April 11, 2006
LOGAN, Utah -
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This Week -- Wednesday, April 12 at Utah (DH) 2 p.m. Friday, April 14 at Louisiana Tech 5 p.m. Saturday, April 15 at Louisiana Tech (DH) 1 p.m.
Quickly - Utah State softball continues its 10 game road swing this week in Salt Lake City, Utah when the Aggies take on the Utes in a doubleheader on Wednesday... Utah State will then look for its first ever Western Athletic Conference win as it heads to Ruston, La. to play a three-game series against Louisiana Tech on Friday and Saturday... The Aggies are currently seventh in the WAC with an 0-5 record, and have a 5-25 overall record on the season... The Aggies are coming off a 1-4 performance from a week ago where they split a doubleheader with Brigham Young, and were swept by Nevada in a three-game series... In the 11-7 victory against BYU last Tuesday, Utah State plated a season-high 11 runs, including three home runs - one apiece from Quela Leonhardt, Sara Fleming, and Amanda Carver... USU enters its second year under coach Lonny Sargent and is currently 5-25... The Aggies finished the 2005 season 23-29, and the 23 wins were the most by an Aggie softball team since the 1996 season when USU won 33 games... The Aggies return 13 letterwinners and six starters for last year's club and have eight newcomers... The Aggies played in four early season tournaments and a total of 23 road games before hosting Fresno State on Mar. 31 for their home opener.
LOOKING AT UTAH - Utah currently holds a 79-53 edge against the Aggies dating back to 1976, but Utah State won the last meeting a year ago 6-1... The Utes and Aggies were scheduled to meet three times already this season, but the games have been cancelled due to wet weather... Utah is coming off a 1-2 week as it defeated Utah Valley State, but was swept by WAC-foe Brigham Young in a two-game series... The Utes are currently fourth in the Mountain West Conference with a 2-2 record, and are 21-12 overall... Jackie Wong currently leads Utah with a .435 batting average, 47 hits and four triples... Devina Quintero leads the Utes with 22 RBI and nine doubles, and also has a .333 batting average... Utah's pitching staff currently owns a 2.18 ERA, while opponents are batting just .228 against the Ute hurlers... Karina Cannon leads the staff with a 1.92 ERA and nine complete games, while Meghan Dyer has a 10-4 record with 110 strike outs, and opponents are hitting a meager .199 against her.
LOOKING AT LOUISIANA TECH - Utah State and the Lady Techsters have met twice all-time as the two teams have each won one game... Louisiana Tech picked up its first WAC win last week as it defeated San Jose State 4-1, but the Spartans defeated the Lady Techsters in the other two games of the three-game series... Louisiana Tech currently sits sixth in the WAC with a 1-8 conference record, and has a 9-23 overall record... The Lady Techsters are currently batting .271 as a team as Emma Barnes leads the way with a .343 average, 28 runs scored, seven doubles, five triples and six stolen bases... Barnes' five triples tie her for first in the WAC, and her 28 runs scored are second-most in the league, while her batting average is eighth-best in the conference... Regan Clark leads the team with 24 RBI, while Ashley Cameron has provided the power with seven home runs, which are second most in the WAC... Courtney Avery heads the pitching staff with a 3.95 ERA, while Lesley Aycock and Krissi Oliver each have three wins, and have combined for 53 strike outs.
USU NOTE-ABLE - Three Aggies went deep in the 11-7 win over Brigham Young last Tuesday as senior Sara Fleming hit her third home run in five games, senior Quela Leonhardt hit her second dinger of the season, and senior Amanda Carver went deep for the first time this year... Sophomore Amy Schaible also connected on her first home run last week as she hit a solo-shot against Nevada on Saturday... Fleming's home run was the 18th of her career, which tied her with Jennifer Power (`91-94) for second-most in Utah State history... Fleming now trails Sandy Taylor (`97-00) by six home runs for the all-time lead in Aggie history... Fleming also doubled against BYU last week and is now tied with teammate Leonhardt for the second-most doubles in Utah State history... Senior Leslie Higley pitched in two games last week and has now appeared in 118 games as an Aggie, which ties her for the most appearances all-time with Mary Lou Ramm-Flippen (`80-83)... Leonhardt picked up her 81st walk last week and is now second all-time in career walks by an Aggie... Fleming reached base in all five games last week, and has now been on base in 15 of the last 16 games where she has a .318 batting average with 14 hits, six doubles, three home runs, and eight RBI... Leonhardt also reached base in all five games last week, and has now reached base in 12 consecutive games... Schaible and Fleming have both had five game hitting streaks at one point in the season as Schaible's streak was from Feb. 24 to Feb. 26, while Fleming's streak went from Feb. 26 to March 17... Senior Heather Straight picked up her fifth win of the season in the 11-7 victory against BYU on April 4. Straight has now eclipsed her win total from a season ago as she recorded four wins in 2005.
UTAH STATE IN THE WAC - Amy Schaible currently ranks third in the WAC in triples with four, and averages 0.14 triples per game which is second in the conference... Sara Fleming has been hit by a pitch six times this season which is second most in the conference, and she also averages 0.20 doubles per game which is eighth best in the WAC...Quela Leonhardt averages 0.50 doubles per game, which puts her third in the conference in that category.
The Diamond ANNIVERSARY - The 2006 season marks the 30th year of Utah State softball. The first Aggies team took the field in 1976 and finished with a 14-11 record... This season also marks the 25th anniversary of the Utah State 1981 AIAW National Championship team that went 34-12 and defeated Cal State Fullerton in the championship game.
FIRST TIME IS A CHARM - The Aggies have competed against four teams for the first time in 2006 as USU won its first ever meeting against Miami (OH) 9-2 in the Capital Classic on March 17, but lost its first game 8-1 against Illinois in the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic Feb. 18 as well as dropping its first meeting with San Diego 2-1 on Feb. 24, and Harvard 6-5 on March 24.
2005 ARCHIVES - USU was honored as the 2005 NCAA statistical champion for double-plays turned as the Aggies turned an average of 0.65 double plays per game... USU's 34 double plays last season were also a school record, shattering the previous record of 26 set back in 1992... The Aggies also set a school record by hitting 32 dingers in 2005, breaking the old record of 29 set back in 1996... Sara Fleming and Quela Leonhardt were named second team all-Big West and became the first USU softball players to earn such honors since 1998... Sara Fleming also tied Sandy Taylor for Utah State's single-season home run record by hitting 10 in 2005.
WAC BOUND - Utah State will make the jump to the Western Athletic Conference after spending 15 seasons in the Big West Conference where it had a 175-237 record, a .424 winning percentage. The Aggies opened WAC play at home against 23rd-ranked Fresno State on Friday, March 31 with two losses.
PRESEASON WAC POLL - Utah State was picked to finish fifth out of seven teams in its inaugural season in the Western Athletic Conference... The WAC coaches tabbed 23rd-ranked Fresno State as the favorite to win the conference.
RANKED OPPONENTS - Utah State will face six teams in 2006 that are ranked in the top 25 in the USA TODAY/NFCA preseason poll... In the Desert Classic, the Aggies defeated then 18th-ranked Oregon 7-6... Utah State previously lost to six-ranked Oregon State (3-10), eighth-ranked Arizona State (0-8, 0-9), ninth-ranked Stanford (0-11) and 17th-ranked Nebraska (7-2) at the Kajikawa Classic Feb. 10-12... The Aggies also lost to 23rd-ranked WAC foe Fresno State 2-3 and 2-10 on March 31.
