March 28, 2007
LOGAN, Utah -
Complete USU Softball At Fresno State Notes in PDF Format
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Utah State (9-17, 0-0 WAC) at Fresno State (26-12, 2-1 WAC)
Friday, March 30 • 7 p.m. / Saturday, March 31 • 2 p.m. (DH)
Fresno, Calif. • Bulldog Diamond
Utah State's Weekend Schedule - All Times MT
Fri., 3/30 UTAH STATE at Fresno State 7 p.m.
Sat., 3/31 UTAH STATE at Fresno State (DH) 2 p.m.
QUICKLY - After a 12-day layoff, Utah State (9-17, 0-0 WAC) softball returns to action, opening up Western Athletic Conference play by heading to the sixth-largest city in California, Fresno, for the first time since 1991, to take on Fresno State (26-12, 2-1 WAC) on Friday and Saturday, March 30-31. First pitch for Friday's game is slated for 7 p.m. (MT) at Bulldog Diamond (3,288), with Saturday's doubleheader scheduled for 2 p.m. (MT).
Fans can follow this weekend's Aggie softball games through the USU website at www.UtahStateAggies.com via GameTracker, a free service, which updates play-by-play and statistics throughout the game.
Four Aggie players hail from the state of California: sophomore P Lindsey Benson (Novato/San Marin HS), senior OF Lauren Guzman (Sylmar/Sylmar HS), junior 3B Amy Schaible (Red Bluff/Red Bluff Union HS) and sophomore 1B Aubrie Stroman (Red Bluff/Red Bluff Union HS).
Utah State is 11-15 all-time vs. Fresno State, having lost four of the last five meetings. The Bulldogs swept the Aggies last year, winning both games of the weather-shortened series at Logan on March 31 in USU's home opener. Fresno State won 3-2 in 8 innings in game one, before winning 10-2 in 5 innings in the nightcap. Prior to last season, the two teams had not met since 2001, when USU won 4-1 at the Cal State Fullerton Tournament. This weekend is USU's first trip to Fresno since 1991 when the two teams were fellow Big West Conference foes.
USU is 9-17 on the season, topping last season's win total (8-38), when the Aggies upset then #15 Oregon State, 2-0, on Saturday, at Corvallis, Ore., the Beavers' first shutout loss at home to an unranked team since April 29, 2005. That was USU's lone win of its six games in Oregon at the Cascade Clash Invitational, as the Aggies lost twice at 16th-ranked Oregon (8-0 in 6 inn/8-0 in 5 inn) on Friday. On Saturday, USU lost to Portland State (3-1 in 8 inn) before beating Oregon State. Sunday, the Aggies were blanked twice by Towson (1-0 in 8 inn/4-0).
Preseason WAC favorite and defending regular-season champ Fresno State is currently the first team listed among others receiving votes in this week's USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll and second team listed in others receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll, with a 26-12 overall record and a 2-1 ledger in WAC play. The Bulldogs were to host 13th-ranked Stanford in a doubleheader Tuesday but it was postponed due to inclement weather. In its last action, Fresno State won two of the three-game series with Nevada last weekend, winning the opener 10-0, before dropping the second game, 9-1, snapping the Bulldogs' four-game win streak, but then bouncing back to win the third game, 7-1.
LETTS ERA OPENS WITH WIN - First-year Candi Letts won her first game at the helm of the Aggies with the 11-2 win over Southern Utah on Feb. 9. Letts becomes the first USU head coach to win their opener since Pam McCreesh won her first game in 1998.
SEASON 32 - The 2007 season marks the 32nd year of softball at Utah State... the Aggies enter the season with a 741-768-3 (.491) overall record... USU has one college World Series appearance (1984, tied for 7th) and four NCAA Tournament appearances (1984, 1989, 1992, 1993)... Utah State won the 1980 and 1981 AIAW National Championships... this is USU's second year in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
ADMISSION - All games at LaRee and LaGrande Johnson Field are free admission to the public.
