Wednesday, May 1, 2013

GNAC Championships (May 2-4 at Billings, Mont.): Thursday - #2 Western Oregon vs. #3 Simon Fraser, noon; #1 Saint Martin’s vs. #4 Central Washington, 2:30 p.m.  Friday – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 10 a.m.; Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 12:30 p.m. (loser-out); Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3, 3 p.m. (loser-out).  Saturday – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5, noon; Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary), 2:30 p.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. - April was a spectacular month for Saint Martin’s softball team and third-year head coach Rick Noren.

The Saints compiled a 16-3 record in the month, winning 10 of 12 conference contests to earn their first regular-season GNAC title.

SMU also won six of seven games in the Cal State Stanislaus Tournament of Champions in Turlock to finish second in the mid-season West Region event.

That resulted in SMU's first-ever NFCA national ranking – they're 22nd in this week’s poll.

They’re also No. 5 in this week’s official NCAA Division II West Region poll which will eventually determine which five teams will join the GNAC, CCAA and PacWest champions in next week’s NCAA Division II West Regional tournament.

The GNAC will determine its automatic berth winner this week in Billings in its first post-season tournament.  The four-team double-elimination event begins Thursday at Bjorgum Field.

SMU also won a National Player of the Week award for the Week of April 8-14 as Joslyn Eugenio claimed the weekly prize.

All in all, quite a month for Noren, who has now been tabbed as the GNAC Coach of the Month.

Noren is in his third season at Saint Martin’s.  After posting a 9-30 record in 2011, he led SMU to a 33-18-1 record last year.  That was the Saints’ first-ever winning season and represented an 18-game improvement, one of the best in NCAA history, over the previous season.

The Saints are 36-13 this season going into the conference tournament.  That earned Noren GNAC Coach of the Year honors for the second straight year.

“Rick has brought an expectation of working hard and being accountable to the program which has helped turn the program around and be successful,” Saint Martin’s athletic director Bob Grisham said.

“He is passionate, knowledgeable and an excellent teacher of the game and his teams reflect this in their play.”

Among SMU’s standouts in April were pitcher-shortstop Sam Munger, who batted .456 and won 10 of 11 decisions to finish the regular-season with a 20-6 record earning her GNAC Pitcher of the Year honors.

Eugenio, who was the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Player of the Week for April 8-14, batted .441 and led  the Saints with 25 RBI.  GNAC Player of the Year Lacey McGladrey, SMU’s second baseman, hit .409 and had a team-high nine doubles.

The Saints have also flourished in the classroom under Noren, earning a GNAC-best seven players on the acacademic all-conference team this season led by outfielder Madi Davis, who has a 3.93 GPA.

Davis tied Kira Varady of Northwest Nazarene for the best GPA in the conference, earning the top academic individual slot for the third year in a row.

On the diamond or in the classroom, Noren's team has impressive averages.

RANKINGS: NFCA (May 1) – 22. Saint Martin’s. NCAA West Regional (Final) – 1. Humboldt State (44-12); 2. Grand Canyon (38-14); 3. Dixie State (32-11); 4. Sonoma State (35-17); 5. Saint Martin’s (28-11); 6. Cal State Dominguez Hills (34-19); 7. Hawaii Hilo (37-17); 8. UC San Diego (31-21); 9. Hawaii Pacific (29-16); 10. Notre Dame de Namur (33-17).