Thunderbirds Take On Arizona State In NCAA First-Round

Second Straight Year SUU Opens Against Pac-10 In Provo

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Southern Utah University’s softball team heads to its second straight NCAA tournament appearance this week as the Thunderbirds travel to Provo, Utah, for regional competition. The Thunderbirds face ninth-ranked and seventh-seeded Arizona State in their first-round matchup, scheduled for Thursday at noon at Brigham Young University’s Miller Field.

SUU (29-29, 12-6 Mid-Con) enters the NCAA tournament by virtue of its second straight Mid-Continent Conference tournament championship. Although the Thunderbirds saw their four-year string of regular-season Mid-Con titles come to an end this year, they won the games which counted most as they won three straight at the Mid-Con tournament last weekend.

SUU has been on a bit of a roll lately, with nine straight wins to close the regular season. The Thunderbirds allowed just two runs at the Mid-Con tournament, winning their three games by a total of 16-2. The last time SUU?lost was April 24, when regional host BYU?swept a double-header from the T-Birds at Miller Field, 8-0 and 6-5.

Arizona State (49-15, 13-8 Pac-10) finished second in the Pac-10 this year and earned an at-large bid to the tournament. The Sun Devils have won six of their last 10 games, finishing off the season with a 7-4 win over UCLA to pick up a split in their final series. ASU -- which was ranked ninth in last week’s poll -- enters the tournament as the seventh overall seed.

The other teams competing in the Provo Regional are tournament host BYU (41-18), champion of the Mountain West Conference, and Big West champion Cal Poly (39-15).

BYU is the only team among the four the Thunderbirds have faced this season. SUU lost all four games, dropping a double-header in Cedar City, 11-2 and 4-0, before the sweep in Provo.

On The Air:

SUU’s games will be broadcast on KSUU Power 91 (91.1 FM) and carried on the internet at www.suu.edu/power91. Art Challis, radio voice of the Thunderbirds, will handle the play-by-play.

The Coach:

Jodi Jackson (Colorado State-Pueblo, 2000) is 86-86-1 in her third season as the Thunderbirds’ coach. In her first two seasons with the Thunderbirds Jackson coached the team to a pair of Mid-Continent Conference regular-season titles. Last year Coach Jackson coached the team to its fourth consecutive regular-season conference title, its first Mid-Con tournament title and the school’s first post-season berth since it moved to NCAA competition in 1988. The previous two seasons she spent her time as the head coach at Denton High School in Denton, Texas, where she guided the squad to a pair of winning seasons. Prior to her time at DHS, Jackson spent three seasons as an assistant on the Colorado State-Pueblo staff.

Jackson is assisted by Julie Strand (CSU-Pueblo, 2002), graduate assistant Kristi Miller (SUU, 2006) and student assistants Tiffany Burt and Kortny Hall.

Tournament Notes:

Both of Southern Utah’s NCAA tournament appearances have been at BYU and both of its first-round opponents have been from the Pac-10. Last year the Thunderbirds faced 14th-seed Washington in the first round. The Huskies took that one by an 8-0 count after scoring seven runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the mercy-rule win. SUU?met host Brigham Young in the second round and the Cougars came back from a 4-0 deficit to knock the Thunderbirds out of the tournament by a 5-4 count.

SUU’s appearance in the tournament last season was the school’s first post-season appearance since the 1986 squad finished ninth at the NAIA national tournament.

Although BYU is the only team in the regional SUU has faced this season, the Thunderbirds have met six teams participating in the NCAA tournament, including?Hawaii, UCLA (two games), Fresno State, Nebraska and DePaul. The Thunderbirds are 1-5 against those five teams, with the one win a 1-0 decision over Fresno St. on March 3, at the UNLV?Invitational.

             

Thunderbird Notes:

Southern Utah catcher/shortstop Marci Pratt was named the Mid-Continent Conference’s Player of the Year for the second time in as many seasons this year. She was joined on the all-Mid-Con first team by 3B/DP Karli Jenson. Four Thunderbirds earned second-team recognition, including 3B/SS?Lindi Kennedy, P?Kristina Brooks, 1B?Bobbi Jo Merrill and OF Rodeo Carli.

Five Thunderbirds earned Mid-Con all-tournament recognition, led by Merrill, who was named the tournament’s MVP after batting .429 with two home runs and seven RBI. Also named to the team were Pratt, OF Erin Niederhauser, Kennedy and Brooks.

Merrill earned second-team CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 honors this year after posting a 3.58 GPA in criminal justice. She is also a two-time academic all-Mid-Continent Conference selection.

