March 22, 2005

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QUICKLY -- Utah State's softball team travels to San Luis Obispo, Calif this weekend to play three games against conference rival Cal Poly... This will be the 31st time the teams will meet with the series even at 15-15... The Aggies will play two games on Friday and then play one on Saturday at noon... Utah State will then have a short week to prepare for Utah on March 30... USU is 7-13 under its first year head coach Lonny Sargent... The Aggies return 10 letterwinners from last year's 10-41 team, which went 6-15 in the Big West and finished seventh in the conference.

CAL POLY PREVIEW -- Cal Poly finished last year, 22-28, six games short of a winning record. Cal Poly finished last year's season with a three game homestand vs. Utah State and the Mustangs won two of the three games, 3-2, 10-0, and lost the last game 2-3. The Mustangs are currently 18-10 on the season and are riding a seven game winning streak, sweeping UC Riverside and St. Francis College.

Lisa Modglin is the Mustangs' leading hitter, with a .396 average, including six doubles, two triples, and eight RBI. Chelsy Stoufer and Erin Myers are also above the .300 mark with averages of .368 and .338 respectively. Myers has also hit six homeruns on the season. As a team, Cal Poly is hitting .299, while its pitchers are holding opponents to a .223 average.

Pitcher Robyn Kontra Roberts (10-4) leads the team with a 1.42 ERA. She has pitched 93.2 innings giving up 73 hits and only 19 earned runs. She is followed by Eva Nelson (7-6) who has a respectable 1.98 ERA. The entire pitching staff has a combined 1.61 ERA.

TEAM NOTES -- Leslie Higley (4-6) recorded the second Aggie shutout of the season against CS Northridge on Sunday... She scattered four hits over seven innings and struck out two batters... Higley is leading the bullpen with a 3.45 ERA allowing 25 earned runs in 50.2 innings... Quela Henderson-Leonhardt had an eight game hitting streak from Feb. 19th against Texas A&M to March 17th against UCLA... During that stretch she hit .458, with eight runs, seven RBI, two doubles, and two home runs... Leonhardt now leads the Aggies in batting average (.298), runs scored (13), walks (9), and is tied for first in hits (17) and home runs (2)... Jessica Garnett is second on the team, hitting a respectable .293... Garnett recorded a home run, which was the first in her career, against seventh-ranked Texas A&M and pitcher, Jill Weyand, who owned a 0.74 ERA on the season.

RANKED OPPONENTS -- Three Utah State opponents are ranked in the top 25 of the USA TODAY/NFCA poll. UCLA fell three spots to the seventh position this week. The Bruins have won two consecutive national championships and hope to defend their title this year. Texas A&M climbed three spots since last week and are currently 7th. Texas A&M is currently leading the Big 12 Conference with a 28-2 record. Arizona State stayed at the 22nd spot this week. They defeated the Aggies 11-2 earlier this year. Two other Aggie opponents, BYU and Long Beach State, received votes in the poll.