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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Softball Opens Season
2/7/2001 12:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 7, 2001
Salt Lake City - COMING UP: No. 25 ranked Utah (0-0-0) opens its' 2001 campaign at the ASU Fiesta Bowl Tournament, taking on the Wisconsin Badgers at 9:00 a.m. and the Oregon Ducks at 5:30 p.m. on Fri., Feb. 9, in Phoenix, Ariz. On Sat., Feb. 10, the Utes meet New Mexico State at 11:00 a.m. and Texas Tech at 3:30 p.m. Utah will face the Arizona State Sun Devils at 12:00 p.m. on Sun., Feb. 11.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH: Utah enters the 2001 season ranked No. 25. The Utes return five starters and eight letterwinners from last year's squad. The Mountain West Conference regular-season and tournament champion, Utah ended its 2000 campaign with a 42-23 (.646) overall record and a 15-5 (.750) conference mark. Last year, Utah made its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1997 and its ninth NCAA appearance overall. The Utes own a 16-21 NCAA record, including a 15-13 mark in NCAA regional play, and have advanced to the Women's College World Series four times (1982, `85, `91 and `94) with a 1-6 slate.
The Utes received 67 votes and a No. 25 ranking in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 preseason poll, released Fri., Jan. 26. The Division I Women's Softball Committee produces a poll which is used as part of the championship tournament selection process. They rank the top ten teams in each region and last year, Utah was ranked fourth in the West Region in the Mar. 30, April 13, April 27 and May 11 poll. Utah received 156 votes to rank 20th in the 2000 final USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Poll.
UP NEXT: Utah will travel to Las Vegas, Nev. to participate in the UNLV Tournament on Feb. 16-18. On Feb. 23-25, the Utes will compete in the Santa Barbara Tournament in Santa Barbara, Calif. Utah hosts the 2nd annual Red Desert Classic on Mar. 2-4 in St. George, Utah. The Utes will travel to Tampa, Fla. to play in the South Florida Speedline Tournament on Mar. 8-11. On Mar. 16-18, Utah plays in the Florida State Tournament in Tallahassee, Fla. On Mar. 23 and 24, the Utes will take on the nationally prominent Arizona Wildcats in a non-conference match-up in Tucson, Ariz. Both games are set for 7:00 p.m. Utah will host in-state rival Utah State on Mar. 28 at 3:00 p.m. at Ute Field. On Fri., Mar. 30, the Utes open MWC play at New Mexico at 1:00 p.m.
TOURNAMENT QUICKFACTS: The Fiesta Bowl Tournament is an annual event hosted by Arizona State University. Nine of the 17 teams are ranked in the USA Today/NFCA Top-25 with two more teams receiving votes. The teams come from all over the country and represent seven different conferences. The conferences represented are: Pacific-10 (4), Big-12 (4), Southeastern (3), Mountain West (2), Big West (2), Big Ten (1), Atlantic-10 (1). The tournament is a three-day event with teams playing in a round robin fashion, There are no brackets, pools or champion crowned. Games will be played on four different fields at Rose Mofford and at Arizona State's Farrington Stadium throughout each day, except for Sunday when all games will be played at Rose Mofford.
Will Phillips of the Arizona State University media relations office is the softball contact for the tournament. He can be reached at (602) 965-6592.
UTAH'S TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: The Utes will get a tough early season test this weekend, playing two teams ranked in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 pre-season poll.
Friday Wisconsin-Madison (received votes) 9:00 a.m., (No. 20) Oregon 5:30 p.m., Saturday New Mexico State 11:00 a.m., Texas Tech 3:30 p.m., Sunday (No. 6) Arizona State 12:00 p.m.
SCOUTING WISCONSIN-MADISON: Wisconsin-Madison opens its season this weekend at the Fiesta Bowl Tournament, taking on No. 25 Utah. The Badgers went 34-25 overall, 9-5 (fifth place) in the Big Ten Conference last season. Wisconsin-Madison returns seven starters, 11 letterwinners and adds 10 newcomers to its roster. Head coach Karen Gallagher is back for her sixth season with the Badgers. She posts a 128-141-2 career record and a 41-68 Big Ten Conference record. Junior Jade Gosse and sophomores Andrea Kirchberg and Nikki Starry return to lead Wisconsin-Madison in the 2001 season.
