April 29, 2004

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This Week's Schedule
UC Santa Barbara vs. Utah State
Saturday, May 1, 12:00 noon * Doubleheader

UC Santa Barbara vs. Utah State
Sunday, May 2, 12:00 noon

A Rollercoaster Ride
It was a week of ups and downs for the UC Santa Barbara softball team, now sitting in fourth place in the Big West. A stable full of hot bats sparked UCSB to a doubleheader sweep of then 12th ranked Fresno State to start the week, but it was a lack luster and uncharacteristic Big West Series loss to Cal Poly that the Gauchos ended with. Junior pitcher Lindsey Herrin earned herself her fifth win of the season in the circle with her bat, ripping a two-out walk-off RBI double in game one against the Bulldogs. And freshman Kendra Singley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in game two to break a 2-2 tie en route to the Gauchos' 5-2 win in the second game of the twinbill with Fresno State. Herrin and freshman catcher Shelby Hensler both finished the sweep with four hits in seven at-bats and one double apiece. Herrin led the team with four RBI, while Hensler paced Santa Barbara with four runs scored. Freshman Jennifer Davis earned the win in the nightcap, shutting down the Bulldogs' bats the final three innings, giving up just two hits between the fifth and seventh to pick up her tenth win of the season. The Gauchos continued to roll into the weekend, taking game one against Cal Poly 3-2 thanks to a Katie Oliver sacrifice fly in bottom of the sixth, but in Sunday's doubleheader nothing went right for UCSB. Game two of the series saw Santa Barbara's staff give up a season-high ten walks in addition to hitting two batters, with nine of those free passes coming with two outs on the board. The rubbermatch went just as bad as the Gauchos suffered their first shutout since losing to then 11th ranked Stanford 4-0 on March 20th.

Gamers
UCSB has developed a recent trend of playing to the ability of its opponents, a habit that they would not only like to break (Cal Poly), but one that they would also like to retain (Fresno State). Only picking up one win in three tries against the Mustangs was not supposed to happen, after all UCSB was 6-2 in conference action having taken each of the series against the current second and third place teams, and Cal Poly entered last week at 3-6 in Big West play. But then again, not many people expected Santa Barbara to sweep the 12th best team in the nation, and quite handedly in game two. In fact, the Gauchos have faired extremely well against ranked opponents in the last month. Dating back to its 3-1 victory over then 9th ranked Stanford on March 21st, UCSB has come out victorious in five of its last six meetings with a ranked opponent, including the sweep of the Bulldogs and taking two-of-three from then 19th ranked Pacific.

One Leads to the Other
Without getting on base senior Leslie Simien would have never made it into the NCAA Record Books for base stealing prowess, so it comes as no surprise to see that speedster is moving up UCSB's career hits list. The Gauchos' mainstay in rightfield entered 2004 just outside the top ten with 133 career hits. Currently tied for fifth in the Big West with a team-high 49 this season, Simien now has 182 to her name, putting her in a tie with Kendra Wood ('00) for third most ever by a Gaucho. The all-time record is 208, set by Tonya Dias between 1997 and 2000, the second most is 205 set by Mandy Edwards over that same time frame. Simien is also third all-time at UCSB with 644 career at-bats and 104 career runs scored.

"Oct"ane Booster
At the start of the season head coach Kristy Schroeder said that this year's team would have much more power at the plate than in recent seasons, and that is just what it has. Junior Lindsey Herrin in her first season as a Gaucho is currently one homerun shy of tying UCSB's single season record of nine held jointly by Tonya Dias and Mandy Edwards. Her current total of eight ties her for the Big West lead. Right on Herrin's heals is freshman standout Kendra Singly who has belted six of her own, tying her for ninth on the Gauchos' single season list. But it is Singley's tally of 13 doubles that has put her just one two-bagger away from tying UCSB's single season record of 14 set by Stacy Atwood in 1996, she is currently second in the conference, one off the pace.

The Advance Info on the Aggies
Currently sitting in seventh-place in the Big West with a 3-9 conference record, Utah State has lost 13 straight games since opening the conference season with a three-game sweep over Cal State Fullerton. Although 7-35 overall on the season, the Aggies have picked up couple of wins over other big name opponents, including Iowa and Oregon, who at the time was ranked 17th in the nation. Haven Vance currently paces USU with a .271 batting average, seven doubles, and 12 runs batted in. Quela Henderson is second on the team with a .264 mark, but leads the team with a Big West fifth-most 20 walks. As a team the Aggies are hitting .215, bottom of the pack amongst the teams in the Big West. Pitching seems to be where Utah State has struggled the most this season, with a 6.39 ERA, the Aggies are also ranked last in the Big West in team ERA. Leslie Higley is USU's best amongst the bunch with five wins and a team-low 4.72 ERA, including one complete game shutout. As a whole the staff has allowed the opposition to hit .351 against the Aggies. The Gauchos are 20-30 all-time against Utah State, but under the guidance of Kristy Schroeder UCSB has gone a perfect 6-0.

By the Numbers
1.000 - Fielding percentage of freshman outfielder Jessica Hejna. In 45 chances so far, the starting leftfielder is yet to make on error this season. Her 43 putouts are also more than any other Gaucho outfielder this season.

140 - Jennifer Davis' strikeout total this season, placing her ninth on UCSB's single seson top ten. It also leads the Big West.

Schedule Note: The rainout at UC Riverside has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 4 at 2:00 p.m.