren't permitted to train together, amd they took it in stride. They were positive and they found ways to train by themselves. Maybe this is the bonding experience that we needed to kind of make us feel like we're backed in a corner. We still are in my mind the 23rd ranked team in the country, even though they didn't rank us. Our vision is still there - blue-collar work ethic, Bulldog softball. We wouldn't have it any other way."

Scouting the UCLA Tournament

UCLA was 25-1 last season, with its only loss coming at the hands of No. 3 Texas. UCLA finished the 2020 season ranked No. 1. UCLA returns 2020 Softball America Pitcher of the Year in Megan Faraimo, Softball America Freshman of the Year in Maya Brady and two All-American selections. The program also announced that Olympians Rachel Garcia and Bubba Nickles will rejoin the Bruins this season. UCLA had six players named to the 2021 USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List.
LMU finished the 2020 season with an overall record of 13-10, receiving votes in both polls to close the season. The Lions had three players named to the 2021 Preseason All-WCC Team. LMU is under first-year head coach Taira Flowers, an Olympic Gold Medalist.

Mountain West Favorite

The nine Mountain West softball head coaches chose Fresno State as the preseason favorite to win the 2021 regular season.
The vote was unanimous as the Bulldogs tallied all eight first place votes, as head coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team, to total 64 total points.
UNLV was picked to finish second (52 points, 1 first place vote) and San Diego State locked in third place (49 points) to round out the top three positions. Boise State (41 points) and San Jose State (38) were picked to finish in the middle of the conference standings, followed by Colorado State, Nevada, Utah State and New Mexico.
This marked the first time the Bulldogs have been selected to win the conference since 2017. The last time the Bulldogs won the Mountain West title was in 2016, after going 22-1 in conference play.

2020 Review

The Bulldogs posted a 21-4 record before the abrupt ending of the 2020 season. Fresno State finished with a ranking of No. 23 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll and No. 24 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches Poll.
Fresno State was No. 12 in the nation in win-loss percentage (0.840) and the Bulldogs finished the season a perfect 15-0 at home. Fresno State's only losses came at the hands of No. 2 Washington, then-No. 7 Florida, then-No. 17 Michigan and RV/RV Stanford. The Bulldogs wrapped up the season winning 13 of their last 14 games.
The Bulldogs led the nation in triples with 23 averaging 0.92 per game and led the MW in scoring (5.92 runs per game) and slugging percentage (0.505). Fresno State excelled at base-running as the conference leader in stolen bases and finished the season ranked No. 14 - averaging 2.16 stolen bases per game.
In the circle, the Bulldogs' pitchers notched six shutouts and earned a 2.67 team ERA. Junior Hailey Dolcini was dominant in the circle for Fresno State. Dolcini owned a 10-1 record, touting the marque victory over No. 3 Texas. She recorded a 1.51 ERA, four shutouts and 77 strikeouts in 2020. Dolcini also earned two MW Pitcher of the Week honors - the only player in the conference to earn multiple weekly awards - and had one of the best games of her career against UIC (Feb. 21) when she threw a no-hitter with 15 strikeouts.

Big Bats Back

Four Bulldogs finished the 2020 season batting above .300.
McKenzie Wilson (.474), Miranda Rohleder (.373), Kaitlyn Jennings (.357) and Schuylar Broussard (.342) combined for 113 hits and 86 runs last season.
Wilson finished No. 11 in the nation in hits (37) and ranked within the Top 30 in batting average (0.474) - leading the MW in both categories. As the team's leadoff hitter, she also topped the conference in on-base percentage (0.539). Wilson proved to be one of the best base-runners in the nation. The sophomore ranked No. 2 in the country in stolen bases per game (1.08) and No. 11 in runs per game (1.25), also setting the standard for the conference in both categories.
Broussard carried a hot bat with a team-high six home runs and a slugging percentage of .737 during the 2020 campaign. Broussard ranked within the Top 10 in the nation in RBIs (33), RBIs per game (1.32) and triples (4).

Full Circle

The Bulldogs return three pitchers to the circle in Hailey Dolcini, Danielle Lung and Dariana Orme.
Dolcini was dominant in the circle for Fresno State. Dolcini owned a 10-1 record, touting a marque victory over No. 3 Texas. She recorded a 1.51 ERA, four shutouts and 77 strikeouts in 2020. Dolcini also earned two MW Pitcher of the Week honors - the only player in the conference to earn multiple weekly awards last season - and had one of the best games of her career against UIC (Feb. 21) when she threw a no-hitter with 15 strikeouts.

New Look

The Bulldogs will debut their new Adidas uniforms on Friday against the Bruins.

Our #ThreeStripeLife game day debut is coming 🔜

Here's the official first look at our threads for this season 👀#GoDogs | @adidasUS pic.twitter.com/0D4R75OsL0
— Fresno State Softball (@FresnoStateSB) February 11, 2021

"Fresno State Athletics: The Pride of the Valley" – The Bulldog Foundation creates championship experiences for Fresno State student-athletes as they strive for excellence in the classroom, in competition, and in life. To become a BDF member, please visit bulldogfoundation.org.

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Fresno State opens 2021 campaign against No. 1 UCLA

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Schuylar Broussard

Hailey Dolcini

Kaitlyn Jennings

Danielle Lung

Dariana Orme

Miranda Rohleder

McKenzie Wilson

Fresno State opens 2021 campaign against No. 1 UCLA

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Schuylar Broussard

Hailey Dolcini

Kaitlyn Jennings

Danielle Lung

Dariana Orme

Miranda Rohleder

McKenzie Wilson

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