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Weekly Softball Release #13
Utah captures sole possession of first place. (5/1)
May. 1, 2000
McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Player of the Week Jenny Monson, Sr., OF, Utah Utah¹s Jenny Monson is this week¹s McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Softball Player of the Week, after helping Utah move into first place in the league standings with sweeps over New Mexico (7-2, 4-0) and Colorado State (12-5, 14-5) and a non-conference win over Southern Utah (5-2). The Utes are now 35-20 overall and 14-4 in Mtn. West action. Monson (Bingham HS, South Jordan, Utah) earned her first conference player of the week award of the season and the second of her career. This is the fourth player of the week of the season for Utah and the second time the Utes have swept the weekly honors. The senior, who hits in the No. 4 slot, batted .429 (6-for-14) during the week. She blasted four home runs and collected 13 RBI. Most impressive was her performance on Saturday as she was a perfect 5-for-5 with four home runs and 13 RBI in the doubleheader sweep of CSU. In game one, she hit a two-run home run, a two-RBI single and a solo round tripper. In the second game, she blasted two three-run homers and notched the other RBIs on a sacrifice. Defensively, the center fielder made eight catches without an error during the week, including the final two outs of the game off the bats of UNM¹s powerful duo of Danielle Cassara and Kathy Moore with the bases loaded to preserve the shutout win over the Lobos. 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 Maulorica (So., DP) UNM, Mar. 28 Kellie Labor (Sr., OF) SDSU, Apr. 4 Molly McLean (So., OF) Utah, Apr. 10 Danielle Cassara (Sr., 1B/P) UNM, Apr. 18 Brooke Chaffee (So., 2B) UNM, Apr. 25 Molly McLean (So., OF) Utah, May 1 Jenny Monson (Sr., OF) Utah. McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week Kristin Arbogast, Jr., P, Utah Utah¹s Kristin Arbogast is this week¹s McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Softball Pitcher of the Week. A product of North Eugene High School in Eugene, Ore., Arbogast claimed her second pitcher of the week honor after throwing four complete games with one shutout in five starts, for a 5-0 record during the week. In her 31 innings of work, the junior struck out 23 of 138 batters faced and walked 11. The starter in all five games, she registered a 2.03 ERA for the week. After posting a 5-2 victory over Southern Utah on Wednesday, Arbogast pitched every inning against then-league leader New Mexico on Friday and the first 10 of 14 innings in the doubleheader against Colorado State Saturday. In the Utes¹ sweep of New Mexico, she allowed just two runs in the doubleheader. The Lobos collected five hits in each game and batted just .196 during the twinbill. Although she was reached for 10 hits and four earned runs in the game-one win over Colorado State, Arbogast struck out a season-high 10 and walked just two. She then held the Rams to just two hits and one run in game two. She has won eight straight games. 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, 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.) CSU and Sandra Durazo (Jr.) SDSU, Apr. 18 Sandra Durazo (Jr.) SDSU, Apr. 25 Kathy Moore (Jr.) UNM, May 1 Kristin Arbogast (Jr.) Utah.
Mtn. West Head Coaches:
Colorado State Teri Klement
New Mexico Susan Craig
San Diego State Kathy Van Wyk
UNLV Shan McDonald
Utah Mona Stevens
The Regular-Season Conference Race
Utah Host of 2000 Mtn. West Softball Championship All requests for media credentials for the inaugural Mountain West Conference Softball Championship should be submitted in writing to Director of Communications Elaine Adams at the Mtn. West office or Utah Media Relations contact Julie Lapomarda prior to the event.
Utah Favored In Inaugural Mtn. West Softball Race An indication of the parity within the league¹s six teams is the distribution of first place votes among three teams. Utah received three top votes and 23 points to edge New Mexico that claimed two No. 1 votes and 21 points. San Diego State garnered one first-place vote and totaled 18 points for third place in the poll. Utah returns eight starters and 13 letterwinners from a team that registered an overall record of 28-27 in 1999 and went 8-11 to place fifth in the Western Athletic Conference. The Utes finished second to Fresno State in the WAC Tournament. New Mexico posted the most wins in school history last season, going 42-14 overall and tying for second place in the WAC with a 14-7 slate. The Lobos return eight starters among 10 letterwinners under the direction of 23-year veteran head coach Susan Craig who earned WAC co-Coach of the Year in 1999. San Diego State finished tied for third in the conference in 1999 with a 16-8 league record and a 24-34 overall mark. The Aztecs return nine starters and 12 letterwinners. UNLV finished the 1999 season with an 18-31 record and placed sixth in the conference. The Rebels return 10 starters and 15 letterwinners after losing just three players from the 1999 squad. Colorado State posted a 17-24 overall record in 1999 and placed seventh in the league race. The Rams return seven starters among 10 letterwinners. The softball program at BYU is in its first season as a varsity sport under the direction of Utah graduate Mary Kay Amicone.
