July 16, 2013
2013 End-Of-Year Notes
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV Rebels' 2013 softball season came to a close in a hard-fought, 2-1 loss to the Mountain West champion San Diego State Aztecs on May 11.
The 2013 campaign, the first under the leadership of Lisa Dodd, concluded with UNLV finishing the conference season in sixth place behind a 7-11 mark. Overall, the Rebels went 21-31. Three of those victories came against Top 25 competition.
More impressively, the softball program saw one of its own recognized nationally for her play during the year. Stefany Valentino was tabbed to the 2013 NFCA All-West Region Second Team.
Valentino was also one of four Rebels to earn MW All-Conference Team honors along with Emily Haslinger, Amanda Oliveto and Tayler Van Acker.
Besides the all-conference team nod, Oliveto paced the team in the circle with three pitcher of the week awards. Tayler Aleman and Pauline Monreal were selected once apiece as the player of the week.
ALL-REGION TEAM HONORS: UNLV's Stefany Valentino was named to the 2013 NFCA Division I All-West Region Second Team, as voted on by the region's respective coaches.
Dating back to 1987, UNLV has had 31 student-athletes earn NFCA All-West Region status a total of 50 times. Valentino became the first Rebel to earn regional status since Ashli Holland did so in 2011.
The junior outfielder from Oak Park, Calif., finished the 2013 campaign with a .405 batting average and a .475 on-base percentage. Both figures rank highly in the NCAA statistics with the former coming in 55th and the latter was 97th.
Besides having her name in the national rankings for those stats, she penciled it in UNLV's single-season record book, as well. Her year-end batting average and on-base percentage are the sixth and 10th best in program history.
She led the Rebels in eight offensive categories. On top of the previously mentioned numbers, she was first in at-bats (158), runs (34), hits (64), total bases (85), slugging percentage (.5380 and walks (21).
More impressively, she reached base safely in 48 of the team's 52 outings in 2013 and had three hitting streaks of six or more games. She ended the season hitting safely in all but one of the final 19 games with nine of her 17 multiple-hit affairs of the year coming in that time frame. She began the run with an eight-gamer that saw her amass a .556 batting average (15-for-27). She concluded it with a 10-game period that watched her scatter 15 hits in 40 at-bats for a .375 clip.
ALL-MW TEAM HONORS: The UNLV softball team had four of its own earn 2013 Mountain West All-Conference Team honors, as selected by the league's seven head coaches. Two Rebels - Stefany Valentino and Tayler Van Acker - were repeat selections from previous All-MW Teams, while Emily Haslinger and Amanda Oliveto were first-time representatives for the Scarlet & Gray.
Since the MW's inaugural season of play in 2000, UNLV has had four or more student-athletes named to the all-conference team a total of five times (2005, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013).
Valentino was ranked in the top 10 of 11 conference-only offensive categories. She tied for the league lead in hits with 28, while placing third in batting average (.452), runs scored (14), doubles (five) and at-bats (62). She was fourth in total bases (42), fifth in home runs (three), sixth in slugging percentage (.677), seventh in plate appearances (68) and eighth in both sac bunts (two) and on-base percentage (.485). She was tops on the Rebels in batting average, at-bats, hits, doubles and total bases, but also shared in the team lead in runs (14) and home runs (three).
Not only did the junior outfielder, play well in Mountain West games, but she was instrumental offensively from the start of the season. Valentino, who reached base safely in 48 of 52 games in 2013, paced the team in batting average (.405), at-bats (158), runs (34), hits (64), total bases (85), slugging percentage (.538), walks (21) and on-base percentage (475). Her end-of-year batting average and on-base percentage ranked sixth and 10th best in UNLV's single-season record book. Van Acker, a junior first baseman, was tabbed to her second All-MW Team after being chosen as a freshman in 2011. In MW play, she ranked third in runs (14), fifth in hit-by-pitch (three), seventh in on-base percentage (.492) and 10th in batting average (.388). During the 52-game regular season, she led the Rebels in hit-by-pitch 12 (a single-season best), while coming in second in batting average (.315), walks (18), on-base percentage (.440) and sacrifice flies (two). Defensively, she owned the top fielding percentage (.986) in the full season of play.
