THIS WEEK
The second week of conference play begins Friday, April 7, with UNLV hosting Colorado State at 5 p.m., and San Diego State hosting New Mexico at 5 p.m. In-state rivals Utah and BYU will face each other on Saturday, April 8 in Provo, Utah. The Aztecs round out the weekend with Colorado State at noon, while the Lobos travel to Las Vegas at noon. Colorado State, San Diego State and Utah are all tied for first place in the MWC standings with 2-0 records.
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE QUICK HITS
BYU
Jodi Norton and Ianeta Le`i played home run derby against UNLV to remain tied for the team lead with six home runs...Each hit a home run in each game against the Rebels...Junior Cortney Nix also hit her first homer in a Cougar uniform...The Cougars had won 10 consecutive MWC games before losing to San Diego State Friday evening...BYU's 10-0 loss to San Diego State in Friday's nightcap was the most lopsided defeat for the Cougars in their conference history.
COLORADO STATE
The Rams are 2-0 to begin conference play for the second straight season as they took two from San Diego State in Fort Collins in 2005 and defeated New Mexico 12-7 and 9-3 in Albuquerque last weekend...Junior pitcher Jessica Strickland now ranks in the top-five in career appearances at Colorado State with 78 in her three-year career...Colorado State won the 600th game in the program's history with a 12-7 game one victory over New Mexico on Saturday...The Colorado State softball program is above the .500 mark in all-time wins for the first time in the programs' history...Following a weekend sweep of New Mexico to open up MWC action, the Rams' all-time record now sits at 601-600-1.
NEW MEXICO
With a 19-15 overall record, the Lobos own a winning percentage of .559 and are in fifth place in the conference standings...This is the first winning record for New Mexico since 2004...Sophomore Lindsey Elcess and senior Kristina Schmallen hold a slugging percentage of .707 and .693, respectively, which are the second and third highest marks in school history...Schmallen's nine homers this season currently puts her in a tie for sixth with Heather Medearis (1994) on UNM's single season list...One more HR will move her into a tie for fourth place with Kathy Moore (2001) and Ashley VanBoxmeer (2003)...Schmallen has also driven in 36 runs in 2006, tying for fourth in the record books with Heather Medearis (1994)...After a 2-12 start, UNM has won 17 of its last 20 and is 14-3 at home.
SAN DIEGO STATE
The Aztecs swept BYU for the first time since March 30, 2002, and won two games against the Cougars in Provo since April 21, 2000...The win also snapped a six-game losing streak against BYU...SDSU has 15 home runs through its first 25 games, just four short of tying its single-season record of 19 set in 1999...The Aztecs have outscored their opponents, 113-22, in their 17 wins for an average score of 6.6 to 1.3...SDSU is batting .360 (40-for-111) over its last four games (3-1).
UNLV
The Rebels open their home conference season with doubleheaders versus Colorado State and New Mexico...Through the first weekend of MWC play, Bri Bernardi is tops amongst Rebels in batting average (.500) and is one of four players above the .300 barrier...Last weekend, she tallied four hits in eight at-bats with one hit coming in the form of a two-run home run against Utah...After playing Missouri in a three-game set last Monday and Tuesday, the Rebels only have two non-conference games remaining...On April 27, UNLV travels to California to take on Cal State Fullerton in a doubleheader.
UTAH
In the last 10 games, four players continue to hit better than .300 during that span...Jackie Wong's .433 (13-for-30) leads the way but she is trailed by Devina Quintero (.379, 11-for-29), Meghan Crouse (.375, 9-for-24) and Sharee Fonoti (.320, 8-for-25)...For the year, only Wong (.455) and Quintero (.318) top the .300 barrier in hitting...Wong needs to score one more run for 100 career runs scored...Utah hasn't lost a home game yet this season (5-0)...Utah tapped UNLV for a season-high 12 hits, marking the seventh double-digit hitting game for Utah this year. The Utes have shut out two of their last three opponents, allowing just two runs in their last 19 innings of work...Utah tied a school record when it scored 18 runs against UNLV...The last time Utah scored 18 runs was against Southern Utah on May 7, 1996...The 18 RBI versus UNLV is also a single-game school record.
