Softball Faces Ranked Teams At Stanford Nike Invitational

Friday, February 19

Palo Alto, CA

12:15PM

UC Riverside

Sacramento State

Softball Faces Ranked Teams At Stanford Nike Invitational

2/16/2010 12:22:33 PM | Softball

The UC Riverside softball team travels to the Stanford Nike Invitational on Friday-Sunday, Feb. 19-21 to play five teams in a thee-day span. Four of those opponents are currently ranked or receiving votes in the latest national polls. Go to the Stanford Nike Invitational website for live stats and box scores.

The Highlanders open with Sacramento State on Friday at 12:15 pm followed by host Stanford (#11 in USA Today/NFCA poll, #13 in ESPN.com/USA Softball poll) at 4:45 pm later that day.

On Saturday, UCR faces Illinois at 6:00 pm and Fresno State (#17 in USA Today/NFCA poll, #19 in ESPN.com/USA Softball poll) at 8:15 pm. The Illini are currently receiving votes in the USA Today/NFCA national poll.

UCR concludes the tournament on Sunday with an 11:15 am game against Nevada, who is also receiving votes in both the national polls.

Highlanders at Stanford Invitational Game Capsules
	UC Riverside	Sac State	Stanford	Illinois	Fresno State	Nevada
2009 Record & stats	18-32	28-23	48-11	29-17	38-20	40-19
2010 Record & stats	2-2	2-2	4-1	5-0	4-0	2-3
	2010 Schedule	2010 Schedule	2010 Schedule	2010 Schedule	2010 Schedule	2010 Schedule
	2010 Roster	2010 Roster	2010 Roster	2010 Roster	2010 Roster	2010 Roster
Conference	Big West	PCSC	Pac-10	Big Ten	WAC	WAC
Current Streak	W 2	W 1	L 1	W 5	W 4	L 1
Last Box Score	W, 6-1 vs. SD	W, 3-2 vs. Pac	L, 11-5 at Hawaii	W, 10-0 vs. Kent St	W, 6-0 vs. Sac St	L, 10-5 vs. Ariz
Next Opponent	2/26 vs. N. Texas	3/3 vs. Nevada	2/25 vs. Tenn	2/26 vs. Fla. St	2/25 vs. Texas	2/26 vs. S. Utah
Top Hitter	Brittany Keeney SO .500 avg	Erin Jones FR .333 avg	Jenna Rich FR .444 avg	Danielle Zymkowitz JR .563 avg	Michelle Moses SO .533 avg	Sam Bias SR .462 avg
Top Pitcher	Marissa Alvidrez SR 4.67 ERA	Megan Schaefer JR 1.91 ERA	Tegan Gerhart FR 2.00 ERA	Monica Perry SO 2.00 ERA	Morgan Melloh JR 0.35 ERA	Katie Holverson SR 4.20 ERA
All-Time Record Against		4-4	0-3	0-2	0-6	0-2
Current Streak Against		L 1	L 3	L 2	L 6	L 2

Projected Highlander Lineup
(By Position)
Pos	#	Name	Yr	B/T	Avg	OBP	SLG	H	RBI
C	6	Alexis Pickett	Fr	L/R	.333	.333	.333	2	1
1B	9	Brittany Keeney	So	R/R	.500	.500	.857	7	11
2B	8	Taylor Thomas	Jr	R/R	.286	.333	.286	4	2
SS	1	Kameryn Hebenton	Jr	R/R	.500	.563	.571	5	1
3B	11	Brooke Hebenton	Jr	R/R	.167	.167	.167	2	0
LF	5	Alexis Villamor	Fr	R/R	.750	.800	.750	3	0
CF	7	Ariel Shore	Fr	L/R	.500	.563	.500	7	0
RF	3	Tiana Towns	Sr	R/R	.222	.222	.222	2	0
DP	12	Marissa Alvidrez	Sr	R/R	.364	.417	.545	4	2

GAME NOTES
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
UC Riverside utility player Brittany Keeney (pictured) earned her first-ever Big West Conference Softball Player of the Week award as announced on Monday, Feb. 15 by the Big West office. Keeney helped the Highlanders to a 2-2 opening weekend with wins against Boise State and San Diego.

For the week she batted .500 and posted a .857 slugging percentage and a .500 on base percentage. She totaled one run, seven hits, 11 RBI, one walk, two doubles, and one home run for the week, while committing zero errors in the field.

CONFERENCE LEADERS
The Highlanders are leading the Big West Conference in several team statistical categories: batting average (.358); on base percentage (.400); hits (43); RBI (23); and total bases (55).

Individually, Keeney leads the league in RBIs with 11, Marisa Alvidrez is tied for most doubles with two, and Ariel Shore leads with five stolen bases, six stolen base attempts, and seven runs.

RBI QUEEN
In the first four games of the season, Keeney has tallied 11 RBI, just six shy of her 2009 total.

RECORD SETTERS
Last season UC Riverside won its sixth conference game of the year on April 19, 2009 against UC Davis, and with that win, the Highlanders set a new school mark for most conference victories. With five Big West wins in 2008, UCR tied the previous school record for conference wins in a season originally set back in 2002. The Highlanders finished the 2009 season with seven Big West wins.

UCR Top 3 Big West Winning Percentages

	W	L	Pct
2009	7	14	.333
2008	5	16	.238
2002	5	19	.208

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Highlanders are set to play 17 games in 2010 against teams that reached the 2009 NCAA Tournament, with seven of those teams currently ranked or receiving votes in the latest national polls.

NEW FACES IN THE DUGOUT
UCR brought in six freshmen and one junior college transfer to compliment the 13 returners from a year ago. Four of those freshmen, Alexis Villamor, Alexis Pickett, Kayla White, and Ariel Shore, have already seen time in the Highlanders lineup.

COACHING CHANGES
During the off-season, UC Riverside Head Coach Connie Miner announced two additions to the coaching staff for the 2010 season. Former Utah State head coach Candi Letts joined the Highlanders staff as first assistant, while former Long Beach State undergraduate assistant coach Franny Morlet was hired as the second assistant.

ALL-BIG WEST
The UC Riverside softball team placed two players on the 2009 All-Big West Honorable Mention Team. Alvidrez was named as a designated player, while Keeney was named as an outfielder.

With this award, Alvidrez earned her third Honorable Mention accolade of her career and fifth All-Conference award overall. The Bakersfield, CA native was named to the First-Team and Second-Team for two different positions in 2008, and named to the Honorable Mention Team in 2007 as both the designated and utility player. The junior batted .247 during the 2009 campaign, leading the team with six home runs and a .452 slugging percentage.

Keeney earned her first Big West All-Conference award, one of just six freshmen in the Big West to earn a spot on the All-Conference Teams. The Canyon Lake, CA native was one of just four UCR softball players to play in and start every contest on the year, while leading the team in hits (42) and total bases (62) and finishing second on the squad in triples, home runs, batting average, slugging percentage, runs, and RBI.