THIS WEEK
All six teams begin conference play this week as UNLV opens with BYU in Provo, Utah, at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 30. League play continues in Provo as the Cougars host San Diego State on Friday, March 31 at 5 p.m. The Rebels will travel the short distance to play Utah at 1 p.m. On Saturday, Colorado State travels to New Mexico at 1 p.m., while San Diego State takes on the Utes in Salt Lake City at noon.
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE QUICK HITS
BYU
Ashlyn Russell came up huge for the Cougars again in BYU's second game against No. 22 DePaul...Russell nailed a grand slam in the top of the seventh inning, giving the Cougars a 7-5 lead which proved to be the final score...Brooke Boyce-Humbert pitched 5 2/3 perfect innings in BYU's 1-0 loss to Akron Saturday...After BYU won its second game in Oregon, the Cougars lost three consecutive games by one run in their opponents final at bat...The three straight losses marked a season-high losing streak.
COLORADO STATE
Kim Klabough pitched the first perfect game of her career, and the first for Colorado State since 2003, against Jacksonville...In her complete-game victory, she allowed no hits, no walks and struck out a career-high 12 batters...The Rams swept all four games of the Capital Classic Softball Tournament in Sacramento, Calif., defeating Illinois, Jacksonville, Columbia and Southern Utah...The next win for Colorado State will be the 600th in the program's history...Head coach Mary Yori and the Rams are 2-4 in conference openers dating back to 2000...This weekend, they will open MWC action against New Mexico...The Rams defeated the Lobos in a conference opener, 11-1, in 2002.
NEW MEXICO
After a 2-12 start, UNM has won 17 of its last 18 and is 14-1 at home...The team is six games over .500 for the first time in two years...UNM never reached a .500 record in 2005...A season-high crowd of 615 was on hand at Lobo Field to watch the Lobos sweep their second doubleheader from Northern Colorado...Sophomore DP Lindsey Elcess went 7-10 from the plate, with four doubles over the weekend to raise her team-leading batting average and slugging percentage to .389 and .726, respectively...Elcess is currently on pace to set the school slugging percentage record after posting a .456 percentage last year and is hitting 153 points higher than she did as a freshman...She leads the MWC in doubles (11) and is second behind teammate Kristina Schmallen with 32 RBI...UNM pitchers recorded 22 strikeouts over the weekend and have 146 Ks on the year.
SAN DIEGO STATE
The Aztecs went 1-3 in the Hawai'i Tournament to round out their non-conference season...Two of the three losses were by a combined score of 2-0...Megan McDonald leads the Aztecs on offense with a .347 BA, three homeruns and 14 RBI...Christina Ross owns a 1.20 ERA and has struck out 47 batters this year.
UNLV
Since March 8, the Rebels were on the road for 13 straight games until they faced Missouri at home...The Rebels have amassed a record of 2-11 away from the friendly confines of Eller Media Stadium...UNLV broke a 10 game losing streak with a win over Missouri...Seven of those 10 losses were to top-25 teams...UNLV hits the road this weekend with a trip to Utah to open up Mountain West Conference play...The Rebels kick off MWC play with a doubleheader at BYU on Thursday and follow it with two games at Utah...In 2005, the Rebels went 3-1 on this same trip, including a sweep of the Utes...All-time in Provo, the Rebels are 2-8, while playing in Salt Lake City, they are 4-13.
UTAH
Devina Quintero went 3-for-3 with a sacrifice in the 8-5 win over Portland State last weekend...She recorded four RBI in the game, marking only the second four-RBI game by a Ute this year...Sophomore Sharee Fonoti hit two home runs last weekend and leads the team with five home runs this season...Hurler Meghan Dyer tossed one game and struck out 11 batters while only walking one last weekend...She only needs eight more K's to reach 100 this year...The Utes have belted 26 doubles in only 28 games this year, while last year, the Utes had 33 doubles in all 50 games...Utah has won five of its last six games.