RETURNING - First-year head coach Candi Letts returns five starters among 14 returning letterwinners from last season's 8-38 overall and 3-14 WAC ledger... junior 3B Amy Schaible (5-6, Red Bluff, Calif.) headlines the returners, as she batted .248 with three doubles, three triples and nine RBI... Jamie Fife (SR, 1B, 5-10, Plain City, Utah) hit .243 with four RBI, and had a .983 fielding percentage... Whitnie Ray (JR, OF/2B, 5-6, Portland, Ore.) had a .230 average with six RBI, and did not commit an error last season, posting a 1.000 fielding pct... Lexy Perry (SR, P, 5-9, Vancouver, Wash.) is USU's leading returning pitcher, posting a 3.79 ERA last season in only nine appearances for 20.1 innings... Lindsey Benson (SO, P, 5-7, Novato, Calif.) has the most appearances among the returning pitchers with 15, throwing 50.2 innings and posting a 5.80 ERA.
TIDBITS ABOUT UTAH STATE -
- USU is fifth in the WAC statistics in team batting (.256) and are fourth in the conference in home runs with 21... The Aggies also are second in the league in stolen bases (32-44).
- Defensively, USU is seventh in team pitching, with a 4.83 team ERA... The Aggie pitching staff is fifth in strikeouts (125) and third in fewest walks issued (75).
- USU's pitching staff has nearly topped last season's strikeout total, currently with 125 K's... last year USU pitchers logged 142 strikeouts.
- Last season the Aggies hit a total of 18 home runs in 46 games... this season through 26 games, USU surpassed last year's total, belting 21 so far this season, including five in a wild 13-12, 8 inning win over Idaho State on Feb. 10.
- Junior 3B Amy Schaible leads the team with seven HR's, while senior 1B Jamie Fife has four HR, and four others have two apiece.
- With seven HR's, Schaible is fourth on USU's single-season HR list... the school record is 10 round-trippers, done three times by two different players: Sara Fleming (2005) and Sandy Taylor (1999 and 2000).
- Schaible also leads the team with 17 RBI, matching last year's season leader Quela Leonhardt's RBI total, and nearly halfway to the single-season school record of 41 RBI by Sandy Taylor in 2000.
- Schaible now has 10 career home runs, currently tied for seventh on USU's career HR list with Quela Leonhardt (2003-06) and Kathy Beasley (1993-96).
- USU has also topped last season's stolen base total, nearly matching last season's total of 13 stolen bases with 12 swipes in the six games in Colorado March 1-4... On the year, the Aggies now have 32 stolen bases in 44 attempts... That total is just shy of the halfway mark of the school record of 67 from the 1981 season.
- After holding three of the top 10 batting spots in the conference statistics, USU now does not have anyone in the top 15, senior 1B/OF Jamie Fife's team-leading .328 average is just shy of the 15th spot (.330)... Fife also ranks second on the team and eighth in the conference with 14 RBI.
- Junior 3B Amy Schaible has slipped to hitting .320, as well as ranking tied for third in home runs (7)... Schaible leads USU in total bases (48), hits (24), runs scored (17) and at bats (75).
- Sophomore P Lindsey Benson is ninth in the WAC in ERA (3.04) and tied for sixth in strikeouts (62). Benson's 22 strikeouts in three appearances March 1-4 nearly matched her season total of 25 K's last year in 15 appearances.
- Freshman P Stacey Ellingsworth is 14th in the league in ERA (5.40) and is second on the team in strikeouts (37).
- Senior P Lexy Perry is second on the team in ERA (3.60) and has the Aggies' lone shutout on the season, with a 2-0 blanking of then-#15 Oregon State on March 18, USU's first shutout win since April 16, 2005... with 15 K's this season in eight appearances, Perry has doubled last year's season total of just eight strikeouts in nine appearances.
- Junior C Heather Haak and junior OF Whitnie Ray have the longest active hitting streaks at three games... Schaible had a season-opening eight-game hitting streak... sophomore 1B Aubrie Stroman had a five-game hitting streak earlier in the season as well.
- Schaible, Fife and Stroman share the lead for USU with five multi-hit games each... Fife and junior SS Tara Evans lead the team with four hits in a game.
