FRESNO, Calif. — The Western Athletic Conference awarded its 2011 All-WAC softball honors as selected by the league’s head coaches. For the second straight season, Jessica Iwata was named WAC Player of the Year and Stephanie Ricketts was named WAC
FRESNO, Calif. — The Western Athletic Conference awarded its 2011 All-WAC softball honors as selected by the league’s head coaches. For the second straight season, Jessica Iwata was named WAC Player of the Year and Stephanie Ricketts was named WAC Pitcher of the Year, states a release from the UH athletic department.
Both were also named to the All-WAC first team while Alexandra Aguirre and Kelly Majam earned second-team honors.
Iwata, a sophomore shortstop from Lihu‘e, was named all-WAC first team for the second time. She was second in the WAC and first on UH’s squad with a .429 batting average in conference games. Iwata was 27 for 63 at the plate with team-highs in hits (27), home runs (5), RBIs (22) and runs scored (tied with Kelly Majam’s 14). Last season’s WAC Player of the Year also led the ‘Bows in 2011 with a .714 slugging percentage and a .520 on-base percentage. Iwata is just the second player to ever earn back-to-back WAC Player of the Year honors — Kate Judd earned the award in 2001 and 2002.
Ricketts, a junior from San Jose, Calif., has been the anchor of the team all season. In conference, she recorded an 8-4 record with a 1.92 ERA in 87.2 innings pitched. Ricketts fired 10 complete games and three shutouts in 14 appearances. She had 25 walks while striking out 87 and holding opponents to a .215 batting average. This season, Ricketts was named WAC Pitcher of the Week twice (Feb. 14 and May 9). She earned second-team all-conference honors as a freshman and first-team honors last year as a sophomore. She was also named WAC Freshman of the Year in 2010 and Pitcher of the Year in 2011. Ricketts is the first Hawai‘i pitcher to ever earn two WAC Pitcher of the Year awards. The only UH pitcher to have earned back-to-back conference honors was former All-American Brooke Wilkins, who won the award in 1994 and 1995 when the Rainbow Wahine were members of the Big West.
Aguirre, a junior left fielder from Temple City, Calif., finished the season strong, with a .314 average (16 for 51), nine runs scored, two home runs and six RBIs. She was a key factor in capturing the New Mexico State series with two late-inning hits that provided the winning runs for thrilling come-from-behind victories. This is the first all-WAC honor for Aguirre.
Majam, UH’s sophomore center fielder from Pine Valley, Calif., finished the conference season second on the team with a .319 average (22 for 69). She was tied with Iwata for the team high with 14 runs scored while leading the team with five doubles. She was second on the team with 22 hits, three home runs, 10 walks, and a .522 slugging percentage and for the second straight season, Majam was stellar defensively, not giving up an error during the regular season. This marks the second all-WAC honor for Majam. Last season, she was voted the WAC Freshman of the Year and a member of the all-WAC first team.
Wahine top Utah State in WAC Tournament opener
FRESNO, Calif. — The No. 4-seed University of Hawai‘i softball team (37-16, 14-7 WAC) opened the 2011 Western Athletic Conference Tournament with a 6-1 win over No. 5-seed Utah State, Wednesday at Bulldog Diamond on the Fresno State Campus. In the win, Hawai‘i pitcher Stephanie Ricketts set a new UH career strikeout record with 587, states a release from the UH athletic department.
Ricketts fired her 30th complete game of the season as she raised her record to 22-11 overall. She gave up one run on eight hits with four walks and four strikeouts. The new Hawai‘i strikeout queen passed former All-American Brooke Wilkins’ 16 year-old record of 585 that she set from 1994-95.
Hawai‘i posted four unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning, capitalizing on two Aggie errors with runners on base. Kelly Majam led off with a double to the right-center field gap and moved to third on a Jasey Jensen ground ball back to the pitcher, who unsuccessfully tried to throw Majam out at third. Jensen stole second and after a strikeout, Jenna Rodriguez got an infield single to the pitcher to load the bases. After another strikeout, Alex Aguirre hit a ground ball to the pitcher, but her throw sailed over the first baseman allowing both Majam and Jensen to score. With runners at second and third, Sharla Kliebenstein hit a chopper to short that was misfielded for an error that allowed Rodriguez to score from third and left runners at the corners. Hawai‘i then ran another double steal with Kliebenstein getting caught in a run-down for an out between first and second base, but not before Aguirre crossed the plate for the inning’s fourth run.
The Aggies got a run back in the top of the second. Kassandra Uchida hit a one-out triple to the rightfield fence and later scored on a fielding error with two outs to cut the deficit to 4-1.
In the top of the fourth, with two outs and USU pinch runner Nichole McDonald at first, Megan McDonald drilled a shot down the left field line for a double. But on the play, UH got a solid relay from Aguirre to Gonzalez to Kliebenstein to cut down Nichole McDonald at the plate and thwart the rally.
Hawai‘i extended its lead by two in the bottom of the fourth when Kliebenstein slammed her 13th home run of the season, which sailed over the center field fence.
The Rainbow Wahine will battle top seed New Mexico State (40-15, 17-4 WAC) this morning at 11:30 a.m.
