March 4, 2004
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STORYLINE: UNLV hits the road for just the second time this season as it heads to Clearwater, Fla., to compete in the Speedline Invitational. The tournament, played a the Eddie C. Moore Complex, features 24 of the nation's top Division I softball teams. The Rebels will play six games over three days, including an exhibition game against the U.S. Olympic Team. The other five UNLV opponents -- Villanova, Hofstra, Tennessee Tech, Western Michigan and Illinois -- will all face one another in Pool C round-robin play. Following pool play, the tournament features a bracket-style championship format played on Sunday, March 7.
ABOUT UNLV: Under first-year head coach Lonni Alameda, the Rebels return 12 letterwinners and nine starters from their 2003 squad. Offensively, senior Bridget Byrne (.407/0/4) leads the team in batting average, but senior Lisa Sampson (.353/0/7) has led the team in hitting in both of the last two seasons. Junior third-baseman Pauline Glenn (.182/2/5), an All-Mountain West Conference choice as a freshman, has two homers on the year, while senior Kacey Ellis (.346/0/10) paces the squad with 10 RBI. Defensively, junior pitcher Jacqueline Kerrigan (7-7, 1.12) was an all-conference selection last year and leads the Rebels in the circle with seven wins and 96 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 VILLANOVA: Villanova brings a 5-6 record into the week's play ... The Wildcats have seen action at two tournaments this season, most recently coming off a 3-2 mark at the Cougar Classic in Houston ... Among their victories was a 4-3 decision over Mountain West Conference foe BYU ... Catcher Cassandra Koenig is a graduate of Las Vegas Silverado High School, the same prep program that produced Bridget Byrne ... Villanova and UNLV have never met in softball.
ABOUT TEAM USA: Team USA is in the middle of its "Aiming for Athens" Tour as the team is playing exhibition games against Division I softball programs to tune up for the upcoming Olympic Games in Athens, Greece this summer ... With 125 consecutive pre-Olympic tour wins, the Americans begin play in Florida with a perfect 10-0 record on the tour and have dominated all of the opponents they have faced, outscoring them 106-6 ... Last week, Team USA routed Army 26-1 and stopped No. 21 Arizona State 9-0, both in five innings, before going the distance in a 6-0 victory over No. 6 Georgia at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Atlanta ... Among the 16 players on the Team USA roster is former Rebel pitcher Lori Harrigan ... Thursday's game will mark UNLV's second meeting with Harrigan this year as the former All-American started for the opposition in the program's annual Alumni Game on Jan. 31 ... The game also marks the reunion of coaches Lonni Alameda and Sara Pickering with their mentor at Stanford, John Rittman, who is an assistant on the Olympic team staff.
ABOUT HOFSTRA: Hofstra enters the week with a 5-6 mark ... The Pride had a four-game winning streak snapped in their last game, falling to South Florida on Feb. 22 ... That action, 11 days before the start of the Speedline, was played in Tampa, Fla., just 20 miles from Clearwater ... UNLV and Hofstra have met once before, at the 1993 NCAA Regional. Amie Stewart threw a two-hit shutout as the Rebels took a 3-0 decision and ended the Pride's season.
ABOUT TENNESSEE TECH: Tennessee Tech begins the week with a 6-4 overall record ... The Golden Eagles, the defending Ohio Valley Conference champions, ride a three-game winning streak into Florida after beating Buffalo, Marshall and North Texas at last week's Frost Tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn. ... Tech has one common opponent with the Rebels this year -- both schools lost to Wisconsin, 3-0 and 3-1 respectively ... TTU and UNLV have never met in softball.
ABOUT WESTERN MICHIGAN: Western Michigan comes into the week with a 5-6 record ... The Broncos lost five of their first six in Arizona to open the year, but took back four of five at the Cox Communications Classic in Florida last weekend ... WMU shares three common opponents with UNLV this season ... Both teams lost to No. 2 Arizona and Cal State Northridge, which is on the cusp of the top 25, but Western fell to New Mexico while the Rebels wrestled a 3-2 extra-inning win away from the Lobos on Feb. 6 ... The Broncos won the Mid-American Conference Tournament last year and earned a bid to the NCAA Regional ... WMU and UNLV have never met in softball.
ABOUT ILLINOIS: Illinois owns the best record of the Rebels' Speedline opponents, heading to Tampa with a 9-2-1 mark ... The Fighting Illini received 31 votes in this week's NFCA Coaches Poll and rank 30th nationally ... UI has not played in two weeks since rolling to a 5-0 record at the Aggie Invitational ... Illinois is currently riding a six-game winning streak and has not lost since falling to No. 5 LSU 7-3 ... The Fighting Illini are coming off the best season in school history, which included the program's highest ever ranking (No. 21) and an NCAA Tournament appearance ... UNLV and Illinois have never met in softball.
RANKED OPPONENTS: Just a month into the season and UNLV has already gotten its share of ranked opponents. Through 18 games, the Rebels have faced three 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
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 WINNER: 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.
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 four 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 362 and ranks her fourth in school history. She needs just three more to move past former teammate Geney Orris and trails leader Lori Harrigan by 363. 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 Speedline Invitational, the Rebels come back home to host their fourth and final tournament of the year. Simply called the UNLV Tournament II, the Rebels play host to Long Island, Jacksonville, Oregon and Southern Utah in a 12-game, three-day event at Eller Media Stadium, March 12-14.
