March 28, 2002
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STORYLINE: The UNLV Rebel Softball team (18-22, 0-0) opens its third season of Mountain West Conference play on Friday when it hosts defending league champion Brigham Young (21-11, 0-0) at 1:00 p.m. at Eller Media Stadium. One day later, the Rebels entertain Utah (10-26, 0-0), who come to Las Vegas after a pair of games at UNLV travel-partner San Diego State.
ABOUT UNLV: Coming off a seven-game road swing and a six-game tournament in Sacramento, the Rebels return home for the first time since knocking off Notre Dame, 2-1 on March 10. Over that stretch, UNLV played 13 games in 13 days ... The Rebs have lost three straight and six of their last eight, three of those by a 1-0 count ... At the plate, leadoff hitter Lisa Moses leads the team in batting average (.293) while Geney Orris supplies the power with six home runs and 22 RBI ... In the circle, Kacey Ellis has a team-best winning percentage at 5-2, and freshman Jackie Kerrigan has a 7-10 record, a 2.02 ERA and 84 strikeouts ... Head coach Shan McDonald is in her 16th season at the helm of the Rebel program, carrying a 478-438-2 (.522) mark.
LAST AT BAT: The Rebels just returned from a five-game, five-day trip through Oregon, home to about one-third of the team's travel party ... UNLV went 1-4 over that stretch, opening the week with a doubleheader split at Portland State ... However, the Rebels also have been held scoreless since its 7-3 win in that nightcap ... The Rebs fell 1-0 and 5-0 at Oregon before a heartbreaking 1-0 setback at No. 14 Oregon State ... UNLV committed just one error over that five-game stretch, and Lisa Moses took over the team lead in batting average after hitting an astounding .471 (8-for-17) for the week.
ABOUT BRIGHAM YOUNG: BYU (21-11, 0-0) has won three straight and nine of 10 coming into Friday's doubleheader, including a 5-4 triumph over No. 3 Stanford ... The Cougars are led in hitting by Oli Keohohou (.486/14/33) and in pitching by Cynthia Fallowfield (9-5, 4.34) ... Mary Kay Amicone is in her third year at BYU and has a 72-64 career record there ... UNLV trails the Cougars, 3-7 in the all-time series.
ABOUT UTAH: Utah (10-26, 0-0) plays a pair of games at San Diego State before arriving in Las Vegas ... The Utes have currently lost seven straight, but have played only 10 contests in March ... The Utes are led in hitting by Molly McLean (.339/2/14) and in pitching by Heather Bowlin (6-11, 2.38) ... Mona Stevens is in her sixth season at Utah and owns a 197-140-1 career mark there ... UNLV trails 18-24 in the series.
OH, NO, NOT 1-0: Three times in five games on the Rebels' spring break trip through Oregon did the final score reflect a 1-0 victory for UNLV's opponent. The Rebels opened the trip at Portland State, and Jackie Kerrigan was after the Vikings stole a run on a seeing-eye RBI single. Two days later, Nicole Truax was superbly sharp in holding Oregon to three hits, but the Ducks managed two of them in the same inning and used a pair of sacrifices to score the game's only run. Finally, the Rebels' looked as if they had shed the jinx after battling to a scoreless tie at 14th-ranked Oregon State through five innings. But a disputable ball-four call with the bases loaded forced Geney Orris to suffer a three-hit, 1-0 loss of her own.
THE YOUTH OF THE NATION: The Rebels' youth have been thrown into the fire this season as the team's eight freshmen make up nearly one-half of the roster ... Aside from redshirt freshman Bianca Gonzales, who tore her ACL before the season began, all have contributed to the Rebs' efforts as well ... Only four players have played in all 40 games this year, and one of them is freshman Morgan Bostwick, who has started at first, second and short ... Pauline Glenn has missed only one start at third base and paces the team in walks, on-base percentage and runs scored ... Amber Campbell has earned 33 starts at shortstop ... Walk-ons Melissa Bruechert, Kira Enlow and Jennie Whitman have also chipped in, supplying depth in key pinch hitting and pinch running roles ... And perhaps the most significant freshman contribution has come from pitcher Jackie Kerrigan, who leads the Rebel staff in wins, appearances, innings, complete games, strikeouts and ERA.
JACKIE THE K: Speaking of Kerrigan, the touted freshman has already built a pretty impressive trophy case in just two months at UNLV. She claimed both all-tournament honors and MWC Pitcher of the Week honors after leading UNLV to a 4-2 record at the Capital Classic in mid-March. The Eugene, Ore., native went 3-1, including a one-hit shutout of Sacramento State and a 4-3 nine-inning loss to Miami (Ohio). It was the second shutout of the year for the fab freshman after a a 1-0 win over Utah State. Kerrigan has been just as solid against some of the country's best. She knocked off then-No. 29 Notre Dame, 2-1, on March 10 and dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to Nebraska, now ranked fourth nationally. At the UNLV Softball Classic, she struck out 13 in her first collegiate win over Kansas, and then closed a solid performance by Nicole Truax against Texas Tech to pick up her first career save. Just hours later, Kerrigan came to the rescue a second time, holding Central Michigan down for her second win. In the tourney finale, she shut the door on Cal Poly for her second save in as many days, earning her first MWC Pitcher of the Week award. The freshman phenom leads the Rebels with a 7-10 record, a 2.02 ERA and 84 strikeouts, and threw 18 consecutive scoreless innings over a seven-day span last week.
TRIPLE PLAY: When the Rebels defeated IUPUI, Sacramento State and Middle Tennessee on March 15 at the Capital Classic, it was just the 10th tripleheader in school history and only the second time that UNLV escaped the day unblemished. At the 1990 UNLV Spring Fling, the Rebels dumped Sac State, Oregon State and Southwest Texas State on March 2. The Rebels also boast a three-win day on April 13, 1996 when a previously suspended game against San Jose State was played out before a scheduled doubleheader. UNLV won the resumed game, 6-5 in 10 innings before a 5-0, 14-6 sweep of the slated twin bill.
IN A PINCH: When the game is on the line, head coach Shan McDonald looks no further down the dugout than to sophomore Wendy Godwin. Coming off the bench to hit 15 times this year, Godwin has delivered four key hits, all in the seventh inning. Against Saint Mary's, she began a seventh-inning rally that broke a 3-3 tie, and she drove in the Rebels' only run in a 3-1 loss to DePaul.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: UNLV turned out three Mountain West Conference Player or Pitcher of the Week selections in just the first two weeks of the season. Geney Orris earned the league's pitching award on Feb. 12, while Jackie Kerrigan and Pauline Glenn were honored the following week as the circuit's top pitcher and player, respectively. Since then, Kerrigan has added a second league honor to her resume.
ON THE AIR: For the first time, UNLV has had home softball games televised. Las Vegas UPN affiliate KTUD will show the Rebels' Feb. 24 game vs. DePaul and the March 10 contest against Notre Dame on a tape delay basis. The Notre Dame game will show on March 17 and the DePaul game on March 24. The games were produced by Caples Productions, a Las Vegas based production company. The March 10 Notre Dame game also featured a radio and internet broadcast, part of a radio package deal with the school's baseball team. Plans are set for three additional broadcasts: April 6 vs. San Diego State, April 26 vs. New Mexico and April 28 vs. Colorado State.