Southern Utah’s winning the Mid-Con tournament title after going in as the second seed wasn’t unusual for the conference. SUU’s 2006 title sweep marked the only time the regular-season champion claimed the tournament title since Western Illinois accomplished the feat back in 2000. Since 2000, two first seeds, four second seeds and two third seeds have claimed the Mid-Con tournament championship.

The Thunderbirds also kept a recent trend alive with this season’s tourney title. Starting with Western Illinois’ repeat tournament championships in 2000 and 2001, four straight champions have repeated, with Oakland winning in ‘02 and ‘03, Centenary claiming the tournament prize in ‘04 and ‘05 and the Thunderbirds taking back-to-back titles in ‘06 and ‘07.

The same four teams competed in the Mid-Con tourney last year and at least three of the four have played in the tournament every year the last seven years. Both Western Illinois and Southern Utah have played in the last eight Mid-Con tournaments. Southern Utah has played in all but one Mid-Con tournament since the Thunderbirds joined the league in 1998, missing only in 1999.

Chasing The Records:

Junior IF Lindi Kennedy set a new SUU single-season home run record in the last weekend of the regular season at UMKC when she connected on her her 14th round-tripper to boost the Thunderbirds to a 1-0 win over the ‘Roos. She extended that record with another shot at the Mid-Con tourney -- this time against Oakland -- to push the record to 15.

Kennedy is among four Thunderbirds who have etched their names into the SUU single-season top-5 this year. Her 56 RBI are second on the list, three short of Senior SS/C Marci Pratt’s 58 last season, and her 129 total bases rank third, behind Pratt’s 163 and Tiffany Burt’s 131 last year. Pending is Kennedy’s .737 slugging mark, which is the second-best ever at SUU, behind Pratt’s .765 last season.

             

Pratt (who set the outright records for hits, triples, RBI, runs scored, slugging and total bases in a season last year, as well as the home run record which Kennedy broke) has three top-10 marks going into the NCAA tourney:?She is tied for fifth in home runs with 11, she has the fourth-best slugging mark at .665 and her 47 runs scored rank third on the SUU all-time list.

             

In addition to Kennedy and Pratt, Bobbi Jo Merrill’s 13 home runs so far ties the current second-best mark and in the circle, Marissa Gonzalez’ 154 strikeouts rank fourth all-time at SUU while senior OF Erin Niederhauser has nine home runs to rank seventh on SUU’s single-season list.

             

In the team rankings, the 2007 Thunderbirds have 10 top-10 marks. Last weekend the team combined for five home runs to give it an SUU record 66 round-trippers on the season, while the team also has top-5 marks in?a handful of additional categories (for a complete list, please see page ??)

             

As far as career records go, Pratt, Merrill, Niederhauser and Kennedy have all made their mark. Pratt in five categories, Niederhauser in two and Merrill and Kennedy in one. Pratt is SUU’s career-leader in triples with 19 and in home runs with 24, third in total bases with 270, fifth in runs scored with 102 and fifth in RBI?with 94. Niederhauser is currently sixth with 15 career home runs and sixth in RBI, with 93, while Merrill is third in home runs with 22. Kennedy also moved into a tie for sixth in home runs last weekend, even though hers all have come this season.

             

T-Bird Leaders:

Heading into the NCAA tournament, six Thunderbirds carry batting averages of .300 or better, with a seventh at .293. Kennedy leads the way at .377 with Rodeo Carli at .327, Pratt at .323, Merrill at .307, Niederhauser and Karli Jenson at .306 and Cassie Cresswell at .293.

Kennedy has the team’s home run lead with 15, while Merrill has 13 and Pratt has 11. Kennedy tops the team in RBI with 56 while Merrill has 45 RBI and Niederhauser has knocked in 41 runs. Kennedy also leads the Thunderbirds in slugging at .737 while Pratt is tops in on-base percentage (.456), runs scored (47) and walks (37). Kennedy also has a team-best 14 doubles while Pratt’s five triples pace the squad. Carli is 12-for-13 in stolen bases to lead the team in that category.

             

In the circle, Kristina Brooks (15-15), who has won six straight decisions, leads the team in wins, ERA (3.67), innings pitched (190.2), shutouts (five) and starts (29) in 39 appearances. Marissa Gonzalez (13-11, 3.77) is atop the team’s strikeouts (154) list  and her .261 opponents’ batting average leads the team in 38 appearances. Both Gonzalez and Brooks have two saves. 

             

Thunderbirds In The Mid-Con:

A Southern Utah player finished the regular-season atop nearly all the major offensive rankings in the Mid-Con and SUU occupies the top four positions in runs scored, RBI, home runs and total bases as well as the top three in slugging.

In regular-season games, Kennedy finished atop the league charts in hits (63), home runs (14), RBI (55), slugging (.737)?and total bases (123) and is second in doubles (142). Kennedy is also second in on-base percentage (.453) and batting (.377), and tied for third in runs scored (33).

