Tuesday, May 13, 1997

FORT COLLINS-- The Western Athletic Conference today named its all-conference first and second teams and its coach, player and freshman of the year. Colorado State University head coach Candi Letts was named 1997 WAC Coach of the Year and senior pitcher Nikki Johnson was named 1997 WAC Player of the Year. Additionally, five Rams made all-WAC teams.

Freshman first baseman Alyson Carter, junior second baseman Jennifer Buford and Johnson made first-team all-WAC. Sophomore third baseman Stephanie Norton and senior center fielder Amber Solano were named second-team all-WAC.

Colorado State (49-12/26-6 WAC) is ranked 10th in the nation and takes a No. 1 seed to the NCAA Regionals in Amherst, Mass., for this week's postseason action. Friday, the Rams take on Brown at 1:30 p.m. MT with further action in the double-elimination tournament set for Saturday and Sunday. Host UMass takes on Boston College at 11:00 a.m. MT to open regional action Friday. All of Colorado State's games in the regionals will be broadcast locally by AM 600 KIIX.

Letts is in her fourth season as head coach at Colorado State, taking over the program after it was reinstated due to Title IX. She owns a career record of 126-83-1 with this year's squad setting school records for wins, winning percentage and highest national ranking, and becoming the first in 21 years of softball competition to advance to postseason play. Colorado State's WAC title this year is its first since joining in 1991 and the third conference championship in school history.

Going into this week's action, Johnson, a former star at Aurora's Gateway High School, is 31-5 on the season with a 1.54 ERA. The WAC leader in wins and strikeouts this season, Johnson set school season records in both categories and holds Colorado State career records in five categories.

Carter is hitting .400 on the season, putting her in line for only the second .400-plus season in school history. Current Ram assistant coach Teri Klement holds the school record at .433 in 1989. The Las Vegas native (Bonanza High School) ranks seventh in the WAC in hitting.

Buford has set school record in 1997 for stolen bases (30) and runs scored (57) and is hitting .386 on the season. The former Grand Junction High School star is 12th in the WAC in hitting, third in runs scored and fourth in stolen bases.

Norton, a native of Littleton (Chatfield High School) is hitting .302 on the season, an improvement of 128 points over last season. She has also provided a steady glove at third as the Rams have risen to the top of the WAC.

Solano, a former star at Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, is hitting .358 on the season with 28 stolen bases. Her stolen bases rank fifth in the conference and she is fourth in runs scored. Solano has improved her average 52 points over last season.