ABOUT NEVADA
The Wolf Pack softball team is closing out the the regular season of the toughest schedules in school history this week. It has also been one of, if not the best, seasons in school history. Through 51 games, Nevada is 37-14 with eight wins over five ranked opponents. That includes a historic 1-0 upset over then-No. 1 Arizona at the Kajikawa Classic hosted by Arizona State, a series win (2-of-3) at then-No. 10 Fresno State the historic sweep over then-No. 15 Hawai`i.
The Wolf Pack is coming off a sweep over Louisiana Tech and a doubleheader sweep over UNLV and has won nine straight games heading into the final series of the season, three games at WAC foe San Jose State.
Nevada also has the regining Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week in Vanessa Briones and the Pitcher of the Week in Jordan McPherson.
Nevada returned the bulk of last year’s team that went 28-31 overall and came within a game of making it to its second-straight NCAA Tournament. Nevada brought back 15 letterwinners, all eight starters and its top two pitchers from last year’s team. Senior pitcher Jordan McPherson was named the Preseason Pitcher of the Year in the Western Athletic Conference this season. She was joined on the All-WAC Preseason Team by junior outfielder Brittany Puzey, who was an All-West Region selection in 2007. The Pack added four freshmen to the mix this year and the other newcomer is senior pitcher Richelle Villescas, a transfer from Temple. The Pack is coached by Michelle Gardner in her sixth year overall and at Nevada.
ABOUT THIS SERIES
The University of Nevada concludes the 2008 regular and WAC seasons with three games at San Jose State. The teams will play once on Friday and twice on Saturday. Live Stats of all three games will be available on the Internet at www.nevadawolfpack.com.
MAGIC NUMBER
Nevada’s magic number to win its first-ever Western Athletic Conference regular season crown is just 2. The Wolf Pack enters the final series of the season with a 1.5-game lead over Fresno State in the WAC standings. Any combination of Nevada wins or Fresno State losses to get to the number will clinch the WAC title for the Pack. The title also comes with the No. 1 seed in next week’s WAC Tournament at Hawaii.
SCOUTING SAN JOSE STATE
San Jose State enters the series 25-30 overall and 5-10 in the WAC. The Spartans are sixth in the WAC. San Jose State is coached by Peter Turner, who guided the Spartans to a 23-28 mark in his first season last year. The Spartans lead the all-time series between the teams 17-13.
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