Fresno State roundup: Softball rained out again; Simonsen misses NCAA cut
The wet weather continued in Reno, and the Fresno State softball team will have to wait another day for a chance to salvage what’s left of an originally scheduled three-game series at Nevada.
Game one of the weekend series was canceled Friday, with the hope of playing a doubleheader Saturday.
Those plans were dashed, as well, with nearly a half-inch of rain falling in Reno while continuing to make for unsafe field conditions at Hixson Park.
The doubleheader is now scheduled for noon Sunday, while the third game will not be made up.
Weather.com forecasts Reno to receive showers through 8 a.m. Sunday, turning to partly cloudy with a 15 percent chance of rain.
The Bulldogs (37-9-1, 18-0), ranked No. 18 in the ESPN/USA Softball poll, No. 20 in the USA Today/NFCA poll and at No. 17 in RPI, are trying to finish an unbeaten run through conference play.
Fresno State has won a nation-leading 19 games in a row and was the first program to clinch an NCAA Tournament berth.
The Wolf Pack (30-12, 8-7 MW) have been unable to play since April 24, with a series at Colorado State wiped out last week.
Fresno State will return home for senior weekend against UNLV, with the series opening at 6 p.m. Thursday. Jill Compton, Paige Gumz, Taylor Langdon, Hannah Harris, Bria Kennedy, Whitney Smith, Alyssa Villalpando and Victoria Trevino make up the eight-woman senior class.
Women’s golf – Fresno State’s Kristin Simonsen shot a 4-over 75 in the final round of NCAA regional play at Stanford Golf Course to miss the cut for the NCAA Championships, ending a stellar freshman season.
Simonsen, the fifth Bulldog to make it to the NCAAs, finished at 8-over 221 and tied for 27th in a 96-golfer field.
Stanford, USC, Ohio State, North Carolina, Arkansas and Virginia finished as the top six teams to advance to the NCAA Championships, set for May 20-25 at Eugene Country Club in Oregon. Andrea Wong of UC Davis, Jennifer Kupcho of Wake Forest and Sarah Burnham of Michigan State also are moving on in a format that advances the top three golfers from nonqualifying teams.
Track and field – Kamara Biawogi clocked a season-best 52.41-second time in the 400-meter hurdles as one of three Bulldogs to pick up victories at the Oregon Twilight Meet in Eugene.
Uriel Cabanas (800) and Je’Nia Sears (long jump) also were winners, with Cabanas overtaking Esteban Vega. Cabanas was timed in 1:52.11 and Vega, who dropped back to finish fifth, in 1:55.26. Sears’ best leap, on the third of her five attempts, was 20 feet, 6.25 inches.
Fresno State will host the Mountain West Championships beginning Wednesday at Buchanan High’s Veterans Memorial Stadium, a first for the Bulldogs since joining the conference for the 2013 season.
This story was originally published May 7, 2016 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Fresno State roundup: Softball rained out again; Simonsen misses NCAA cut."