April 29, 2004
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STORYLINE: The UNLV softball team (22-31, 4-10) returns home for its final six games of the regular season. The home stand commences with a doubleheader against Mountain West Conference leading San Diego State (32-19, 11-3) on Saturday, May 1, at 5 p.m. ... The Rebels have lost eight straight MWC games and look to snap the skid in their only action of the week ... UNLV also hopes to re-acquire the services of pitcher Jacqueline Kerrigan, who missed two starts last week with back spasms ... San Diego State saw its 10-game MWC winning streak ended against Colorado State last week ... UNLV lost a pair of games at San Diego State on April 16, just 15 days prior to Saturday's meetings ... The day has also been designated "Strikeout Cancer Day" at UNLV. Money will be raised through raffle and T-shirt sales, and all the proceeds will be evenly donated between the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the San Diego State Campanile Foundation.
ABOUT UNLV: Under first-year head coach Lonni Alameda, the Rebels return 12 letterwinners and nine starters from their 2003 squad. Offensively, the Rebels are led in hitting by senior left fielder Bridget Byrne (.393/0/11), although senior Lisa Sampson (.284/0/19) has led the squad in hitting each of the last three years ... Junior third-baseman Pauline Glenn (.246/4/19), an All-Mountain West Conference choice as a freshman, leads the unit with four homers, while senior Kacey Ellis (.270/1/26) paces the squad in RBI. Defensively, junior pitcher Jacqueline Kerrigan (18-16, 1.76) was an all-conference selection last year and leads the Rebels in the circle with 18 wins and 191 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. 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 SAN DIEGO STATE: The two-time regular season MWC champion, San Diego State is again in first place in the league with an 11-3 record ... The Aztecs had won 10 straight before dropping the last game of a doubleheader at Colorado State last Sunday ... Head coach Kathy Van Wyk is 266-203-1 in her eighth season at SDSU ... The Aztecs are led in hitting by Janna Kovensky (.367/2/19) and in pitching by Celena Velasquez (12-4, 1.28) ... SDSU has taken five of the last six meetings and now leads the series 29-27 ... On April 16, the Aztecs defeated Jacqueline Kerrigan with a single unearned run, 1-0, before fielding errors cost Becky McDonald a victory in the nightcap.
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.
On March 16, 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.
CAREER PITCHING LEADERS, PART ONE: Senior Kacey Ellis continues to make her mark on the UNLV record books. The Brentwood, Tenn., native already ranks ninth all-time with 94 appearances and ninth with a .442 (23-29) career winning percentage. With 23 career victories, she needs just three more to move past Brandi Isgar for 10th place on the school's all-time list. Her three career saves rank her fifth in the school's history.
CAREER PITCHING LEADERS, PART TWO: Ellis isn't the only active pitcher working her way through the record books. Junior Jacqueline Kerrigan has already scribbled her name throughout the career marks, ranking 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 457 and ranks her third in school history. She needs just 36 more to move past Amie Stewart, and trails leader Lori Harrigan by 289. She is on pace to finish second in school history behind Harrigan.
YEAR OF THE WORKHORSE: Kerrigan's career numbers are pretty staggering for a player in her junior year, and they have been significantly bolstered by the frequency of her play this season. Kerrigan has thrown about two-thirds of the team's innings this year. Her 191 strikeouts on the year -- a career high -- already rank as the fourth-best single season total in school history. She needs just 33 more strikeouts this year to break Lori Harrigan's 1991 record of 223.
LEADING OFF BY EXAMPLE: The Rebels are undoubtedly gracious for the leadoff play of senior Bridget Byrne. The Rebels' leadoff hitter is having a career year. She has already eclipsed her personal best totals for hits in a season and has nearly doubled her batting average from a year ago. She is on pace to finish with one of the top 10 single season batting averages in school history. Byrne leads the Mountain West Conference in hits and ranks third in the league in batting average. An honor student from Las Vegas, Byrne has not missed a start in left field in three years, a span of 177 games.
MY BIG FAT GREEK OLYMPIC TEAM TRYOUT: The Rebels were without the services of starting third baseman Pauline Glenn in the team's doubleheader at Arizona. The Tucson, Ariz., native is a member of the Greek National Team and spent the week of March 22-29 participating in a workout with the team in preparation for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games. A third-generation Greek descendent, Glenn has been working out with the Greek Team since last summer. If she is chosen for the Greeks' final Olympic roster, she would join Lori Harrigan as Rebels competing in the Olympic Games.
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: The Rebels close the regular season with four games at home next week. They host BYU on Thursday, May 6, before seeing Utah in two games on Saturday, May 8. Following the regular season, the Rebels head to Fort Collins, Colo., where they will compete in the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
