July 29, 2005

LAS VEGAS - UNLV's softball coaching staff was selected as one of the 10-best coaching staffs in the country by Speedline and the NFCA. The Rebels' coaches were tabbed as the West Region's top choice. In her second year at the helm of the softball program Lonni Alameda and her assistant coaches: Sara Pickering, Angel Santiago and Mark Nelson, have helped put the Rebels back on the softball map. The West Region selection is the second coaching award bestowed upon Alameda this year, as she was named the Mountain West Conference's Coach of the Year, as well.

In 2005, the Rebels broke a 10-year hiatus from postseason play. UNLV was chosen as an at-large selection into the 2005 NCAA Tournament thanks to a 43-17 regular season record. In 2004, her first season as UNLV's head coach, she improved over 2003's 21-wins by four games (25 wins). The 2005 season witnessed an 18-game swing in which the Rebels closed out the year with a 44-19 overall record. The 44-wins were the third-most in school history. In Mountain West Conference play, UNLV finished with a 17-3 mark and a second-place finish. The 17-wins were the most by a Rebel team in MWC play since the league's inception in 1999.

The 44-wins weren't the only high number to be put up by the team. A decade old home run record (43) held by the 1995 Rebels was shattered as the 2005 team hit 50. This season the team won 15 individual Mountain West Conference Player of the Week awards and walked away with seven individual awards at the MWC's softball banquet.

Alameda and her staff helped mold a squad that was nearly split down the middle between returning players and newcomers. At various points of the season, as many as seven freshmen filled the nine defensive positions on the field.

2005 Speedline/NFCA Regional Coaching Staffs of the Year

Division          Head Coach, InstitutionSoutheast         Lauren Watten, Bethune-Cookman CollegeNortheast         Ray Vander May, Seton HallMid-Atlantic   Bill Edwards, HofstraMideast       Kate Drohan, Northwestern          Eugen Lenti, DePaulGreat Lake     Carol Hutchins, MichiganMidwest       Jo Evans, Texas A&MSouth         Ralph and Karen Weekly, TennesseeWest       Lonni Alameda, UNLVPacific       Kirk Walker, Oregon State