4/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 28, 2010
LAS VEGAS -
Week Twelve Release in PDF Format 
LEADING OFF: The UNLV Rebels stay on the road for two games this weekend in San Diego, Calif., hosted by the San Diego State Aztecs. UNLV and SDSU are knotted up with identical 5-2 records in the Mountain West Conference, which is good enough for a second-place tie. Both squad sit half a game behind first place BYU (6-2).
The Rebels and Aztecs play Saturday, May 1 and Sunday, May 2 at 1:00 pm both days. Saturday's affair will be aired live on The Mtn.
GameTracker links can be found on UNLV's official website, www.UNLVRebels.com.
ON DECK: The UNLV Rebels will play their final three home games of 2010 at Eller Media Stadium next week. UNLV will host Utah once and BYU twice to close out its hosting portion of Mountain West Conference action.
The Utah contest is slated for 6:00 pm on Thursday, May 6. BYU will come to town for games on Friday, May 7 and Saturday, May 8 at 6:00 pm and 2:00 pm, respectively.
TIME CHANGES: The UNLV Rebels have made alterations to two of their final eight games on the schedule. The first change is UNLV's game on Saturday, May 8 that has been pushed back to 2:00 pm from its original 1:00 pm start time. The second and final time change is in the final regular season game of the year, which takes place at Colorado State on Saturday, May 15. The new time for UNLV at CSU is at 12:00 pm MT (11:00 am PT).
FEARN GAGA FOR AWARD: UNLV senior first baseman Kendall Fearn has been named Mountain West Conference Softball Player of the Week. Fearn, a two-time all-conference performer, earns her second career player of the week nod with this announcement.
Fearn, a Carlsbad, Calif., product, batted .429 (6-for-14) with one home run, two doubles, three RBI and two runs scored, as the Rebels went 2-2 on the week, including a 2-1 record in conference play. In a non-conference loss to UMKC (6-5), she went 2-for-2 with a double, one run scored and two walks. In UNLV's 7-3 loss at BYU, Fearn went 1-for-4. In game one of a doubleheader at Utah, she smashed a two-run double to help the Rebels to a 4-0 win. In the Rebels' 8-1 game two victory, she went 2-for-4, with a solo home run, one RBI and one run scored. Defensively, she had 32 putouts from the first base position.
She becomes the fourth Rebel player to earn weekly honors following Paige Emerson, Marissa Nichols and Ashli Holland's earlier efforts.
MAKING THE TURN: The first half of the Mountain West Conference schedule is in the books and the second half is just beginning. Three teams (UNLV, San Diego State and BYU) sit atop the standings with two losses. BYU holds a slight edge over UNLV and SDSU by half a game by owning one more victory (six to five).
LOOKING BACK A WEEK: The UNLV Rebels played four games last week going 2-2 with one game at home (UMKC) and the other three on the road in the state of Utah.
UNLV suffered a tough 6-5 loss to UMKC on Tuesday that witnessed Jaci Hull hit a program-record three home runs in the contest. Hull added four RBI and three runs scored in the heartbreaker.
The Rebels then lost another tough decision at BYU on Thursday. UNLV held a 3-0 lead through 4.5 innings of action only to watch the Cougars rally for seven unanswered runs in the 7-3 loss.
UNLV rebounded with a doubleheader sweep of Utah, in Salt Lake City, a day following a postponement of the first game due to weather. Kendall Fearn put the Rebels up for good with a two-run double in the first inning, while Traci Odegard held the Ute hitters and tossed a complete-game shutout.
The second game saw Fearn start the scoring, once again, but with a solo home run to snap three scoreless innings of action. UNLV went on to win 8-1 behind strong pitching and hitting from Kylie Wagner, who threw a complete game and collected three hits, two RBI and a run, as well.
Offensively, three Rebels hit above the .400 mark last week. Hull led the way with her team-highs in batting (.455), runs (6), home runs (3), RBI (4), total bases (15), slugging (1.364) and walks (3).
In the circle, Wagner went 1-0 in 11.1 innings of work with a win in game two of the Utah doubleheader. Traci Odegard went 1-2 in 13.2 innings and three appearances.