             

Pratt, the defending Mid-Con Offensive Player of the Year, led the conference in runs scored (45), walks (36), on-base percentage (.455) and triples (five). Pratt is second in slugging (.647)?and total bases (101), third in home runs (10) and fourth in RBI (34), fifth in doubles (11) and seventh in hits (50), .

             

In addition to Kennedy and Pratt, Merrill, Niederhauser, Carli and Cresswell are listed among the league’s leaders. Merrill was second in home runs (11) and tied for second in RBI (38), third in total bases (94) and slugging (.591), fifth in runs scored (32) and eighth in hits (48). Niederhauser was second in runs scored (37), tied for second in RBI (38), fourth in home runs (9), fifth in walks (20), sixth in total bases (85) and slugging (.577), and tied for seventh in triples (2). Carli was third in hits (54), fourth in walks (22), tied for seventh in runs scored (29), tied for eighth in RBI (24) and doubles (9) and tied for seventh in stolen bases (11); while Cresswell was tied for second in triples (3), tied for third runs scored (33), tied for fourth in hits (52) and in total bases (86), tied for fifth in home runs (7), tied for ninth in walks (16) and is 10th in slugging (.494).

             

In the team rankings, SUU was atop every offensive category, including first in batting (.291), slugging (.490), on-base percentage (.374), runs scored (297), hits (430), RBI (277), doubles (73), triples (19), home runs (61), total bases (721)?and walks (174).

             

In the circle, Gonzalez led the league in strikeouts (153) and was tied for the lead, with Brooks, in appearances (36). Brooks and Gonzalez were second and third in innings pitched, with 172.2 and 166.0, respectively. Brooks was third in wins (13), with Gonzalez fourth (12). Gonzalez was also third in opponents’ batting average (.261) while Brooks was second in the league in starts (27) with Gonzalez third (23). Brooks and Gonzalez were tied for first in appearances (37), while Brooks was fourth in strikeouts (114) and tied for second in shutouts (4).

             

As a team, SUU’s pitching staff ranked first in strikeouts (284), third in opponents’ batting average (.272) and fourth in ERA?(4.06).

             

T-Birds In The Nation:

T-Birds In The Nation: Through games of May 6, Southern Utah has four players ranked among the nation’s top-100 in five statistical categories. Kennedy ranks in three categories, including 21st in RBI (1.0 per game), 55th in home runs (0.25) and 38th in slugging, while Pratt ranks 22nd in walks drawn per game (0.68). Gonzalez and Brooks are tied for 99th in saves with two.

In the team categories, SUU appears six times in the top-100 and four in the top-50. SUU is seventh in triples per game (0.35), 15th in slugging (.490), 18th in home runs (1.11 hrpg), 26th in scoring (5.40 rpg) and 57th in both doubles (1.33 dpg) and batting average (.291).

About the Sun Devils:

Arizona State has six players hitting at .300 or better and has 10 above .250. Kaitlin Cochran, who has started all 64 games, leads the way with a .506 average. She also boasts team-highs of 18 home runs, 16 doubles, 70 runs scored, a .931 slugging mark and 47 walks and is second on the team with 57 RBI. Bianca Cruz (.277) leads the team with 65 RBI, is second in doubles with 10 and is third in home runs with 10. Mindy Cowles (.300) is second on the squad in home runs with 15, and in slugging at .624, and is third in RBI with 52. Himmita Hixson has come off the bench to hit .348, while Jackie Vasquez is hitting .325, Heidi Knabe has hit .311 in 20 games and Megan Elliot has hit .300. Katie Burkhart leads the pitching staff with a 1.01 ERA and a .133 opponents’ batting average. Burkhart is 30-11 in 47 appearances with 429 strikeouts in 270 innings. Elliott has appeared in 30 games and carries a 2.80 ERA?with 130 strikeouts in 142.1 innings. Elliott has limited opponents to a .238 batting average.

As a team, ASU carries a .292 batting average and a 1.74 ERA while its opponents have hit .177 and carry a 5.16 ERA.

             

About the Cougars:

Brigham Young also has six players hitting .300 or better and all of the Cougar regulars carry batting averages above .250. Jennifer Whitely leads the way with a .409 batting average while Jodi Norton (.333) leads the team with 23 home runs and 56 RBI. Angeline Quicho (.355, 12 HR) leads the team in runs scored, with 45, but five Cougars have scored 40 or more, including Norton (43), Whiteley (42), Emi Snow (42, 16 HR, 14 doubles) and Courtney Nix-Clark (40, 9 HR, 14 doubles).  Snow is batting .331, while Daniela Urincho is at .310 and Monica Gonzales is hitting .309. Urincho has the team’s lowest ERA at 2.75 in 13 appearances, while Christie Zinanti is at 2.79 in 36 and Christina Gwyn has a 3.30 ERA in 39 appearances. Gwyn has struck out 162 batters in 184.1 innings and carries a .249 opponent batting average while Zinanti has 117 strikeouts in 155.2 innings pitched with a team-low .238 opponent batting average.

