April 2, 2014
2014 UNLV Softball Weekly Notes - Week Nine
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV Rebels, who spent last week in the Bay Area with a Mountain West trip to San José State, will stay out on the road with a MW visit to Boise State this week from April 4-6.
UNLV enters the third week of conference play tied with three others atop the standings with identical .667 winning percentages. Both the Rebels and Fresno State are 4-2 while SJSU and San Diego State are 2-1.
This weekend's series in Boise will be played at Dona Larsen Park. The first two games (Friday and Saturday) are scheduled for 3:00 pm MT (2:00 pm PT) while the third affair (Sunday) is slated for 1:00 pm MT (12:00 pm PT).
ON DECK: The UNLV Rebels will return home for a three-game Mountain West series against Colorado State on April 11-13.
LOOKING BACK A WEEK: The UNLV Rebels went 1-2 last week on the road at San José State. UNLV rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the first game for a 6-4 victory in 12 innings. Unfortunately, that was the only win for the Rebels as they dropped the second affair, 14-4 in five innings, and the third, 4-2.
The Rebels were led offensively by a quartet of players with .333 or better batting averages and a minimum of four hits. Tayler Van Acker led the foursome with a .583 average, seven hits and a .615 on-base percentage.
Samantha Juarez and Stefany Valentino tied for second in batting with identical .500 clips (5-for-10). The pair also sat atop the runs category with three scores apiece. Valentino led all Rebels in slugging with her .700 output.
Pauline Monreal rounded out the group with her .333 effort (4-for-12) with two extra-base hits (one double and one home run), four RBI and two runs.
In the circle, Amanda Oliveto went 1-1 with a win in the 12-inning marathon and a loss in the 4-2, game-three decision. Oliveto tossed 18.0 innings and allowed eight runs, five of which were earned, off of 16 hits. She struck out 10.
RPI RELEASED: The NCAA released its second RPI standings on Monday, April 31 with UNLV ranked 90th nationally. The Rebels have played 12 games against Top 50 competition with a 2-10 record. They own an 12-10 mark against teams ranked 51 and higher.
As a conference, the Mountain West has five schools ranked in the Top 100 with San Diego State coming in at #38. Fresno State (#45), San Jose State (#65) and Colorado State (#80) round out the quartet ahead of UNLV. Boise State (#104), Nevada, Reno (#141), Utah State (#152) and New Mexico (#157) close out the rankings for all nine MW teams.
THE TEAM STATISTICALLY: In this week's NCAA softball statistics, the UNLV Rebels are ranked as high as 11th in double plays per game. UNLV is listed in the top 100 of three other categories: 73rd in batting average, 77th in home runs pg and 82nd in slugging percentage.
THE PLAYERS STATISTICALLY: In this week's NCAA statistics, the UNLV Rebels have five players ranked within the top 100 of eight different categories.
Individually, Pauline Monreal leads the Scarlet & Gray with her name listed in the top 100 of five categories. Monreal is 11th in RBI per game, 21st in sac flies, 39th in home runs, 58th in home runs pg and 72nd in slugging percentage.
Stefany Valentino, who is a second Rebel to be listed in multiple categories, is fourth in sac flies and 86th in triples. Tayler Van Acker is 85th in sac flies; Garie Blando is 57th in toughest to strikeout and Amanda Oliveto is 32nd in saves.
STARTING THE RIGHT WAY: With help from their sweep of in-state rival Nevada, Reno and a victory in their first game last weekend at San José State, the UNLV Rebels matched their best start in Mountain West play dating back to 2007.
Since the MW began to sponsor softball, UNLV has only had a pair of 4-0 starts. In '07, UNLV opened up the MW season with a pair of wins against Utah and BYU.
The Rebels' 3-0 start to the MW year was only the third instance (2007 and '10) that UNLV has remained perfect through three contests.
