March 16, 2004
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STORYLINE: After having played four home tournaments this season, the UNLV softball team returns to the road this week to compete in the prestigious Kia Classic. Hosted by Cal State Fullerton, the Kia annually features many of the best teams in the country. This season's field of 16 draws nine teams ranked in the top 25 AND the U.S. Olympic Team. The Rebels are slated to meet No. 20 Nebraska, No. 23 Arizona State, and No. 4 Florida State before beginning bracket play. Rounding out the talented field is: No. 1 Arizona, No. 7 Okahoma, No. 9 Washington, No. 10 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 13 Pacific, No. 15 Fresno State, DePaul, Illinois, Princeton, Texas A&M and host Cal State Fullerton
ABOUT UNLV: Under first-year head coach Lonni Alameda, the Rebels return 12 letterwinners and nine starters from their 2003 squad. Offensively, the Rebels have three outfielders hitting over .300: senior Bridget Byrne (.438/0/7), freshman Brittany Freight (.348/0/9), and senior Lisa Sampson (.310/0/11) ... Junior third-baseman Pauline Glenn (.208/2/11), an All-Mountain West Conference choice as a freshman, has two homers on the year, while senior Kacey Ellis (.284/0/16) paces the squad in RBI. Defensively, junior pitcher Jacqueline Kerrigan (13-10, 1.32) was an all-conference selection last year and leads the Rebels in the circle with 13 wins and 151 strikeouts.
HEAD COACH Lonni Alameda: The UNLV softball team has a new face in the dugout this year as Lonni Alameda is in her first season as the Rebels' head coach. Alameda came to Las Vegas from Stanford University, where she oversaw the Cardinal pitching staff and helped coach the team to six straight NCAA Regional appearances. A two-sport star at the University of Oklahoma, Alameda was a two-time All-Big Eight infielder and hit .359 as a senior in 1992. She earned her first career victory in a 3-2 eight-inning decision over New Mexico on Feb. 6.
REBELS ON THE WEB: All UNLV softball up-to-the-minute information, including team roster and bios, season schedule and results, and game and season statistics, is available on the school's Official Athletics Site, www.unlvrebels.com. A member of the Official College Sports Network, unlvrebels.com utilizes Gametracker, the state-of-the-art software to support live internet scoring. Through Gametracker, fans can follow Rebel softball action pitch-by-pitch from around the globe. While available for most of the games on the Rebels' schedule, only Thursday night's game against Team USA will furnish a Gametracker broadcast. For a complete schedule, log on to unlvrebels.com.
REBELS ON THE AIR: UNLV head coach Lonni Alameda can be heard every Monday at 8:00 p.m. PT on the Rebel Softball Update on KDWN AM 720 Talk Radio. Along with host and former UNLV football coach Harvey Hyde, Alameda will spend a segment talking Rebel softball, including recapping the team's play the weekend before and scouting the squad's upcoming opponents.
ABOUT NEBRASKA: Nebraksa brings a 16-9 record into the week's play ... The Cornhuskers are ranked No. 19 in the latest NFCA Coaches Poll ... They are coming off an impressive performance at the Florida State Invitational, where they posted a 5-1 record ... The Huskers have two common opponents with the Rebels: NU has split a pair of games against Michigan, while the Rebels fell to the Wolverines 2-1 ... Nebraska also has a 3-0 victory over Cal to its credit, a team that topped UNLV 12-0 ... Nebraska and UNLV last met in softball in 2002, when the 12th-ranked Huskers defeated Jacqueline Kerrigan, 1-0, in her collegiate debut ... Nebraska leads the all-time series, 6-2.
ABOUT ARIZONA STATE: Arizona State is 27-12 coming into the week ... The Sun Devils were ranked No. 20 in the latest NFCA Coaches Poll ... Last week, ASU posted a 3-2 record in the National Invitation Softball Tournament, winning three games before dropping back-to-back decisions to Washington and Iowa ... The Devils do have a 4-0 victory over Wisconsin on the books, a team that defeated UNLV 3-1 ... Conversely, the Rebels have a 2-1 victory over New Mexico while ASU fell to the Lobos 8-6 ... Arizona State head coach Linda Wells is also the head coach of the Greek National Team, of which UNLV third baseman Pauline Glenn is a member ... UNLV and Arizona State met at last year's Kia Classic, with the Sun Devils taking a tight game, 2-1 ... ASU holds a 13-4 advantage in the all-time series.