- Schaible leads the team for multi-RBI games with six... senior OF Ashley Bellum leads the team with five RBI in USU's 12-4 win over Northern Colorado on March 3, blasting a grand slam... Stroman and Reilly each have a four RBI outing.
- Freshman OF Emily Reilly leads the team in average with runners in scoring position (.500, 7-14), and second in average with runners on (.421, 8-19)... Fife leads USU in average with runners on (.440, 11-25).
- Reilly also leads USU in average with two outs (.429, 6-14), highlighted by her two-run home run in the top of the seventh against Portland State on Feb. 17.
2006 Season Highlights - USU turned a rare triple play last season on April 28 against New Mexico State, one of only two WAC teams to pull off the feat (Louisiana Tech).
- USU led the WAC and was third in the NCAA in double plays turned per game, turning 23 double plays, for an average of 0.5 per game... and the Aggies were the only WAC team ranked in the top 50 in the NCAA in the category.
- USU twice turned three double-plays in the one game, one of which came on May 6, the same day that Fresno State turned three double-plays, and was the only other team in the WAC to turn three double-plays.
- USU was swept in four of its six WAC series, the only team other than Hawai'i (by Nevada and Fresno State) to be swept in more than one WAC series.
- USU had the latest home opener in the WAC last season (March 31 vs. Fresno State) and does again this season, as the Aggies' make their 2007 home debut on April 3... The April 3 home opener is one of the top 10 latest home openers in the country.
- Utah State had the most student-athletes earn WAC all-Academic Team honors with eight, twice as many as the next school.
BENSON NAMED USU ATHLETE OF WEEK
Lindsey Benson was named the Utah State Athlete of the Week for the period ending March 4. The weekly award is voted on by a state media panel.
Benson, a sophomore pitcher went 2-0 in three appearances, and logged a career-high 10 strikeouts in USU's 3-2 win over Colorado State on March 4, as her career-high topped Benson's three-day old previous career-high of nine K's in USU's 6-5 win at Northern Colorado on March 1.
She had at least one strikeout in each inning in the March 4 game, ringing up two in the third, fifth and sixth innings. Her 22 strikeouts in three appearances this week nearly matched her season total of 25 K's last year in 15 appearances. She now has 47 strikeouts on the season.
REILLY NAMED WAC SOFTBALL HITTER OF THE WEEK - March 5
Freshman outfielder Emily Reilly was named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week, announced March 5 by the conference office.
Reilly, a freshman from Portland, Ore. (Central Catholic) posted a .462 average for the week, going 6-for-13 with a double, triple and a home run, as well as three RBI. She had a .923 slugging percentage and a .462 on-base percentage in four games during the week. The outfielder went 2-for-4 with a triple in Utah State's 5-4 win over Northern Colorado on March 1. She was also 3-for-4 with a double two RBI and two runs scored in the Aggies' 12-4 win over the Bears on March 3.
Reilly is the first Utah State player to earn hitter of the week honors from the WAC and just the second overall. Last season, Heather Straight earned pitcher of the week honors for the week of May 1. Reilly's honor is the first conference hitter of the week award since Sara Fleming was named the Big West Player of the Week on April 25, 2005.
LETTS' BITS
- Letts is in her first year at the helm of the Aggies, but has 12 years of experience as a Division I head coach.
- Letts came to USU from Northern Illinois, where she was an assistant for one season... Prior to NIU, Letts was the head coach at the University of Mississippi, where she spent seven seasons guiding the Ole Miss program from 1999-2005, compiling a 153-246 (.372) record, including leading the Rebels to a school-record 30 wins in 2005.
- Before Ole Miss, Letts was head coach at Colorado State University from 1994-98, amassing a 160-106-1 (.602) record in her five seasons there, as she re-established the softball program after it had been eliminated for one season. The .602 winning percentage is the highest in school history. In 1997, Letts led the Rams to a 51-14 mark, winning the Western Athletic Conference championship and finishing ninth in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) final poll. That season Letts was named the WAC Coach of the Year, as well as the NCAA West Regional Coach of the Year.
