Dawgs Travel To Vegas For Boyd Gaming Classic

SEATTLE – The No. 7 Washington softball team is back in action on the road this weekend at the Boyd Gaming Classic in Las Vegas. The Dawgs will take on New Mexico State and Houston, twice, with one additional competition coming against the host UNLV.
 
Washington opens the tournament against New Mexico State at 10:00 am PT, competing against Houston right after at 12:30 pm PT. Saturday, the Dawgs will face Houston again at 12:30 pm PT, followed by a contest with UNLV at 5:30 pm PT. Competition concludes Sunday, when the purple and gold finish the way they started, taking on New Mexico State at 9:00 am PT.
 
Washington is an undefeated 8-0 against New Mexico State, with the last matchup coming in 2018 in Las Vegas. The Dawgs narrowly earned the 2018 victory, with former Husky Sis Bates knocking an RBI single to break the tie in the tenth.
 
The Dawgs are 0-2 against Houston. The two losses came on back-to-back days in the 2008 NCAA Regionals in Houston.
 
Washington last defeated UNLV in 2021 when the team traveled to Las Vegas for tournament play to open the season. The all-time history favors the Dawgs, 11-4.
 
All games will be streamed on YouTube, with audio provided only during the UNLV competition. Live stats are available and linked. As always, @uwsoftball will provide game updates.

ONE-TWO PUNCH
Washington's usual leadoff hitters, Sami Reynolds and Baylee Klingler, have found success at the top of the lineup. Reynolds leads the team with a .395 average, and she started the season on a career-long 10-game hit streak. Her six doubles is a team-high. Klingler leads the team with six home runs, which ranks second in the Pac-12. Her 20 RBI is a team-high, also ranking second in the conference.
 
PLAIN AND SIMPLE
With her second strikeout of last weekend, Gabbie Plain moved into second on the all-time Husky career strikeout list. Plain has recorded 915 K's in her time with the purple and gold. This season, she ranks second with six wins, third with 57 strikeouts in the Pac-12. The Australian native leads the nation with six shutouts. She earned Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors for the first two weeks of the 2022 season.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Washington is an undefeated 8-0 against New Mexico State, with the last matchup coming in 2018 in Las Vegas. The Dawgs narrowly earned the 2018 victory, with former Husky Sis Bates knocking an RBI single to break the tie in the tenth.
The Dawgs are 0-2 against Houston. The two losses came on back-to-back days in the 2008 NCAA Regionals in Houston.
Washington last defeated UNLV in 2021 when the team traveled to Las Vegas for tournament play to open the season. The all-time history favors the Dawgs, 11-4.
 
PHENOM FRESHMEN
Washington's freshmen have made quite a splash in the first weeks of competition. In the first four games of her collegiate career and the first at-bat of her fifth, Olivia Johnson was 7-for-7 with eight RBI, one triple, three home runs, three singles and seven walks (FIVE intentional). She earned Louisville Slugger/NFCA Player of the Week honors, and was also named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week. No other Husky has ever started a season (or a career) going 7-for-7.
Kinsey Fiedler is hitting .242 for the year, with seven RBI, two doubles and two home runs. She leads the team in stolen bases with three. Rylee Holtorf has seen extensive time at the shortstop position, hitting .182 for the season.
 
IRON SHARPENS IRON
Washington has compiled a tough schedule that will challenge the purple and gold from the get-go. 24 of the Husky's 51 scheduled games are against opponents ranked or receiving votes in the preseason USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll. The breakdown is as follows: No. 3 UCLA (3) //  No. 5 Oklahoma State (1) // No. 8 Arkansas (2) // No. 9 Arizona (3) // No. 11 Missouri (1) // No. 14 LSU (1) // No. 15 Clemson (1) // No. 18 Oregon (3) // No. 21 Arizona State (3) // No. 22 Tennessee (1) // RV Northwestern (1) // RV Iowa State (1) // RV Stanford (3)
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Huskies will play four weekends of non-conference action on the road before returning to Husky Stadium. Washington's home opener and lone non-conference home game is slated for March 8th against Robert Morris. In the non-conference slate, six games are against opponents that finished last season in the Top 25, in No. 6 Oklahoma State, No. 11 Arkansas, No. 13 Missouri, No. 15 LSU, No. 18 Clemson and No. 23 Tennessee. Overall, in the non-conference schedule, UW will face five opponents from the SEC, two from the Big Ten and the Big 12, and one from the ACC.
 
RED, WHITE AND BLUE
Selected by members of the USA Softball Women's National Team Selection Committee, Coach Heather Tarr will lead the red, white and blue at the 2022 World Games, in addition to various international competitions throughout 2022. Various Huskies have competed for Team USA over the year, and have been named to future rosters as well.  The Husky freshmen trio of Kinsey Fiedler, Olivia Johnson and Rylee Holtorf won the WBSC U-18 World Cup in December 2021 as part of USA Softball's U-18 Women's National Team. The three also won gold at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games, where the U.S. recorded a 10-0 run-rule victory over Mexico in the gold medal game, to finish the tournament undefeated at 6-0.
 
Seniors Sami Reynolds and Baylee Klingler were named to the USA Softball roster for the 2022 Canada Cup, held in Surrey, B.C., June 20-26, and the Japan All-Star Series, which will take place in Fukushima, Japan, Aug. 1-9. Earlier this year, Reynolds was named as an alternate for the 2022 USA Softball National Team that will compete at the 2022 World Games in July in Alabama.