Friday, February 8
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
6:30 PM
University of Washington
vs
North Carolina
Photo by: Red Box Pictures
Season Starts At Puerto Vallarta Challenge
February 05, 2019 | Softball
SEATTLE - The season kicks off this week for the #2 Washington Huskies, who will head to Mexico for two weeks of the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge. Washington will play five games this weekend, beginning with a February 8 matchup against North Carolina. All Washington's games at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge will have live audio courtesy of Mike Brown on GoHuskies.com and live video via a paid membership in FloSoftball.
Make sure to follow Husky Softball on Twitter with the username @UWSoftball and on Instagram at uwsoftball.
Washington begins this year ranked #2 in the country, its highest ranking since 2010. The Huskies have been ranked in the nation's top five for 18 consecutive weeks now, stretching back to 2017, and have not been unranked since 2008.
13 returning Huskies, including all three of the team's 2018 All-Americans, are joined by nine newcomers this year as the Huskies look to make it three straight trips to the Women's College World Series. This is the first time since 1999 that Washington has returned three or more All-Americans from the year before, with that season being the only other time Washington has had three active All-Americans on their roster at once.
13 returning Huskies, including all three of the team's 2018 All-Americans, are joined by nine newcomers this year as the Huskies look to make it three straight trips to the Women's College World Series. This is the first time since 1999 that Washington has returned three or more All-Americans from the year before, with that season being the only other time Washington has had three active All-Americans on their roster at once.
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NO RUNS ALLOWED | |
| 87% of Washington's innings pitched are back from 2018, when the team finished second in the country with a 1.18 team ERA. Joining All-Americans Taran Alvelo and Gabbie Plain are Big East Pitcher of the Year Pat Moore and freshman Mac Schulz. Washington's pitching staff has a combined five NFCA All-Region awards in their five seasons of collegiate experience. | ||
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EARLY AWARDS SEASON | |
| Four Huskies are on the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Watch List to begin the year: Taran Alvelo, Sis Bates, Morganne Flores, and Gabbie Plain. Both Alvelo and Bates were finalists for the award last season. Only one other team, Arizona, has as many players as Washington's four on this year's 50-player watch list, with no team having more. Washington has now had at least one player on the preseason watch list for 16 consecutive years and has had multiple players on it in back-to-back years. | ||
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MO BETTA BATS | |
| Morganne Flores returns this year after missing the 2018 campaign with injury. In her last full season, Flores led the Pac-12 in RBI with 74, the most by a Husky since Jaime Clark's 75 in 2002. Along with Jenny Topping, Flores is one of two Huskies ever with 100+ RBI in less than 110 games. Topping (1.33 RBI/G) and Kristen Rivera (.955 RBI/G) are the only Huskies in program history to average more RBI per game than Flores (.954 RBI/G). | ||
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BATES BAT IS BEST | |
| In addition to her Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award last season, Sis Bates hit .389, the highest qualifying batting average by a Husky since Ali Aguilar hit .411 in 2015. Bates has a career batting average of .363 after two seasons: only eight Huskies ever with 100+ ABs have put up a better career mark. | ||
Make sure to follow Husky Softball on Twitter with the username @UWSoftball and on Instagram at uwsoftball.
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