July 1, 2009
LAS VEGAS -
2009 End Of Season Release in PDF Format 
Leading Off: The 2009 softball season came to a close for the UNLV Rebels in Los Angeles on May 16, following a 13-inning scrap with the Long Beach State 49ers. The Rebels were defeated 3-1 in the marathon elimination game.
UNLV earned its ninth trip to the postseason, as they were awarded an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels were sent to the Los Angeles Regional, which was hosted by the #2-national seed UCLA Bruins. Joining UNLV and UCLA in Los Angeles were the Fresno State Bulldogs and the Long Beach State 49ers.
UNLV faced Fresno State in the first round, but suffered a 2-1 loss. The Rebels took an early 1-0 lead after scoring their run in the third, but watched as the Bulldogs struck for single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings.
The loss propelled UNLV into the elimination game with LBSU. The 49ers struck first with a solo home run in the second only to see Jaci Hull homer in the sixth to knot the game at 1-1. Ultimately, the 49ers would prevail with a two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 13th to end UNLV's season.
Los Angeles Regional Schedule (May 15-17)Friday, May 15Game 1 - Fresno State 2, UNLV 1Game 2 - UCLA 4, Long Beach State 2
Saturday, May 16Game 3 - UCLA 4, Fresno State 2Game 4 - Long Beach State, 3, UNLV 1 (13)Game 5 - Fresno State 12, Long Beach State 2
Sunday, May 17Game 6 - UCLA 9, Fresno State 5
UCLA won the Los Angeles Regional, but was eliminated in the Super Regionals at home by the Missouri Tigers.
MWC Trio Make It: For the sixth time in the Mountain West Conference's history, the league sent multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament. This year marks only the second time that the selection committee tabbed a trio of MWC squads for postseason action in the 10-year history of the league. The BYU Cougars and San Diego State Aztecs joined UNLV in postseason play.
BYU, who earned the conference's automatic bid by winning the league title, went 1-2 in the Columbus (Ohio) Regional. The Cougars opened up with a win over Kentucky before dropping consecutive games to #11-national seed Ohio State and Kentucky.
San Diego State earned an at-large bid into the postseason and went 0-2 in the Tempe (Ariz.) Regional. The Aztecs lost back-to-back games to the #10-national seed Arizona State before being eliminated by Cal State Fullerton.
The only other occurrence of three conference teams making postseason play came in 2006 when the Utah Utes joined BYU and San Diego State.
We Played Them: When the 2009 NCAA Tournament field was announced, many of the teams participating were familiar foes to UNLV this season. In all, there were a total of 14 teams of the 64 that were on this year's schedule.
The Rebels held an overall record of 5-14 against the NCAA participants with the team notching wins over Cal Poly, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Canisius.
Five of the 14 teams (Florida, Cal, Georgia Tech, Arizona State and UCLA) that UNLV had previously played went on to play in the Super Regionals, while two of those five (Florida and Arizona State) reached the Women's College World Series.
Seven of the 14 teams that UNLV played in 2009 were ranked when the games took place.
MWC Quartet: On the heels of being awarded a bid to the NCAA Softball Tournament, the UNLV Rebels received some more good news less than a day following the postseason announcement. Jaci Hull, Marissa Nichols, Kendall Fearn and Ashli Holland were named to the 20-member All-Mountain West Conference Team, as voted on by the league's six head coaches.
All four student-athletes are no stranger to this honor, as they each have been recognized at least once previously. This is Hull's third trip to the All-MWC squad, while Nichols, Holland and Fearn make their second appearances.
