May 6, 2008

HONOLULU - Utah State senior 3B Amy Schaible and junior DP Kayla Dunn were named to the Western Athletic Conference's first-team all-conference softball team it was announced by the league office Tuesday evening.

Schaible, a 5-5 senior from Red Bluff, Calif. (Red Bluff Union HS) ranks tied for 16th in the WAC with a .349 average and smacked in a team-leading 30 RBI to ranks 10th on the USU single-season RBI list. With five home runs, Schaible is tied for second on the team, while she is tied for fourth in WAC games only with six walks.

Dunn, a 5-7 junior from Carson City, Nev. (Douglas HS/Feather River CC) received an at-large spot on the first-team and ranks seventh in the WAC, hitting .381 to lead the team in league games only. Dunn is also third in WAC games only in on-base percentage (.469) and tied for fourth in walks (6). Overall, Dunn is second on the team batting .359 and tied for second in doubles (8) and home runs (5).

This is the first time since 1993 that USU has had two first-team all-conference honorees and the second year in a row that at least one Aggie member was tabbed to the first-team. Dunn and Schaible are the fourth and fifth USU players to receive all-WAC honors, after Jaime Fife was tabbed to the first-team last year. Overall, Utah State has now had 64 all-conference honorees all-time.

Nevada senior Vanessa Briones was named WAC Player of the Year, while Fresno State's Morgan Melloh was named WAC Pitcher of the Year and WAC Freshman of the Year. Melloh is the first player to win both honors in the same season since Fresno State's Robin Mackin in 2006. Nevada head coach Michelle Gardner earned her first WAC Coach of the Year honor.

Nevada led the way with nine total players on the all-WAC team, while Hawaii had six. Nevada placed a WAC-high six players on the first team.

Seventh-seeded Utah State (14-32) opens WAC Tournament action Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. (MT) against sixth-seeded San Jose State (25-33) at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium in Honolulu, Hawai'i.