ABOUT FLORIDA STATE: Florida State carries an impressive 31-3 mark into Fullerton, Calif. ... The fifth-ranked Seminoles have been beaten only by Jacksonville, Louisiana-Lafayette and LSU ... The Rebels defeated Jacksonville 8-1 at home last week ... Aside from Jacksonville, the Seminoles have also met Notre Dame and Michigan this year, defeating both teams that dropped UNLV ... UNLV and FSU have not met since 1999 when the Seminoles took a 9-6 victory to improve their lead in the all-time series to 4-1.
RANKED OPPONENTS: Just a month into the season and UNLV has already gotten its share of ranked opponents. Through 30 games, the Rebels have faced four opponents ranked in the NFCA Top 25 and three others that received votes at some point during the year. On top of that, UNLV played a pair of games against the top-ranked team in NAIA, Simon Fraser. All in all, the Rebels are scheduled to face 11 different opponents that received votes in the NFCA poll.
DATE OPPONENT RESULT CURRENT RANKING Feb. 6 Cal State Northridge L, 7-1 36 Feb. 7 #2 Arizona L, 10-1 2 Feb. 8 Cal State Northridge L, 3-1 36 Feb. 13 #35 Hawaii W, 1-0 NR Feb. 13 #3 California L, 12-0 3 Feb. 14 #10 Michigan L, 2-1 T7 Feb. 14 #35 Notre Dame L, 3-1 36 Feb. 21 #30 Michigan State W, 3-2 NR March 13 #14 Oregon L, 2-1 14
KERRIGAN ALMOST THROWS NO-NO: UNLV junior Jacqueline Kerrigan almost turned one of the most special feats in the game. The Eugene, Ore., native carried a no-hitter against Utah Valley State into the seventh inning, but was disappointed when the Wolverines' Jamie Hendricks dropped a base hit into shallow centerfield with two outs. Kerrigan struck out the next batter to record the complete-game shutout and finish her second career one-hitter. The game came one day on the heels of another no-hit bid by the Rebels' ace - she held top-ranked NAIA power Simon Fraser hitless until the fifth inning, but left the game after the suspense was broken and the Rebels ahead 7-0.
WEEKLY WINNERS: It took just one week for Rebel ace Jacqueline Kerrigan to earn her first Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week award. In the first week of the year, Kerrigan was cited by the conference for posting a 2-2 record and striking out 27 batters in four games at the Pepsi Arizona Tournament in Tucson, Ariz. It was the fourth time in her career that the Rebels' junior pitcher had been so honored.
Last week, the Rebels claimed their second conference award as senior outfielder Bridget Byrne earned the league's Player of the Week honor after hitting .632 in five games. It was the first-ever award in the Las Vegas native's career. Byrne hit safely in each game, scored in all but one of them, and belted her first career triple in leading the Rebels to a 4-1 record for the week. She is in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak.
CAREER PITCHING LEADERS: The Rebels have two players that are weeding their way through the school's career pitching leaders lists. Senior Kacey Ellis and junior Jacqueline Kerrigan both already rank among the school's leaders in appearances. Ellis needs just three more wins to move past Tanya Edwards for 10th place on the school's all-time list and is already the sixth-winningest pitcher in school history by percentage. Kerrigan ranks in the pack in appearances, starts, complete games, innings pitched, wins, losses, saves, shutouts, ERA and strikeouts. Perhaps most impressive in her strikeout total, which currently sits at 417 and ranks her third in school history. She needs just 76 more to move past Amie Stewart, and trails leader Lori Harrigan by 308. She is on pace to finish second in school history behind Harrigan.
PRESEASON POLLS: While UNLV did not rank in the Top 25 poll, the Rebels did check in at No. 5 in the Mountain West Conference Preseason Coaches Poll announced Jan. 22. With 23 points and four first-place votes, San Diego State was chosen as a slight favorite to win its third straight league title over Colorado State, which scored 21 points and the other two first-place votes. Rounding out the poll were BYU (18), Utah (13), UNLV (9) and New Mexico (6).
ON DECK: Following the Kia Classic, the Rebels prepare for a rare road doubleheader. UNLV returns to Tucson, Ariz., to face second-ranked Arizona in a twin bill on March 27 before opening conference play.