SCOUTING OREGON: The No. 20 University of Oregon softball team has a 4-2 overall record after opening its 2001 campaign at the Southwest Texas State Tournament last weekend. On Sun., Feb. 4, the Ducks split two games, defeating its host Southwest Texas 3-2 and losing to Baylor 6-2 in the afternoon game. On Sat., Feb. 3, Oregon defeated Texas A&M Corpus Christi 11-3 in the first game and ended the day with a 4-0 win over Baylor. On Fri., Feb. 2, the Ducks defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 5-0, and lost to Southwest Texas State, 3-2.
The Ducks went 36-29 and 6-15 (tie 7th place) in Pac-10 play last season. They return eight starters and nine letterwinners, along with nine newcomers added to the roster. Head coach Rick Gamez posts a 445-269-1 career record in 13 years and a 140-124-1 record at Oregon in five years. Juniors Holly Ray and Connie McMurren return along with sophomore Alyssa Laux to lead the Ducks in 2001.
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO STATE: New Mexico State opened its 2001 season last week on the road facing the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The Aggies dropped both games to Texas Tech, 3-0 and 5-4. On Tues., Feb. 6, New Mexico State split with Western New Mexico, losing the first game 6-2 and winning the second game 2-1. The Aggies host Eastern New Mexico on Wed., Feb. 7 in a doubleheader match-up before competing in the Fiesta Bowl Tournament this weekend. New Mexico State posts a 1-3 overall record.
The Aggies went 27-31 and 11-13 (6th place) in Big West play last season. They return five starters and 10 letterwinners, along with six newcomers added to the roster. Head coach Lee Ann Jarvis posts a 123-214 career record and a 27-31 record at New Mexico State in two years. Senior Lizette Olivares and juniors Mel Briggs and Amber Mosher are the Aggies' top returners in 2001.
SCOUTING TEXAS TECH: The Texas Tech Red Raiders opened the 2001 season at home with two wins over New Mexico State. On Sat., Feb. 3, the Red Raiders defeated the Aggies, 3-0 and 5-4 in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech is 2-0 overall before entering the Fiesta Bowl Tournament.
The Red Raiders posted a 19-34 overall record and a 7-10 (10th place) Big 12 finish in 2000. They return six starters, nine letterwinners and add nine newcomers to the roster. Head coach Bobby Reeves enters his second season with the Red Raiders and has a 35-24 career record. Texas Tech's top returners in 2001 are seniors Sandy Butler, Shauna Briggs and Amanda Renfro, junior Eva Harshman and sophomore Amanda Douglas.
SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE: The sixth-ranked Arizona State softball team (0-0, 0-0 Pac-10) will kick off the 2001 season hosting the 10th annual Fiesta Bowl Tournament, Feb. 9-11, at both the Rose Mofford Sports Complex and on its home field, Farrington Stadium.
Last year, the Sun Devils racked up a 43-20 overall record, 8-13 (5th place) in Pac-10 play. Head coach Linda Wells has a 737-555-1 career record in 26 years and a 386-291 record in 11 years at Arizona State. Juniors Erica Beach and Kirsten Voak, along with sophomore Kara Brun are the Sun Devils' top returners in 2001.
NCAA STATISTICAL LEADERS: As a team, Utah was sixth in the nation last year in home runs (58), ninth in slugging percentage (.450), 17th with a .301 team batting average and 18th in scoring (5.14). Many Utes ranked among the nation's statistical leaders in the individual categories.
MWC PRESEASON POLL: Utah has been selected to repeat as Mountain West Conference softball champions in a vote by the league coaches. Utah received five first place votes for a total of 25 points to capture the top spot in the poll. New Mexico was picked second after collecting 20 points and the only other first place vote. San Diego State was third with 15 points followed by Colorado State (11), BYU (10) and UNLV (9).
