Softball | 5/18/2023 11:39:00 AM

Utah Tech softball placed four players on the 2023 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division I all-West Region Team, as announced on Thursday by the organization. 

The 2023 Western Athletic Conference regular season champion Trailblazers were represented by senior outfielder Shea Clements and sophomore shortstop Lauren Almeida on the second team, while fifth-year pitcher Kate Dolinski and freshman outfielder Tanya Windle earned third team honors.  

Clements (Las Vegas, Nev./Shadow Ridge HS) was named WAC Player of the Year after she closed the season as the conference's second-leading hitter overall with a .426 batting (t-23^rd nationally) and finished in the conference's top-10 in eight statistical categories. 

Clements, who also earned first team all-WAC last season and second team honors in 2021, saved her best for WAC opponents as she batted a league-high .512. The senior also hit 12 of her 16 doubles, three of her six home runs, and collected 20 of her 37 RBI on the year in conference play.
 
She hit safely in 21 of 24 WAC games with 13 multi-hit games with three four-hit outings, the last coming last month at Southern Utah (4-for-4; 4/29), against which Clements hit .818 (9-for-11) with four doubles on her way to WAC Hitter of the Week honors. 
 
Almeida (Kula, Hawai'i/Kamehameha Schools, Maui), who garnered second team all-WAC and conference all-defensive team recognition, started in all 53 games this season and finished fourth in the WAC in batting at .417 (24^th nationally) with five home runs and 42 RBI. The sophomore was also the hardest to strikeout in the Trailblazer line-up as she only struck out nine times in 191 plate appearances (3K in 92 PA in WAC play).
 
Almeida also finished third in the conference in on-base percentage (.495), fifth in hits (68), sixth in doubles (15), t-sixth in walks (24) and eighth in RBI. She was just dangerous at the plate in WAC play as she hit .425 with seven doubles, three homers and 22 RBI against conference foes.
 
Defensively, Almeida owned a .948 overall fielding percentage, which included a .974 clip with just two errors in 76 chances in conference play. 
 
Dolinski (RHP; Fort Langley, B.C./Yale Secondary/Pace) posted a conference-best 10-1 record in league play with a 3.96 ERA in 16 appearances overall. She notched six complete games with one shutout victory and recorded 44 of her 64 strikeouts in conference games.
 
Dolinski, who was named WAC Pitcher of the Week (4/11) after firing a four-hit shutout as part of a 2-0 weekend vs. Seattle U (4/7-8), went 12-6 overall in 27 appearances this season with nine complete games and 69 strikeouts in 115.1 innings pitched.
 
Windle (Peoria, Ariz./Cactus HS) finished the 2023 regular season as the WAC's leading hitter at .432 (16^th-nationally), including a .438 clip in conference play, and topped the conference charts in hits (76, t-8^th nationally), triples (7, t-4^th nationally), and on-base percentage (.505). 
 
She also closed the season ranked in the conference's top-10 in runs scored (53, 4^th), stolen bases (16-18, 3^rd), total bases (112, t-6^th), and walks (22, t-9^th) out of the lead-off spot in the Utah Tech batting order.
 
Windle, who was also named to the 2023 TUCCI/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year Top-25 list, started in all 53 games this season and hit safely in 47 of those starts with 25 multi-hit games, including four three-hit outings, and has reached base safely in 52 games overall. 
 
In fact, Windle has reached base safely in 34 of her last 35 games to close the season, with 34 of those as a result of a base hit, including all 24 WAC games this season. Windle recorded at least one base hit in 23 of 24 conference games, and the one game she did not record a hit in, she tallied a season and career-high three walks (vs. Seattle U; 4/7). Windle, who was the WAC's first Hitter of the Week honoree this season (2/13), has also scored at least one run in 34 games and has collected RBI in 20 starts overall. 
 
Utah Tech wrapped up its third NCAA Division-I transition season with a 35-18 overall record, a 16-win turnaround from a season ago (19-32). The Trailblazers also won the WAC regular season crown with a 19-5 league mark (8-16 in 2022) to become the first program to win a team conference title since the D-I transition began in the 2020-21 campaign. 
  
Utah Tech also reached the final four of the 2023 University Credit Union WAC Softball Tournament last week in the program's first season of conference postseason eligibility. 
 
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association announced that 381 student-athletes from 158 programs have received 2023 NFCA Division I All-Region accolades. The awards honor softball student-athletes from the Association's 10 regions with first, second and third-team selections. NFCA member head coaches from each respective region nominated student-athletes (eight maximum) and voted for the teams. All awarded student-athletes now become eligible for the 2023 NFCA Division I All-America squads.