Last Week's Recap
League-leader BYU split a series with second-place San Diego State and swept UNLV to take over first place in the MWC. Utah also swept the Rebels and split the series with the Aztecs to move into a tie for second place with SDSU. New Mexico and Colorado State split their series in Fort Collins, while the Lobos also defeated New Mexico State in five innings.
In The Rankings
San Diego State continues to be ranked in the USA Today/NFCA poll at No. 21 and in the ESPN.com/USA Collegiate Softball poll at No. 19 this week. BYU is also receiving votes in both polls.
BYU
Senior Christina Gwyn-Trice set the school's all-time, single-game strikeout record against UNLV, when she struck out 14 batters...The Cougars have now won their last two games with come-from-behind performances in the bottom of the seventh inning...BYU has won 15 of 19 games since the beginning of Conference play.
Colorado State
Offensively, Colorado State boasts an impressive team batting average (.314) and has recorded a team slugging percentage of .529 on the season...Five Rams (Caitlan Stem, Lauren Cusick, Julia Kloppe, Ashley Munoz, Allison Majam) are leading the way, currently batting over .300 apiece, with Cusick (.399) third in the MWC. Those five players have accounted for 68.2 percent (150 of 220) of the team's RBI and are also responsible for 74.1 percent (43 of 58) of the team's home runs.
New Mexico
New Mexico head coach Ty Singleton continues to rebuild the Lobo softball program...UNM is 23-20 this season and on the verge of its first winning season since 2001...The Lobos have surpassed their 2007 total for victories and are one win shy of having the most since 2004...Senior Lindsey Elcess belted her 10th home run of the season against Texas Tech Monday and snapped a month-long dry spell...The solo home run against the Red Raiders was her 28th career round-tripper and her first since March 27 against UTSA...Elcess is currently second on the UNM career home run list and needs nine more to pass Kathy Moore for the all-time lead.
San Diego State
Christina Ross became SDSU's all-time and single-season leader in strikeouts over the weekend...Ross now holds the career record with 561 in three seasons, 18 ahead of Sandra Durazo's 543 set from 1998-2001...Ross' single-season total of 224 is 13 more than Celena Velasquez' 211 set during the 2005 campaign...Of SDSU's 15 losses this season, 12 have been by two or less runs...If the season ended today, SDSU would set school records in overall win percentage (.711), home win percentage (.792) and road win percentage (.700)...San Diego State has outscored its opponents, 64-12, over the first two innings this season.
UNLV
UNLV lost all four of its MWC contests last weekend to open up round two of league action...All four of the Rebels' games were decided by one run..Ashli Holland has been UNLV's best hitter since MWC action began on April 5...She has hit at a .431 clip with 22 hits in 14 of the 17 contests...She has also collected multiple-hits in seven of those 14 games...With one more home run in 2008, UNLV will have hit the 40-homer barrier in four straight seasons...Currently, the squad sits at 39 with eight games remaining.
Utah
The Utes will play their final homestand of the season against BYU this weekend, marking the final two softball Deseret First Dual games of the season and a battle for first place in the MWC...The Utes were originially picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll...Sophomore pitcher Ashley Smuda has appeared in 36 of the Utes' 47 games this season...In addition to two no-hitters, she led the Utes to wins against then-No. 14 DePaul, 3-2, a 5-4 victory over then-No. 22 Texas, and a 2-1 eight-inning win over No. 19 San Diego State.