Mountain West Conference Preseason Softball Coaches Poll
Mtn. West in NCAA Statistics
Individual
Home Runs
Triples
Pitching Victories
Team
NCAA Div. I West Regional Rankings
Non-conference Slate
America East 0-0
Independents 15-6
Team-by-Team Notes Holding onto fourth place n the standings, Colorado State started the week with a non-conference loss to Utah State (0-4) on Apr. 27. The Rams then claimed both games of a doubleheader at BYU by one run (1-0, 4-3) on Apr. 28, but finished the week losing both games at Utah (5-12, 5-14) on the 29th. Alyson Carter (Sr., 1B) hit .462 (6-for-13), including three doubles and a homerun, during the week¹s five games. Kyla Kiester (Jr., P) did not allow a run in 11 innings of work at BYU. In the final week of regular-season action, the Rams will entertain San Diego State on Friday, then UNLV Saturday. Suffering its worst slide since 1998, New Mexico lost four conference games during the week and slipped from first to third place in the standings. Danielle Cassara (Sr., P/1B) provided one of few bright spots for the Lobos as she batted 5-for-7 with three doubles and a home run in the twinbill at BYU. New Mexico was the only Mtn. West team receiving votes (39) in the latest national poll and was just one slot out of the top-25. The Lobos are listed fifth in the West Region rankings released last week. Three games back in the standings, the Lobos return home to wrap the regular-season against UNLV on Friday and battle second-place San Diego State Saturday. San Diego State moved into second place in the league standings after sweeping a doubleheader at UNLV (8-4, 11-9) on Apr. 27, then stepped out of conference play to edge crosstown rival San Diego (3-2, 1-0) twice. SDSU has won 16 of its last 20 games and with 33 wins on the season is chasing the all-time SDSU record of 37 victories. Recovering from a shaky defensive effort at UNLV, SDSU turned three doubleplays at USD. Kellie Nordhagen (So., CF) hit .529 (9-for-17) during the week and went 5-for-9 with three RBI at UNLV. Vanessa Valenzuela (Jr., 1B) blasted her first career homerun in her only at-bat at UNLV. Sandra Durazo (Jr., P), the main reason why the Aztecs lead the league with a 2.56 ERA and a 2.62 mark in conference play, pitched both wins at UNLV and batted 3-for-5 with two doubles against the Rebels. The Aztecs are listed sixth in the NCAA West Region rankings released last week. Just two games out of first place entering the final week, the Aztecs play at fourth-place Colorado State on Friday and third-place New Mexico Saturday and will need some help from BYU in order to move up. Playing its final home date of the season, UNLV lost both games of a doubleheader to San Diego State (4-8, 9-11) on Apr. 27. Celeste Alvarado (Fr., 3B) batted .714 (5-for-7) with three RBI and two runs scored. Nicole Miller (Sr., SS) continues to lead the league with a .473 batting average in Mtn. West play. Racheal Goodpaster (Jr., SS), who tied the UNLV single-season record for homeruns with number 15 on the season during the first SDSU game, tops the charts with an overall batting average of .391. In the final week of play, the Rebels travel to New Mexico on Friday and Colorado State Sunday.
Taking over as the conference leader, Utah swept a doubleheader from previous-leader New Mexico
(7-2, 4-0) on Apr. 28, then enjoyed an offensive explosion in a sweep (12-5, 14-5) of Colorado State
on the 29th. The Utes have won their last eight games and own a two-game lead in the Mtn. West
standings with a 14-4 record. Claiming her second pitcher of the week honor of the season, Kristin
Arbogast (Jr., P) went 5-0 and has won eight straight games. She ranked second in the nation in
victories last week and now stands 34-16 on the season. Jenny Monson (Sr., OF) collected the Utes¹ second consecutive and fourth overall player of the week award after hitting .429 (6-for-14), with four homeruns and 13 RBI during the week. The Utes hit eight homeruns during the week, four by Monson and one each by four other players. With five players hitting above the .300 mark, Utah is the team leader with a .301 overall and .335 conference batting average. Utah is fourth in the NCAA West Region rankings released last week. The Utes wrap the regular-season by hosting in-state rival BYU on Saturday.
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