April 11, 2002
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STORYLINE: The UNLV Rebel Softball team (21-27, 1-5) begins an eight-game road swing this week with a pair of games at Colorado State (16-19, 3-3) on Friday, April 12 at 1:30 p.m. MDT. The games will be the Rebels' first on the road in Mountain West Conference play. Following Friday's twin bill, the Rebs head south to Albuquerque, N.M., where they will face New Mexico (11-20-1, 3-3) at 12:00 p.m. MDT at Lobo Field. The meetings will be the first between the schools this year and upon completion will close the first half of UNLV's league schedule.
ABOUT UNLV: The Rebels (21-27, 1-5) had won three straight before dropping both games of their MWC doubleheader with San Diego State on Saturday. UNLV now ranks sixth in the league with a 1-5 mark ... At the plate, leadoff hitter Lisa Moses leads the team in batting average (.333) while Geney Orris (.315/7/27) and Pauline Glenn (.269/7/25) supply the power ... In the circle, Kacey Ellis has a team-best winning percentage at 5-3, and freshman Jackie Kerrigan has a 8-12 record, a 2.12 ERA and 99 strikeouts ... Head coach Shan McDonald is in her 16th season at the helm of the Rebel program, carrying a 481-443-2 (.521) mark.
LAST AT BAT: The Rebels (21-27, 1-5) weathered the tale of two sweeps this week, taking both games from UC Riverside, 6-2 and 6-0, on Wednesday before dropping a pair of league games to MWC leader San Diego State, 3-0 and 1-0 ... Geney Orris and Jackie Kerrigan did most of the work, earning two starts apiece in the four-game week. While both cruised to easy victories over the Highlanders, thanks to a total of six runs and eight hits from the offense in each game, both were tagged with losses to the Aztecs despite good pitching.
ABOUT COLORADO STATE: Colorado State (16-19, 3-3) also witnessed a pair of sweeps last weekend, taking down BYU, 6-0 and 6-5, before dropping two to Utah, 3-2 and 4-3. The Rams' 6-5 win spanned 16 innings, breaking the school and conference record for longest game ... The Rams are led in hitting by Amanda Kocis (.320/0/15) and in pitching by Melanie Mahoney (10-6, 1.74) ... Second-year head coach Mary Yori is 26-56 at CSU and has a career coaching record 485-214 in her 12th year ... CSU leads the all-time series 15-10.
ABOUT NEW MEXICO: New Mexico (11-20-1, 3-3) split its pair of games with the same opponents and hangs in the middle of the MWC pack ... Kelly Glass (.370/0/5) leads the Lobos in hitting and Hayley Punter (6-9, 5.31) is the squad's top pitcher ... Susan Craig is in her 26th year at the Lobos' helm, with a career record of 665-577-2 ... UNM leads the all-time series, 14-10.
OH, NO, NOT 1-0: Five times this year and three times on the Rebels' spring break trip through Oregon did the final score reflect a 1-0 victory for UNLV's opponent. In her collegiate debut back on Feb. 8, Jackie Kerrigan lost a 1-0 decision to then-No. 12 Nebraska. Kerrigan was victimized a second time at Portland State 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. Most recently, Kerrigan was shocked again after San Diego State made a first-inning run stand up for a victory.
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 44 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 home runs, RBI, walks, on-base percentage and runs scored ... Amber Campbell has earned 36 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 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 19 times this year, Godwin has delivered five 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 ... When it's a key run McDonald wants, she calls on Jennie Whitman, who has scored four times and is a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen bases in 15 pinch running situations this year.
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.