- Letts has a career head coaching mark of 322-369-1 (.466) in 692 career games spanning 13 seasons, reaching the 200 and 300 win milestones while at Ole Miss.
- This is Letts' second go-round in the WAC, as she posted a 79-62 (.560) mark in WAC games while at Colorado State.
- As a head coach, Letts has coached four All-Americans, seven all-region players, 12 all-conference winners, one conference player of the year, and one freshman of the year.
- As a pitcher at Creighton University from 1979-1983, Letts helped the Bluejays to three-straight trips to the College World Series. In her career in the circle, Letts compiled 43 wins to go with 16 saves, while logging an ERA of 0.76 and firing 276 strikeouts. In the 1982 season, Letts led the country with nine saves, a mark that still ranks as the fifth-most single-season saves in NCAA history.
- After graduating from Creighton in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in physical education, Letts began her coaching career at the high school ranks, including head coach at Burlington, Iowa, for five seasons. Letts moved up to the college level in 1988, returning to Creighton, where she served as an assistant for six years, helping the Bluejays to two NCAA Regional trips, as well as making three appearances in the Top 25 poll and coaching one All-American. In 1991, Letts and Creighton played Utah in the longest game in NCAA history, a 31-inning contest.
ABOUT OPPONENT -
Fresno State - Preseason WAC favorite and defending regular-season champ Fresno State is currently the first team listed among others receiving votes in this week's USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll and second team listed in others receiving votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll, with a 26-12 overall record and a 2-1 ledger in WAC play. The Bulldogs were to host 13th-ranked Stanford in a doubleheader Tuesday but it was postponed due to inclement weather. In its last action, Fresno State won two of the three-game series with Nevada last weekend, winning the opener 10-0, before dropping the second game, 9-1, snapping the Bulldogs' four-game win streak, but then bouncing back to win the third game, 7-1.
Junior C/IF Kristi Sylvester leads Fresno State with a .376 average, ranking fourth in the WAC. Sylvester also ranks second in the conference with 10 doubles and is sixth in the league with 26 RBI, as well as sixth with 63 total bases.
Sylvester is this week's WAC Hitter of the Week after going 9-16 with four HR's and eight RBI in Fresno State's five games last week, highlighted by two home runs in the same inning in the Bulldogs' win over Ohio.
Haley Perkins, a sophomore OF, is second on the team and ninth in the league with a .349 average and is second in the WAC with 32 runs scored and is third with 45 hits. Perkins also is fourth with eight stolen bases, and is the only base stealer in the top four not to be thrown out yet (8-8).
In the circle, sophomore right hander Robin Mackin leads the WAC with a 1.12 ERA and 231 strikeouts. Mackin also leads the league in wins with a 19-7 record, as well as a league-leading 181.2 innings pitched, but has also yielded a conference-leading 63 walks. Mackin has been the WAC Pitcher of the Week three times this season, including after stymieing No. 2 Arizona State with 16 strikeouts during Fresno State's 6-1 upset win.
Legendary coach Margie Wright (Illinois State, 1974) is in her 22nd year at the leash of the Bulldogs. Wright is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA softball history, with 1,232 wins (1,232-440-3) in her 28 years as a collegiate head coach. Wright has a 1,069-348-1 record at Fresno State. She was the first NCAA Division I softball coach and the 24th overall coach regardless of sport in NCAA Division I history to reach the 1,000 career win plateau. Under Wright's leadership, Fresno State has won one NCAA title (1998), and been to the NCAA Women's College World Series 10 times, as part of Fresno State's 21 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
SERIES HISTORY vs. OPPONENT -
FIRST LASTOPPONENT W L T PCT. GAME GAMEFresno State 11 15 0 .423 1978 2006
Note: USU `s first trip to Fresno since 1991 - Aggies are 6-7 at Fresno, currently on a four-game losing skid there.
UP NEXT - Utah State's home opener is Tuesday, April 3, when the Aggies host Utah Valley State in a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. at LaRee and LaGrande Johnson Field. Admission to all of USU's home games at Johnson Field is free to the public.
USU then hosts Nevada in the Aggies' WAC home opener on Friday and Saturday, April 6-7.
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