USA TODAY/NFCA PRESEASON POLL: The University of Utah softball team received 67 votes and a No. 25 ranking in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 preseason poll. The Mountain West Conference regular-season and tournament champion, Utah ended its season with a 42-23 (.646) overall record and a 15-5 (.750) conference mark. Utah made its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1997 and its ninth NCAA overall. The Utes own a 16-21 NCAA record, including a 15-13 mark in NCAA regional play, and have advanced to the Women's College World Series four times (1982, `85, `91 and `94) with a 1-6 slate.
"I think it is good that we made the Top 25," said head coach Mona Stevens. "I'm glad we are No. 25 because I think it will give our kids motivation to work harder. There are a lot of teams in the Top 25 that we beat last year, but that was last year, and this year, we need to prove ourselves once again. I'm glad that we had the recognition to get in the Top 25 and we'll have our work cut out for us. We want to move up in the poll and, although we are excited to be recognized, it will motivate us towards moving higher."
Utah was the only Mountain West Conference team to enter the 2001 season in the top 25. New Mexico was the other MWC team recognized in the preseason poll with 10 votes.
HEAD COACH MONA STEVENS: Mona Stevens, who has built a reputation as one of the top coaches in the nation on both the national and international levels, embarks on her fifth season as head coach at Utah.
A former Ute player and assistant coach, the Provo, Utah, native came home in September of 1996, following a two-year stint at the University of Massachusetts. Stevens was the associate head coach for the Minutewomen during the 1995 and `96 seasons, and was named head coach at UMass in June of `96, three months prior to being hired by her alma mater.
Stevens has the best winning percentage in school history. She posts a 150-89 (.628) career overall record and a 64-39 (.621) career conference record in four seasons. Her 2000 team was the NCAA Region 1 Tournament runner-up, and placed third in the NCAA Regional Tournament in 1997. Stevens was selected as the 2000 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year and posted her 150th career win at the NCAA Region 1 Tournament with a 4-1 win over Mississippi State on May 20.
COVERING THE UTES: The sports information office at the University of Utah welcomes your interest in the Utah softball program and will make every effort to to ensure that your coverage of the Utes is an enjoyable experience. Press credentials, weekly releases and game results are available by calling Assistant Sports Information Director Julie Lapomarda at (801) 581-3771. To request permission to broadcast Utah home games, send a request on station letterhead to the attention of: Julie Lapomarda, Assistant Sports Information Director, University of Utah, 1825 E. South Campus Dr. Front, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0900.
WEEKLY INTERVIEWS: Members of the media who wish to interview head coach Mona Stevens should contact her at her office (801) 581-3514 in the morning on weekdays. Interviews with the athletes should be arranged through Julie Lapomarda (801) 581-3771.
POST-GAME SERVICES: Head coach Mona Stevens and Utah players will be available for interviews outside the Utah dug out following a 10 minute cooling off period. A member of the Utah sports information staff will gather interview requests immediately following the game. Box scores will be provided and faxed upon request.
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEDIA INFORMATION: Javan Hedlund, Assistant Director of Communications, handles all information requests related to softball at the Mountain West Conference office. The MWC address is 15455 Gleneagle Drive, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80921. The MWC telephone number is (719) 488-4040. The fax number is (719) 487-7241. Hedlund can be reached at (719) 487-4051.
2000 UTE NOTES: The University of Utah women's softball team received an at-large selection to compete in the 48-team NCAA Division I Softball Championships. The Utes were the No. 3 seed in Region 1 which was played in Seattle, Wash. on May 18-21. Utah defeated Western Illinois, 1-0 in eight innings to open play in the tourney. The Utes lost to Mississippi State, 11-3 in its second game of the double-elimination tournament, but came back the next day to defeat Tennessee-Chattanooga, 2-1 and Mississippi State 4-1, advancing to the championship game. Utah lost to Washington 9-0, in the NCAA Region 1 Championship game.
