Quick Hits
• UTSA is making its second NCAA Tournament appearance in the past three years
• The Roadrunners lost to Illinois (3-0) and North Carolina (4-0) at the 2004 Waco Regional in the program’s first-ever NCAA appearance
• UTSA has won 21 of its last 22 games, including a school-record 14-game win streak from April 4-26
• The Roadrunners are 1-2 against the Austin Regional field this season with an 8-0 win over Utah on Feb. 11 and 5-1 and 8-0 losses to Texas on Feb. 21
NCAA Tournament History:
UTSA is making its second-ever appearance in the NCAA Division I Softball Tournament. The Roadrunners went 0-2 at the 2004 Waco Regional as the No. 7 seed. UTSA dropped the opener to second-seed Illinois, 3-0, and was eliminated by No. 6 North Carolina, 4-0, on May 20, 2004. Southland Conference teams are 10-28 all-time in NCAA Tournament play with the last win by McNeese State over Centenary, 5-2, at the 2005 College Station Regional. In 2003, Texas State won three games before bowing out to Texas in Austin, while Texas-Arlington took two games at Gainesville, Fla., before being eliminated by Oregon State.
Formidable Field:
UTSA will be facing a tough field in the Austin Regional this weekend, headlined by No. 3 national seed Texas, the Big 12 regular season champions. The Longhorns are 49-7 overall and have 16 victories versus ranked opponents this year. Utah won the Mountain West Conference Tournament and carries a 38-19 record that includes a 3-2 victory over defending national champion Michigan. Indiana is 29-23-1 and reached the semifinal round of the Big Ten Tournament last weekend. The Hoosiers have a pair of wins over ranked opponents — Nebraska (2-1) and North Carolina (1-0) — and a tie with Oklahoma (11-11). UTSA swept Southland Conference regular season and tournament titles for the second time in three seasons and enters the regional winners of 21 of its last 22 games. The Roadrunners defeated Utah, 8-0, at the Las Cruces Hilton Invitational on Feb. 11, but dropped a twinbill at Texas on Feb. 21.
Scouting Texas:
The Longhorns are 49-7 on the season and boast one of the strongest pitching staffs in the country. Senior left-hander Cat Osterman leads the way with a 32-2 record, 0.42 ERA, 23 shutouts, 511 strikeouts and only 37 walks. She has allowed just 14 earned runs and opponents are batting a miniscule .082 against her this year. Sophomore righty Megan Denny has a 17-5 record, 1.57 ERA and 209 strikeouts. Offensively, sophomore infielder Desiree Williams leads the squad with a .345 batting average, eight doubles, three triples, 11 home runs and 38 RBI. Senior outfielder Tina Boutelle is batting .302 with nine round-trippers and a team-best 21 stolen bases. Texas advanced to the semifinals of the Women’s College World Series for the second time in the last three years in 2005, falling to eventual runner-up UCLA. Head coach Connie Clark in her 11th season at the helm.
UTSA vs. Texas Series History
All-Time Record: Texas leads, 21-3
Series Trend: Texas has won 11 straight dating back to 2001
Last Meeting: Texas 8, UTSA 0 (Feb. 21, 2006 • Austin, Texas)
Last UTSA Win: UTSA 3, Texas 1 (Feb. 21, 2001 • Austin, Texas)
Scouting Indiana:
The Hoosiers are 29-23-1 on the year and just advanced to the semifinal round of the Big Ten Tournament for the first time in school history. Senior outfielder Lauren Hines leads the offense with a .407 batting average, 11 doubles, 10 home runs and 28 RBI, while senior Mariangee Bogado is hitting .366 with nine two-baggers and 18 RBI. Bogado also is the top pitcher, boasting a 20-9 record, 1.57 ERA and 289 strikeouts. Stacey Phillips is in her second season as head coach of the Hoosiers.
UTSA vs. Indiana Series History
All-Time Record: never met
Scouting Utah:
The Utes are 38-19 on the season and earned the automatic bid from the Mountain West Conference Tournament by running the table in Las Vegas, Nev., last weekend. Senior second baseman Jackie Wong leads a potent offense that is batting .300 as a team with a .448 average, eight doubles, six triples, four home runs, 29 RBI, a .500 on-base percentage and 19 stolen bases. Sophomore outfielder Diana Phillips is hitting .364 and has 13 stolen bases, while freshman catcher Jessica Shiery leads the team with 12 homers and 51 RBI. Junior right-hander Karina Cannon is 20-7 with a 2.09 ERA and 128 strikeouts, while junior righty Meghan Dyer is 14-8 with a 2.75 ERA and 181 Ks. Marianne Bullis and Kyle Magnusson are in their first season as interim co-head coaches.
UTSA vs. Utah Series History
All-Time Record: Tied, 1-1
Series Trend: UTSA won the last meeting earlier this season
Last Meeting: UTSA 8, Utah 0 (Feb. 11, 2006 • Las Cruces, N.M.)
