THIS WEEK
Five of six MWC teams will see tournament action this week, with Colorado State (15-7), San Diego State (14-5), UNLV (13-14) and Utah (13-6) facing top-25 opponents. The Rams and Utes travel to Sacramento, Calif., for the Capital Classic Tournament. Colorado State will face #7/#6 California, while the Utes will play #14/#15 Oklahoma, #24/#23 Fresno State and #6/#7 Alabama. UNLV will enter the Judy Garman Classic presented by Coach USA in Fullerton, Calif., which includes #1/#1 Arizona and #20/#18 Texas A&M. San Diego State will make an appearance in the Bank of Hawaii Inviational Tournament in Manoa, Hawaii, taking on #17/#16 Northwestern. New Mexico hosts the Lobo Softball Classic, which includes UC Riverside, South Dakota State and Texas Tech. BYU has a bye week.
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE QUICK HITS
BYU
BYU's season-high winning streak continued to seven games after the Cougars beat Wisconsin...The streak was snapped in an 8-0 defeat to No. 5 Stanford...In BYU's 11-inning victory over Wisconsin, the Cougars erased four separate leads finally winning on a walk-off single by senior Ashlyn Russell in the bottom of the 11th frame...When the Cougars beat Miami (Ohio), 10-0, it was the fourth shutout victory in their last five games (all wins)...Over that span, BYU won by the eight-run rule three times, including an 8-0 win over Texas A&M.
COLORADO STATE
Colorado State is the only team in the MWC to have three players in the top 10 in batting average...Junior Jessica Strickland ranks second in the conference (.443), sophomore Lauren Cusick is fourth (.381) and senior Tara Harbert ranks 10th (.346)...Mary Yori and the Colorado State softball team are on the verge of reaching the .500 mark in all-time wins for the first time in the programs history...Since their first year of play, 1976, the Rams have never had more overall wins than losses, digging into a 78-173 hole in the program's first 10 seasons...Junior catcher Stacey Leigh has made significant improvements in her game since sliding into the starting lineup this season after backing up former All-American Kerry Farrell...This season, Leigh is hitting .366 (15-41) and has more than quadrupled her career-RBI total with 17...She also has scored seven runs, notched four home runs and is slugging .707, more than double previous season high of .306 set as a freshman.
NEW MEXICO
New Mexico's nine-game winning streak is the longest since 2000...With 11 hits recorded in the second game against New Mexico State last weekend, the Lobos have had seven straight games where they hit in the double digits and nine times overall this season...New Mexico only had double-digit hits in three games last season...The Lobos are now 6-0 at home and 11-12 overall.
SAN DIEGO STATE
The Aztecs (14-5) are off to their best start in school history... SDSU has won eight out of its last 10 games...The Aztecs have scored first in 15 of their 18 games this season...SDSU is now 2-2 against nationally ranked teams this year...The Aztecs' win against San Diego on Wednesday was their 42nd in 43 tries...SDSU is 12-4 (.750) at home this season.
UNLV
Through the 26 games, the Rebels are hitting .257...Jaci Hull, who is expected back from a broken hand in a few weeks, tops the team with a .400 batting average...Shannon Crisp follows with a .371 average and is trailed by Marissa Nichols' .300 BA...Crisp leads the team with 26 hits and Maggie Livreri leads the team with 15 RBI...Seven of UNLV's 13 losses have come to programs ranked 14th or higher, while an eighth loss came against a team receiving votes in both polls.
UTAH
Jackie Wong went 10-for-18 (.556) at the Sunshine State Tournament...Her effort last weekend pushed her batting average up from .457 to .484...She also had a hit in each of the five games in Florida as well, extending her hitting streak to a career-best 10 games...The Utes gave up 15 home runs in the first eight games of the season, but the pitching staff has tightened its grip, surrendering only one home run in the last 10 games (vs. Kent State on March 11)...Utah's pitching staff continued to stymie its rivals, boasting a 0.58 earned-run average and holding opposing batters to a .193.
