Feb. 14, 2008
LAS VEGAS -
Week Two Release in PDF Format 
Leading Off: The #23 UNLV Rebels opened up their 2008 season with a strong showing in their own Sportco Spring Kick-Off Classic held at Eller Media Stadium. The Rebels went 3-1-1 with wins over Texas Tech, then-#11/14 Washington and then-#3/2 Arizona State. The squad returns to EMS for five games in the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic (Feb. 14-17). UNLV will open up on Friday, Feb. 15, with back-to-back games vs. Illinois (6:00 pm) and Bradley (8:15 pm). The Rebels will also play Cal State Northridge (Saturday, 1:30 pm), Cal State Bakersfield (Saturday, 3:45 pm) and Kansas (Sunday, 11:15 am). On Monday, Feb. 18, UNLV and Seton Hall will play a President's Day game bright and early at 10:00 am.
On Deck: Following the conclusion of the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic the Rebels will hit the road for their first road trip of 2008. The team will board the bus for their annual trek to Cathedral City, Calif., in the Palm Springs Classic (Feb. 21-24). This will be the fourth straight year for UNLV to play in the Classic. The trip will mark the first of four scheduled visits to the Golden State in 2008.
Rebels Ranked The UNLV softball team made its first-ever appearance in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll this week after its 3-1-1 showing in the Sportco Spring Kick-Off Classic this past weekend. The Rebels, who sat in the receiving votes category (45th) in the preseason poll, jumped into the Top 25 with Georgia tied at #23. The ESPN.com/USA Today Poll was created in 2003.
The Rebels made some waves in the latest USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll as well. UNLV made a leap from 46th in the preseason poll to 26th in the this week's. The squad received a total of 67 votes, which was one shy of #25 Oregon State's 67 tally. The Rebels last made an appearance in the NFCA Poll in 1997.
Hull, Bregante Sweep Weekly MWC Honors: UNLV sophomore shortstop Jaci Hull and sophomore righthander Stephanie Bregante have been named Mountain West Conference Softball Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively.
Hull helped UNLV to a 3-1-1 start, including wins over #11/#14 Washington and #3/#2 Arizona State. In five starts, she hit .429 and registered six hits, four of which cleared the fences at Eller Media Stadium in the Sportco Spring Kick-Off Classic. She plated 11 RBI and scored six runs as well. In the season opener vs. Texas Tech, she broke open a scoreless tie in the fifth inning when she reached base via a walk and came around to score the first run in the 2-0 victory. Against Loyola, she helped spur a Rebel come back by smashing two home runs, a grand slam and a two-run shot for six RBI and three runs. She continued her hitting streak vs. #11/14 Washington when she capped off a six-run second inning with her second grand slam of the weekend. Against #2/3 Arizona State, she advanced the Rebels' first run of the game to third on a single in the first inning.
Bregante, a Danville, Calif., native, pitched UNLV to a 3-1-1 record in the opening weekend of the 2008 season. She appeared in all five contests with three starts and two relief stints. Bregante opened the season with a two-hit, complete-game shutout of Texas Tech. Against Loyola, she entered the game in the seventh and struck out the side to allow her offense the opportunity to tie the game at 11-11 and send it to extra innings. She picked up her second win of the weekend on Saturday in a complete-game outing against #11/14 Washington. She delivered her second win over a ranked squad on Sunday when she tossed a three-hit, complete game vs. #3/2 Arizona State. She allowed only three hits in the game and one runner to advance past second base in the 2-1 win. In all, she tossed 23.1 innings and held an ERA of 1.50. She registered nearly a 3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (14-to-5).
First Week Recap The UNLV Rebels closed out the opening weekend of the 2008 Sportco Spring Kick-Off Classic (Feb. 8-10) with a 3-1-1 mark.
The Rebels opened things with a 2-0 win over Texas Tech on Feb. 8. Caitlyn Paus broke open a scoreless contest with a run-scoring single in the fifth. Jaci Hull scored from third, while Laura Briones added an insurance run when Paus deliberately got caught up in a rundown. Stephanie Bregante held the Red Raiders at bay, as she tossed a two-hit, complete-game shutout.
UNLV followed up its win with Texas Tech with some dramatics in the nightcap vs. Loyola. The Ramblers pushed out to an 11-0 lead through 4.5 innings and only needed three outs to run-rule the Rebels. UNLV had other things in mind as Hull blasted a grand slam in the fifth and after the home team scored two in the sixth, she tacked on a two-run homer to bring the score to 11-8. The Rebels scored three in the seventh to send the game to extras. Unfortunately, Loyola was able to bring home its runner from second (international tiebreaker) and UNLV wasn't for the 11-10 defeat.
The Rebels got back on the winning side of things when they defeated then-#11/14 Washington by a 7-4 margin on Feb. 9. Hull capped off a six-run second inning with her second grand slam in as many days. She added a solo shot in the fifth. Bregante went the distance in picking up her second win of the season.
UNLV rode its momentum of knocking off a ranked team by downing #3/2 Arizona State by a 2-1 margin on Feb. 10. The Rebels used two passed balls, a sac bunt and a single to push Brittany Bolinger home for the first run in the opening inning. ASU countered with a solo home run in the fifth to knot the game at 1-1. Stephanie Bean stepped up in the bottom of the seventh and added some late-inning heroics. Bean led off the seventh with a walk-off homer to left for the 2-1 win. Bregante notched her third win of the weekend, as she held ASU to three hits and struck out five.
In the Classic's finale, UNLV rallied from 4-1 down in the fourth to tie Washington 4-4 on Feb. 10. The game was halted at 6:20 pm in the bottom of the sixth due to the Huskies' travel arrangements. UNLV struck first in the opening inning off of a passed ball, but saw UW rebound for a 4-1 lead after scoring one in the second and three in the third. The Rebels evened things up in the fourth. The offense loaded the bases in the frame and got a throwing error to the plate to score one, a bases-loaded walk and a one-run single to plate three runs.
UNLV's top performers on the weekend were : Laura Briones (.438 BA, seven hits, three RBI); Hull (.429 BA, six hits, four HRs, 11 RBI, six runs, 1.286 slugging, .556 on-base); Stephanie Bean (.357 BA, five hits, four runs) and Stephanie Bregante (1.50 ERA, three wins, 23.1 IP, 14 strikeouts).