Last Utah Win: Utah 3, UTSA 2 (Feb. 10, 2002 • Arlington, Texas)
Familiar Face:
UTSA players and staff will see a familiar face in the other dugout for Friday’s meeting with Texas. Former head coach Corrie Hill left the Roadrunners in August 2005 to become an assistant coach with the Longhorns. During her seven-year tenure, Hill chalked up a career record of 221-180-1 (.551) and became the winningest head coach at the school in any sport. She guided UTSA to back-to-back SLC regular season championships in 2004-05, the 2004 SLC Tournament title and the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2004 at the Waco Regional.
Last Time Out:
UTSA rolled through the SLC Tournament with a perfect 4-0 mark for the second time in the last three years. The Roadrunners opened with a 4-3 victory over Nicholls State thanks to freshman Brittany Cantu’s two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Junior Ursula Mares tossed a two-hit shutout in the second round in a 3-0 victory over McNeese State. In the semifinal against Texas-Arlington, senior Jessica Els drilled a two-out, full-count pitch deep over the center field fence in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings and senior Mel Torres launched a walk-off, two-run blast in the ninth to lift the Roadrunners to a dramatic 7-5 win. UTSA used five home runs, including a mammoth grand slam by freshman Rachel Rackley in the third, to cruise by Texas-Arlington, 8-3, for the tournament title.
Power Supply:
UTSA scored all 22 runs in four games of the SLC Tournament via the home run. The Roadrunners set a new tournament record with 14 long balls as six different players cleared the fence, breaking the old mark of nine set by Northwestern State in five games in 2001.
All-Tournament Nods:
Four players were named to the All-SLC Tournament team on May 7. Jessica Els was named Tournament Most Valuable Player after batting .357 with three home runs and four runs batted in. Rachel Rackley hit a team-best .417 with a grand slam and five RBI, while senior Stacey Gillespie and Ursula Mares also made the squad.
Starting Early:
UTSA has outscored its opponents, 50-12, in the first inning this season and 156-54 in the first three frames combined. UTSA has given up only four runs in the first or second inning over the last 25 games. On the season, the Roadrunners have crossed the plate 276 times and have limited foes to just 136 runs.
No Place Like Home:
UTSA has made Roadrunner Field a tough place to play for opponents. The Roadrunners are 48-7 (.873) at the facility since the beginning of the 2004 season and have won 43 of their last 47 home games. UTSA posted a 16-3 record at home in 2006.
RPI Update:
UTSA is 44th in the latest simulated National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) RPI according to warrennolan.com. UTSA has a 2-4 record against teams rated in the top 50 with a 9-8 win against No. 35 Ohio State and an 8-0 victory against No. 43 Utah. The Roadrunners also have wins against top 100 teams Houston (65), Portland State (77) and Colorado State (89).
Tough Slate:
UTSA has played a tough schedule in 2006 with a pair of opponents currently ranked in both the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 polls — No. 2/2 Texas and No. 16/16 Texas A&M. The Roadrunners also played Oklahoma State, which is receiving votes in the ESPN.com poll. UTSA has three victories against teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament field of 64 — 8-0 versus Utah, 9-8 over Ohio State and 11-3 against Portland State all at the Las Cruces Hilton Invitational on Feb. 10-12.
Going, Going, Gone:
UTSA has led the NCAA in home runs per game in each of the last three seasons. The Roadrunners are on top of the national standings once again with 103 in their first 49 contests, an average of 2.10 per game. That is NCAA record pace, well ahead of UTSA’s national standard of 1.87 set in 2004 (101 in 54 games). Louisiana-Lafayette is second nationally with 99 long balls in 58 games for a 1.71 average. Dating back to the beginning of the 2003 campaign, UTSA has slugged an amazing 387 home runs in 218 games (1.78 per game).
Round Trip Ticket:
Entering the UTSA-Texas-Arlington series on April 29-30, UTA starters Laura Jones and Jill Garro had only given up a combined seven home runs. The Roadrunners crushed 10 long balls in a three-game sweep, including seven off of Garro in the Sunday finale. The seven round-trippers in game three is tied for No. 5 on the NCAA’s all-time single-game home run record list behind UTSA’s record 10 against Texas Southern on April 8, 2004, eight in both halves of a doubleheader versus Texas Southern on April 1, 2004, and Texas State’s eight against Stephen F. Austin on March 2, 2002. UTSA and UTA met two times the following weekend at the SLC Tournament where the Roadrunners continued the slugfest with nine off of Jones, giving them 19 against the duo in five games.
Long Ball Lore:
UTSA has crushed 103 home runs this season, tying its own school and conference record for long balls in a season. The 103 homers also equal the second-best season in NCAA history along with 2005 national champion Michigan. Arizona holds the record with 126 in 69 games in 2001. The Roadrunners also topped the 100-mark with 101 in 2004. That means UTSA owns three of the top five home run seasons in NCAA history.
