Rebels Host Utah State In Regular-Season Series Finale
5/7/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 7, 2014
2014 UNLV Softball Weekly Notes - Week Fourteen
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV Rebels continue their five-game homestand at Eller Media Stadium with three games against the Utah State Aggies this week. The three-game, Mountain West series will begin Thursday evening with first pitch scheduled for 6:00 pm. Friday's affair will also begin at 6:00 pm, while Saturday's is slated for 1:00 pm. The finale is also billed as "Senior Day" for the softball program, as UNLV will recognize its five seniors - Jaexie Balilea, Pauline Monreal, Amanda Oliveto, Stefany Valentino and Taylor Van Acker - before the contest.
THIS WEEK'S PROMOTIONS: All fans wearing red to this week's games against Utah State can get half-price tickets to each contest.
WATCH GAMES ONLINE: Fans that are unable to attend the series between UNLV and Utah State this week will be able to watch all three games online through the Mountain West Network. Links for each contest as well as live stats will be provided at UNLVRebels.com.
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP CONFUSION: The Mountain West regular season has one weekend remaining and no team has sewn up the conference championship, yet. Currently, there are five squads with a chance to win at least a share of the 2014 title. Colorado State and Fresno State sit atop the standings with identical 14-7 records, while San Diego State is one game back at 13-8. Both Colorado State and UNLV are 12-9 and two games behind the front-runners.
Two of the five teams will play head-to-head this week with SDSU hosting BSU. FS will play at Nevada, Reno, while CSU and UNLV are home to San José State and Utah State, respectively.
For the Rebels to have a shot at the title, they will need to take care of business against USU before getting any help from the remainder of its conference foes.
RECORD-BOOK REWRITES: SEASONAL: The UNLV Rebels have four players that have written their names into the top 10 of five different categories in the program's single-season offensive record book, if the season were to end today.
Pauline Monreal has etched moved her name to the top of the RBI chart alongside Kim Rondina (1995) with 58 runs knocked in. Monreal is also tied for seventh in home runs (13) with three others. One year ago, she concluded the season tied for 10th overall in doubles with 13. She sits outside the top 10 in both total bases and slugging percentage.
Emily Haslinger is tied for fifth in home runs (14) with Racheal Goodpaster (1999). Haslinger is also on the outside looking in in RBI and slugging percentage.
Garie Blando sits ninth in batting average (.399) and tied for 10th in both runs (43) with Sara Mallett (1994) and on-base percentage (.479) with teammate Stefany Valentino (2014).
Valentino is already in the single-season record book in batting average with an eighth-place showing (.405) from 2013. This season has seen her move into eighth in average (.403). She is also outside of the top 10 in hits and walks.
RECORD-BOOK REWRITES: CAREER: The UNLV Rebels have seven players that have written their names in the top 10 of various career categories in the program's offensive and pitching record books.
Stefany Valentino is ranked in six categories: second in batting average (.381); third in on-base percentage (.434); seventh in both hits (212) and walks (79); ninth in slugging percentage (.519); and 10th in runs (121).
Pauline Monreal is ranked in five categories: third in RBI (155); sixth in home runs (33); seventh in slugging percentage (.529); and ninth in both doubles (38) and total bases (302).
Tayler Van Acker is ranked in three categories: first in hit-by-pitch (29); fifth in on-base percentage (.434); and sixth in walks (81).
Jaexie Balilea (second in hit-by-pitch - 24), Emily Haslinger (fifth in slugging percentage - .601) and Garie Blando (ninth in on-base percentage - .420) round out the offensive players.
Amanda Oliveto is ranked in nine pitching categories: third in appearances (160), starts (118), complete games (83), innings pitched (813.1) and strikeouts (609); fourth in wins (65); sixth in saves (five); seventh in shutouts (14); and 10th in winning percentage (.528).
SINGLE-GAME SUPERLATIVES: The UNLV Rebels have seen several players notch single-game superlatives this season.
On April 18, Emily Haslinger tied a pair of single-game records with three home runs and seven RBI in a win over New Mexico.
On April 22, Garie Blando tied a single-game record with five hits in a win over San Diego State.
As a whole, the team has 132 multiple-hit games with eight players notching at least one three-hit effort. Samantha Juarez leads the team with six contests with three hits, while Pauline Monreal follows closely behind with five and Stefany Valentino has notched four of them.
As a whole, the team has 61 multiple-RBI games with five players notching at least one three-RBI effort. Monreal leads the team with nine contests with at least three RBI. Monreal has also racked up two four-RBI, one five-RBI and one six-RBI games. Her six RBI against Oregon State (May 4) only trails Haslinger's seven knocked in against UNM (April 18).
STREAKY HITTING: The UNLV Rebels have had five players notch double-digit game hitting streaks this season.
Stefany Valentino leads the way with her program-best 23-game hitting stretch that began against Nevada, Reno (March 21). Valentino hit .468 with 37 hits in 79 at-bats during this run. More impressively, included in this stretch is the fact that she has 11 multiple-hit games. Prior to this streak, she had a seven-game earlier in the season.
Valentino's streak is one game longer than that of Kim Rondina's 22 amassed during the 1995 campaign.
Garie Blando had a 17-game hitting streak that began against San José State (March 28) through the second game at Fresno State (April 26). Blando hit .483 with 29 hits in 60 at-bats. She had eight multiple-hit games. Prior to the streak she had a five-game and an eight-game hitting streak.
Jamie DePippo had a 12-game hitting streak that began against Boise State (April 4) through the third game against San Diego State (April 23). DePippo hit .537 with 22 hits in 41 at-bats.
Emily Haslinger had a 10-game hitting streak that began against Boise State (April 5) through the second game against San Diego State (April 22). Haslinger hit .500 with 19 hits in 38 at-bats.
Samantha Juarez had a 10-game hitting streak that began against Boise State (April 4) through the first game against San Diego State (April 22). Juarez hit .462 with 18 hits in 39 at-bats. Currently, she is riding a six-game streak that has seen her go 8-for-16 (.500). Prior to these streaks, she had a six-gamer earlier in the year.
ABOUT UTAH STATE: The Utah State Aggies (18-34, 6-15 Mountain West) travel to Las Vegas for a three-game series after they dropped both contests of a non-conference doubleheader Tuesday to the Utah Utes in Salt Lake City. Including those two losses, USU has lost seven straight and 11 of its last 12 games.
The Aggies began the season 5-13, and the start was punctuated by a 10-game losing streak. The team appeared to have turned things around when it won eight straight between March 14 and March 23. The final three games of that winning period were against Colorado State and signified a perfect start to the 2014 Mountain West season and a .500 record (13-13). Unfortunately, the wins have occurred less frequently as the team has gone 5-21 with eight of those games played against non-conference foes (2-6).