Haslinger was fourth overall in league action with a .703 slugging percentage, which was aided by six of her 19 hits going for extra bases (three doubles and three home runs). Her three homers tied for the most by a Rebel this season and the third highest in MW play. The freshman catcher's slugging percentage was the best by a Rebel during the conference season. She was second on the team in RBI (10), third in doubles (three) and fourth in both batting average (.378) and total bases (26).
Oliveto had her name listed in 10 of the key pitching categories in conference play. She ranked as high as first in appearances (15), while coming in second in starts (11) and third in both innings pitched (74.1) and strikeouts looking (14). She was fourth in wins (six), opposing batting average (.250) and total strikeouts (53), fifth in relief appearances (four) and games finished (four). She went 18-17 for the year - 6-6 in MW games - with 42 appearances, 35 of which were as starts. She tossed 229.2 innings and tallied a 2.77 ERA. She moved into the single-season record book with her starts (sixth), strikeouts (seventh: 168), complete games (10th: 25) and innings pitched (10th).
The junior hurler earned MW Pitcher of the Week on three occasions in 2013, which was the most since former Rebel Christie Robinson did the same in 2007. For her career, she has been named the conference's pitcher of the week seven times. Only Jacque Kerrigan (nine awards) and Lori Harrigan (eight) have more weekly honors for UNLV.
TRIO MAKE ANOTHER LISTING: The website CollegeSportsMadness.com tabbed Stefany Valentino to its 2013 Mountain West All-Conference First Team, while Amanda Oliveto and Tayler Van Acker were selected to the Second Team.
Earlier in the 2013 campaign, the site named Pauline Monreal as its MW Player of the Week for her efforts in UNLV's series' victory over Nevada, Reno in late April.
HASLINGER CATCHES AWARD: After being one of 77 student-athletes named to the Spring 2013 Academic All-Mountain West Team, UNLV softball's Emily Haslinger was selected for the 2012-13 MW Scholar-Athlete Award.
The Rebel catcher and kinesiological studies major was included on the list of 48 Scarlet & Gray that completed at least two academic terms and maintained a 3.5 or better cumulative grade point average. The individual also had to have participated in varsity competition in an NCAA sponsored sport.
The conference had a league-record 623 student-athletes honored for the award, including 54 individuals who have achieved a 4.00 or higher cumulative grade point average over two or more terms, and 63 more who were recognized in multiple sports. The 623 honorees surpass the previous MW high of 581 set in 2010-11.
UNLV has had at least 43 recipients earn the award for six straight academic years dating back to 2007-08. In fact, since the MW began handing out the Scholar-Athlete Award nine years ago (2003-04), the Rebels have had 43 or more individuals recognized in eight of its 10 years.
ACADEMIC TEAM FOR FOUR: UNLV had a total of 77 student-athletes earn Spring 2013 Academic All-Mountain West Team recognition. The men's basketball program tied for the league lead with four honorees, while women's swimming & diving (20), women's track & field (13) and baseball (11) had double-digit representatives.
The Rebel softball program had nine individuals - Tayler Aleman, Garie Blando, Jamie DePippo, Francesca Foti, Emily Haslinger, Pauline Monreal, Amanda Oliveto, Tayler Van Acker and Tara Woodall - recognized for their efforts in the classroom.
Aleman became the 14th member of the program to earn academic all-conference honors all four years of her career dating back to 2001. Van Acker has graced the academic team three consecutive years, while Monreal, Oliveto and Woodall are all two-time honorees. Blando, DePippo, Foti and Haslinger were freshmen in 2013.
In fact, if you include the five student-athletes that made the 2013 MPSF Men's Swimming & Diving All-Academic Team, UNLV had a total of 82 individuals that were acknowledged for their efforts in the classroom this spring. The 2013 total marked the ninth straight year that at least 81 Rebels were recognized.
For the 2012-13 academic year, UNLV had 129 student-athletes - 121 Mountain West and eight MPSF - earn either Fall or Spring honors. That number extended the athletic department's run to eight consecutive years with at least 124.
Overall, 729 student-athletes from the MW were named to the academic team. Spring sports include baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, softball, women's swimming & diving, men's and women's tennis and men's and women's track & field.
To be eligible for selection, student-athletes must have completed at least one academic team at the member institution, while maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better, and be a starter or significant contributor on their athletics team.