Going Yard Against The Best:
Of UTSA’s 103 home runs this season, 17 have come against teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament, including six against Austin Regional foes. The Roadrunners launched five long balls in an 8-0 run-ruling of Utah on Feb. 11, while Mel Torres led off a doubleheader at Texas on Feb. 21 with a solo blast off ace Cat Osterman. UTSA also hit four round-trippers off Texas A&M’s pitching duo of Amanda Scarborough and Megan Gibson and two in a thrilling, 9-8 win in eight innings against Ohio State.
Record Streak:
UTSA set a school record by winning its 14th straight game on April 26 at Texas Tech, a 4-3 decision in game one of a doubleheader. The Roadrunners put an April 1-2 home sweep at the hands of Texas State behind them and ran off 14 consecutive victories beginning with 3-2 and 6-3 decisions against Houston on April 4. Nine of the 14 wins came on the road, including two straight conference sweeps at Sam Houston State and Nicholls State. Texas Tech snapped the streak with a 4-1 win in the nightcap, but the Roadrunners have started a new streak of seven straight victories entering the NCAA Regional.
Missing J.R.:
UTSA has swept SLC crowns for the second time in three years and is on record pace for hitting home runs with arguably the top player in the league on the shelf. Senior-to-be Jessica Rogers, the 2005 SLC Player and Hitter of the Year, is taking a medical redshirt season to rehab an arm injury, and she took her school and conference single-season record 23 home runs with her.
Secret Weapon:
The Roadrunners have made a name nationally for their ability to hit the home run. Over the past three seasons, a vastly improved pitching staff may be the biggest key to capturing a third straight conference title. This year, senior Hope Ortiz, junior Ursula Mares and sophomore Amanda Nikolenko have combined to produce a 2.35 ERA, while striking out 299 batters compared to only 81 walks. Nikolenko leads the staff in victories (23), ERA (2.20), strikeouts (149) and shutouts (3), while Mares owns a 2.43 ERA, 134 strikeouts, a team-best .246 opposing batting average and two shutouts, including the only no-hitter of the season on April 19 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Ortiz began the season with 13 and one-third scoreless innings and has compiled a 2-0 record, 2.58 ERA, 14 Ks and only five walks.
Three-Peat:
UTSA needed a little help from its main rival in winning its third consecutive SLC regular season title. The Roadrunners’ April 30 sweep of UTA put them at 22-5, an .815 winning percentage. UTSA needed Texas State (18-3, .857) to lose both games of a doubleheader at Louisiana-Monroe that same afternoon, and that is just what happened. The Indians upset the Bobcats, 3-1 and 2-1, getting a bases-loaded ground out to clinch game two and drop Texas State to 18-5 (.783). The 22-5 mark tied the school record for most victories in a 27-game league season as the 2000 squad also went 22-5. UTSA went 20-6 to win the program’s first-ever conference title in 2004 and made it back-to-back with a 21-5 mark last year.
Conference Supremacy:
Over the past three seasons of SLC play, UTSA has recorded a 66-16 record (.805). In 2004, the Roadrunners posted a 20-6 mark en route to the program’s first-ever conference championship. Last year, UTSA went 21-5 to capture its second straight regular season crown. This season, the Roadrunners tied a school record for most conference victories in winning their straight crown with a 22-5 mark. UTSA is the winningest program in SLC games only with an all-time record of 235-145 (.618).
SLC Accolades:
UTSA earned 11 Aeropostale/SLC Player of the Week accolades this season. Sophomore Amanda Nikolenko was named Pitcher of the Week four times, picking up her last honor on April 24. Senior Mel Torres and freshman Brittany Cantu earned Hitter of the Week honors on Feb. 14 and March 7, respectively, while Catherine Garza garnered hitting honors on March 27. Juniors Aimee Murray and Ursula Mares swept hitter and pitcher awards on April 10 and junior Stevi Simpson picked up her first hitting accolade on April 17. Senior Jessica Els received Hitter of the Week honors on May 1.
Head Coach Lori Cook:
In her first season as head coach of the UTSA softball program, Lori Cook guided the Roadrunners to their third consecutive conference regular season championship and to their second tournament title in the past three years. She was voted SLC Coach of the Year and has UTSA entering its second NCAA Tournament in the past three seasons with a 37-12 record. A veteran of the UTSA coaching staff since 2001, Cook served as associate head coach in 2005 and as an assistant coach from 2002-04. A California native, she came to UTSA after one season on the staff at Baylor in 1999-2000. She also spent time at Cosumnes River College, Napa Valley College and Cal State Hayward. Cook played collegiately at Napa Valley and Nebraska and professionally in Italy.