As a team, BYU is batting .313 with a 3.03 ERA while its opponents have hit .244 with a 4.95 ERA.

About the Mustangs:

Cal Poly has four players hitting .300 or better, including Lisa Modglin, who carries a .488 average. Modglin also leads the Mustangs in home runs (16), runs scored (56), triples (9), slugging (.951), stolen bases (10-12) and on-base percentage (.590)?and is second in RBI (44) and tied for second in doubles (14). Melissa Pura (.354, 9 HR) leads the team in RBI with 47 and doubles with 18. Jackie Gehrke-Jones (.364) and Sarah Iwata (.327) also have batting averages above .300. Cal Poly has four pitchers with ERAs below 2.30, led by Helen Pena at 1.75. Emily Hively carries a 1.85 ERA, while Robyn Kontra is at 2.18 and Jenna Maiden is at 2.28. Kontra (12-6) leads the team in appearances (26), innings pitched (128.1), strikeouts (73) and opponents’ batting average (.239) and is second in wins. Maiden leads the team in wins at 13-3 and is second in strikeouts (59), appearances (20) and innings pitched (101.1).

As a team the Mustangs are batting .302 and the pitchers carry a 2.06 ERA?while Cal Poly opponents have hit .253 with a 4.18 ERA.

Mid-Con Player of the Week Honors:

SUU had five Player and one Pitcher of the Week honorees from the Mid-Con this season, including Cassie Cresswell, Marci Pratt, Erin Niederhauser, Lindi Kennedy and Marissa Gonzalez.

Lindi Kennedy earned her second honor the final weekend of the regular season for her performance in SUU’s sweep of UMKC. Kennedy, a junior from Las Vegas, Nev. (Cimarron Memorial HS/BYU) led the Thunderbirds in batting average, slugging average, total bases, on-base-percentage and runs scored last week. She hit .700 (7-for-10), with two doubles, a home run, four runs scored and three RBI during the three-game weekend. She also had at least two hits in each game.

Cresswell, a senior from Peoria, Ariz. (Sunrise Mountain HS/Phoenix CC) earned the honor April 30. She helped the Thunderbirds to a 3-2 week, including a 3-0 mark in conference play, by batting .444 (8-for-18) with two home runs, six runs scored, five RBI and three stolen bases in three attempts. She also fielded her position perfectly. Cresswell’s efforts against Mid-Con opponent IUPUI helped the Thunderbirds to a sweep of the Jaguars as she went 5-for-11 (.455) with a home run, five runs scored, three RBI and was 2-for-2 stealing bases. She also went 3-for-7 with a home run, two RBI, a stolen base and a run scored in a two-game set against BYU.

Pratt, a senior catcher/shortstop from Taylorsville, Utah, was honored for her performance in the Southern Utah Invitational.

After starting the team’s first 10 games at catcher, Pratt moved to shortstop in the SUU tourney, where she started all five games. She fielded her position perfectly in four of the five while hitting at a .562 clip (9-of-16) with three home runs, three doubles and a triple. She also scored seven runs and drove in seven more as SUU won four of its five games.

Niederhauser was named Mid-Con Player of the Week for her performance in the Louisville Slugger Invitational.

Niederhauser, a senior outfielder from Heber City, Utah (Wasatch HS), earned the honor after batting .555 with two doubles, two home runs, 10 RBI and five runs scored. Niederhauser had 10 hits in 18 at-bats overall, including a pair of 3-for-4, 4-RBI efforts, against Wright State and Illinois State. She also went 2-for-3 at the plate against Sacramento State.

Two of the newest Thunderbirds earned the first Mid-Con Player of the Week honors. Third baseman Kennedy earned Player of the Week recognition while Gonzalez was named Pitcher of the Week following the Red Desert Classic. Both players are in their first seasons with the Thunderbirds.

Kennedy hit .464 with six RBI and four runs scored in the season’s opening weekend. She started all four games at third base and saved her best for last as she went 4-for-4 with a home run, three runs scored and four RBI against Utah Valley State in the tournament finale. She also went 2-for-3 against Utah State and had two RBI against her former team, BYU.

Gonzalez, a senior from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. (San Pedro HS/Cypress CC) pitched a complete game on the opening weekend against UVSC, notching the team’s first win of the season along the way. She also tossed 4.2 innings of relief work against BYU. For the week she struck out 13, including a nine-K performa