The Mountain West Conference regular-season and tournament champion, Utah ended its season with a 42-23 (.646) overall record and a 15-5 (.750) conference mark. Utah made its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1997 and its ninth NCAA appearance overall. The Utes own a 16-21 NCAA record, including a 15-13 mark in NCAA regional play, and have advanced to the Women's College World Series four times (1982, `85, `91 and `94) with a 1-6 slate.
Head coach Mona Stevens has the best winning percentage in school history. She posts a 150-89 (.628) career overall record and a 64-39 (.621) career conference record in four seasons. Her team was the NCAA Region 1 Tournament runner-up in 2000, and placed third in the NCAA Regional Tournament in 1997. Stevens was selected as the 2000 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year and posted her 150th career win at the NCAA Region 1 Tournament with a 4-1 win over Mississippi State on May 20.
Junior Kristin Arbogast, sophomores Molly McLean and Lyndsey Trevis and freshman Niki Hayhurst were selected to the 2000 NCAA Region 1 All-Tournament Team.
Utah senior Sunny Smith was selected as a 2000 Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I second-team All-American.
Utah had four athletes selected to the All-West Region Team. Trevis claimed first team honors at third base as did Smith at catcher. Arbogast took second team pitching honors along with Hayhurst as the designated player.
Utah had five players selected as members of the inaugural All-Mountain West Conference Softball Team. Seniors Jenny Monson and Smith, Arbogast, McLean and Hayhurst were all first-team selections. Utah swept the MWC special awards as pitcher Arbogast was named the Player of the Year, designated player Hayhurst claimed Freshman of the Year and Stevens was selected Coach of the Year.
Monson, Smith, Arbogast, Trevis and Hayhurst were named to the MWC All-Tournament Team. Pitcher Arbogast was selected as the MVP of the tournament.
Utah had four athletes selected as MWC Players of the Week. Sophomore outfielder McLean was named Player of the Week on April 4th and again on April 24th. Arbogast was named Pitcher of the Week on April 4th and again on May 1st. Monson was named Player of the Week on May 1st and sophomore third baseman Trevis was named Player of the Week on March 13th.
Senior Nicole Wilkinson was named to the 2000 GTE Academic All-District VIII Women's Softball Team.
Smith ended her career as Utah's single-season leader in home runs (18), RBI (59), total bases (143), doubles (17), slugging percentage (.753) and walks (31). Smith is Utah's all-time career-leader for sacrifice flies and is second on Utah's career leader list in home runs, doubles and RBI. She is fifth with a .327 career batting average.
Arbogast virtually rewrote Utah's single-season pitching records in 2000. She holds the Utah record for appearances (64), games started (59), complete games (44), wins (40), losses (19), innings pitched (370.2), hits allowed (388), runs allowed (216), earned runs (147), doubles (58), home runs (19), walks allowed (199) and hit batters (17). As a junior, Arbogast is Utah's all-time career-leader for hits allowed (656), walks allowed (277) and is third on Utah's career leader list in appearances (119) and strikeouts (353), and is fourth in wins (61). She is fourth in complete games (69) and innings pitched (697.2), and fifth in shutouts (15). Arbogast posted a 40-19 overall record, and a 14-5 conference mark. She ended the season with a 2.78 ERA with 59 starts in 64 appearances. Arbogast struck out 215 batters and held opponent hitters to a .268 average.
The Division I Women's Softball Committee produces a poll which is used as part of the championship tournament selection process. They rank the top ten teams in each region and Utah was ranked fourth in the West Region in the Mar. 30, April 13, April 27 and May 11 poll. Utah received 156 votes to rank 20th in the final USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Poll.
Senior Lisa Hashimoto-Hall was selected to the National Invitational Softball Tournament All-Tourney team on Sun., Mar. 12. Teammate Wilkinson was selected to the Sacramento State Capital Classic Tournament All-Tourney team on Sun., Mar. 19.
Utah ended the 2000 season with a 7-12 (.368) record against Top-25 teams. Utah posted a 13-2 (.867) home record, 7-4 (.636) away record and a 22-17 (.564) neutral site record in 2000. In eight games at home, including doubleheader match-ups, the Utes brought in 2,568 fans, an average of 321 fans per game.
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