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New Mexico's Cassara Claims McLeodUSA Mountain West Softball Player of the Week
CSU's Kiester and SDSU's Durazo share pitching honors. (4/10)
April 10, 2000
Colorado Springs, Colo. Danielle Cassara from the University of New Mexico is this week¹s McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Softball Player of the Week, while Colorado State¹s Kyla Kiester and San Diego State¹s Sandra Durazo share pitcher of the week honors. All three led their respective teams to 3-1 records for the week. New Mexico moved into first place in the league standings with a sweep of BYU (5-0, 9-3) and split with Utah (7-3, 3-9). Colorado State swept then-league-leading Utah (9-1, 3-1) then split with BYU (6-0, 3-8). San Diego State swept UNLV (3-0, 6-0) then split with No. 16-ranked CS Fullerton (1-0, 2-3). This is the first player of the week award of the season for Cassara, who has claimed the pitching honor three times this year, and the third of the season for New Mexico. Cassara won the player of the week award twice in each of the past two seasons and claimed the pitching honor twice last year. Kiester wins the first pitcher of the week honor in her career and the first for CSU this season. Durazo claims the second pitching honor of the year for SDSU and herself and earns the fourth such recognition of her career. A senior from Millikan High School in Long Beach, Calif., Cassara batted .615 (8-for-13) with a slugging percentage of .923 and on-base percentage of .667. She collected six RBI with a home run and a double and scored twice. This is Cassara¹s second straight week batting above the .600 mark and she has not been struck out in 10 games dating back to Mar. 18. She hit 3-for-4 with a home run and five RBI in game two vs. BYU and went 4-for-4 with a double in the nightcap vs. Utah. Splitting her time between first base and pitching, she was flawless defensively with 18 put outs and three assists. She pitched 14.1 innings in three appearances and did not allow a run for 12-straight innings. She allowed just one earned run in two complete games, but was reached for four runs in the first inning when she started the second game of the Utah doubleheader. Kiester, a junior from Johnston High School in Des Moines, Iowa, posted a 2-0 record in four starts during the week. She earned the win in the first game of both series with Utah and BYU and started the second game of each doubleheader before being relieved. Kiester struck out eight and scattered six walks and 12 hits over 21.1 innings of work. She held opponent batter¹s to a .158 batting average and allowed one earned run by Utah and one by BYU for an ERA of 0.66 for the week. A product of Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, Calif., Durazo posted a 2-1 record and allowed just one earned run in three complete games during the week. She threw two shutouts, struck out six batters and scattered 18 hits and three walks over 21 innings of work. Opponents hit .222 off Durazo during the week. In the series opener against UNLV, she allowed just five hits, did not walk a batter and struck out three. In the 1-0 first-game victory over Fullerton, Durazo held the No. 16-ranked team in the nation to three hits and walked just one to register her first win over a ranked opponent this season. McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Softball Players of the Week: Feb. 8 Holly Schmillen (Jr., SS) CSU, Feb. 15 Rachel Goodpaster (Jr., SS) UNLV, Feb. 22 Kellie Nordhagen (So., CF) SDSU, Feb. 29 Christy Sears (Sr., DH) SDSU, Mar. 8 Kathy Moore (Jr., P/1B) UNM, Mar. 14 Lyndsey Trevis (So., 3B) Utah, Mar. 21 Sarah Maulorico (So., DP) UNM, Mar. 28 Kellie Labor (Sr., OF) SDSU, Apr. 4 Molly McLean (So., OF) Utah, Apr. 10 Danielle Cassara (Sr.) UNM.
McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Softball Pitchers of the Week: Feb. 8 Danielle Cassara (Sr.) UNM, Feb. 15 Kathy Moore (Jr.) UNM, Feb. 22 Geney Orris (So.) UNLV, Feb. 29 Danielle Cassara (Sr.) UNM, Mar. 8 Kathy Moore (Jr.) UNM, Mar. 14 Nicole Truax (So.) UNLV, Mar. 21 Danielle Cassara (Sr.) UNM, Mar. 28 Sandra Durazo (Jr.) SDSU, Apr. 4 Kristin Arbogast (Jr.) Utah, Apr. 10 Kyla Kiester (Jr.) and Sandra Durazo (Jr.) SDSU.
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