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Utah State Softball Plays In Southern Utah Invite This Weekend
Feb. 21, 2007
LOGAN, Utah -
Complete Notes in PDF Format
Utah State (3-6, 0-0 WAC) at Southern Utah Invitational
SUU Invitational Schedule
QUICKLY - Utah State (3-6, 0-0 WAC) plays its third-straight tournament when the Aggies head to St. George, Utah for the double-round-robin Southern Utah Invitational Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 22-24.
Due to recent snow in the Cedar City area the tournament has been moved to St. George, Utah and will played on Dixie State's Karl Brooks Field.
USU will open tournament action against host Southern Utah on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
The Aggies return to the diamond on Friday to take on Utah Valley State at 10 a.m., and Southern Utah at Noon. On Saturday, USU again faces UVSC at 10 a.m., and Southern Utah at Noon. UVSC and Southern Utah will face off at 2 p.m. on both days.
This will be the second weekend in the last three that all three teams have been in the same tournament, as they all opened the season at the BYU/UVSC Red Desert Classic on Feb. 9-11. Utah State beat Southern Utah, 11-2, in the Aggies' season-opener, their first season-opening win since 2001. USU did not face co-host UVSC.
Utah State is 3-6 on the season after going 1-4 at the UNLV Louisville Slugger Desert Classic. The Aggies opened with losses to Mississippi State (6-3), Portland State (6-5) and #11 California (13-1 in 5 innings), before beating Seton Hall (7-4.) USU wrapped up action with a loss to host UNLV (4-1).
Southern Utah was also at the UNLV Classic, posting a 3-3 mark, beating Wright State (16-2), Sacramento State (5-4) and Portland State (11-8), before losing to Illinois (11-10), UC Davis (6-4) and Hawai'i (16-0). The Thunderbirds are 4-6 on the year, after going 1-3 at the opening weekend action at the BYU/UVSC Red Desert Classic, including losing to Utah State, 11-2, in the season-opener.
Utah Valley State is 1-3 overall, and the Wolverines did not play this past weekend, as their last action was at the BYU/UVSC Red Desert Classic Feb. 9-11. UVSC beat Idaho State (11-5) before dropping three in a row to Loyola Marymount (6-1), BYU (9-0) and Southern Utah (14-6).
USU returns five starters among 14 returning letterwinners from last season's 8-38 overall and 3-14 WAC ledger.
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 third in the WAC statistics in team batting (.305) and are second in the conference in home runs with eight... The Aggies also are third in the league in stolen bases (11-14). - Defensively, USU is seventh in team pitching, with a 6.31 team ERA. - Last season the Aggies hit a total of 18 home runs in 46 games... this season through nine games, USU is over halfway to last year's total, belting 11 so far this season, including five in a wild 13-12, 8 inning win over Idaho State on Feb. 10. - Junior 3B Amy Schaible is third in the WAC in individual batting, hitting .483, as well as ranking tied for third in hits (14), third in home runs (three), tied for fourth in runs scored (11) and fifth in total bases (24). - USU holds three of the top 13 batting spots as senior 1B/OF Jamie Fife is sixth in the WAC in batting (.556), while sophomore 1B Aubrie Stroman is 13th (.364). - Fife also is tied for fourth in home runs (two). - Sophomore P Lindsey Benson is 10th in the WAC in ERA (3.04) and ninth in strikeouts (16). - Freshman P Stacey Ellingsworth is 14th in the league in ERA (5.25) and is eighth in strikeouts (18). - Stroman enters the weekend with the longest active hitting streak with five games... Schaible had a season-opening eight-game hitting streak snapped in the loss to UNLV on Monday, going 0-2. - Schaible leads USU with four multi-hit games...Schaible also leads the team with three multi-RBI games...while Stroman and freshman OF Emily Reilly leads the team with four in one game. - Fife leads the team in average with runners in scoring position (.750, 6-8), and with runners on (.700, 7-10). - Reilly leads USU in average with two outs (.800, 4-5), highlighted by her two-run home run in the top of the seventh against Portland State on Feb. 17. - Schaible is USU's leading returner in batting average, hitting .248 last season, and is tied for runs scored with 12, as well as second among returners in RBI with nine. - 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. - Schaible ranked tied for third in the WAC in triples (4), and is the second-leading returner in the category... Schaible also was tied for second in the league in triples per game (0.10). - USU had only one player receive weekly honors from the WAC, as Heather Straight earned Pitcher of the Week honors on May 1, after pitching a complete-game six-hitter in which she did not yield an earned run... Straight is the Aggies' graduate assistant coach this season. - Sophomore P Lindsey Benson is the Aggies' leading returner on the pitching staff, as she made 15 appearances last season, recording 25 K's with a 5.80 ERA. - 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. 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. 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 313-352-1 (.471) in 12 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. - Letts, a native of Manchester, Iowa, is a member of the Iowa Softball Pitchers Hall of Fame, being inducted in 1980, as well as the Iowa Softball Hall of Fame in 1996. Additionally, Letts was named the Colorado SportsWomen Coach of the Year in 1997.
ABOUT TOURNAMENT OPPONENTS -
Southern Utah - The Thunderbirds are 4-6 on the year, posting a 3-3 mark at the UNLV Louisville Slugger Desert Classic last weekend, beating Wright State (16-2), Sacramento State (5-4) and Portland State (11-8), before losing to Illinois (11-10), UC Davis (6-4) and Hawai'i (16-0). SUU opened the season going 1-3 in the opening weekend action at the BYU/UVSC Red Desert Classic, including losing to Utah State, 11-2, in the season-opener.
Senior OF Erin Niederhauser was the Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Week after hitting .555 with two doubles, two HR's, 10 RBI and scoring five runs in SUU's six games at the UNLV Louisville Slugger Desert Classic.
Niederhauser leads SUU with a .476 average and .857 slugging percentage.
Senior C Marci Pratt leads the Thunderbirds with four HR's, 11 runs scored and 27 total bases, while junior SS Lindi Kennedy has a team-leading 12 hits and 12 RBI.
Senior P Bobbi Jo Merrill has a team-best 4.20 ERA, while freshman P Kristina Brooks leads SUU with 27 strikeouts.
SUU head coach Jodi Jackson (Colorado-State Pueblo, 2000) has amassed a 61-63-1 record in her three seasons. Under Jackson's lead, the Thunderbirds have won two Mid-Continent Conference regular-season crowns, as SUU has won four-straight. Last season Jackson led SUU to its first Mid-Con tournament championship and the Thunderbirds' first NCAA Tournament berth since joining the NCAA ranks in 1988.
Utah Valley State - The Wolverines are 1-3 overall, as UVSC did not play this past weekend. Their last action was at the BYU/UVSC Red Desert Classic Feb. 9-11. UVSC beat Idaho State (11-5) before dropping three in a row to Loyola Marymount (6-1), BYU (9-0) and Southern Utah (14-6).
UVSC is led by senior P/UT Jackie Roberts and freshman C Jamie Tonis, who are both hitting .429. Roberts has a team-high five RBI and has the team's only HR this season.
In the circle, freshman Ashly Forsberg has a team-low 2.33 ERA, while Roberts has chalked up a team-leading five strikeouts.
SERIES HISTORY vs. TOURNAMENT OPPONENTS -
UP NEXT - Utah State takes a small break from tournament play, facing Northern Colorado in a four-game, two-day series on Thursday and Friday, March 1-2. On Saturday and Sunday, March 3-4, Letts leads the Aggies into her old stomping grounds playing in the Colorado State Tournament at Fort Collins, Colo.
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