With Grand Canyon’s elimination from the NCAA Tournament, the 2026 Mountain West Softball season has finally come to an end. What a crazy year it was, from massive upsets to surprise surges, devastating collapses and everything in between, the 2026 season brought us the kind of action that this beautifully chaotic sport is using to quickly make a name for itself.
Now that the season is over, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the entire season, giving out some awards for the superlatives
of the teams, coaches, and players in the conference. Some of these will line up with the assessments given by the league’s coaches, while others will be my own personal opinion. Without further ado, let’s get into it.
Player of the Year: Hannah Di Genova (1B, Nevada)
Honorable mentions: Jada Cooper, Madison Clark
If you’ve been paying attention to Mountain West softball this season, you would know that this award was pretty much in the bag since the start of conference play. Nevada senior Hannah Di Genova had a season for the ages, breaking nearly every single program record for the historically good-to-great Wolf Pack.
Di Genova’s final statline reads like one you would have while playing MLB: The Show on Rookie difficulty. The senior slugger finished with a .424 average, second in the conference behind teammate Madison Clark. She also finished with an OPS of a staggering 1.451, far and away the highest in the conference and the 21st-highest tally in the country. Di Genova achieved this by smashing a program record-destroying 26 home runs (seventh in the NCAA), along with an even more ridiculous 85 RBIs (fifth in the nation), both of which are unopposed at the top of the leaderboards.
Di Genova saw consistent recognition throughout the season, winning MW Player of the Week three times, as well as being recognized at the national level as D1 Softball’s Mid-Major Player of the Week and Softball America’s Player of the Week. Any pitch that was thrown either high or outside in the zone had a very high chance of getting send into a tree in the outfield, which led to pitchers hitting Di Genova 15 times, the second-highest in the conference. There just was no easy way to get this girl out for most of the season, and she absolutely made teams pay for trying.
Nevada’s season may have ended with Di Genova having an 0-for-4 dud in their devastating collapse against the Lopes, but that should not take away from the magic of watching this slugger blossom all year long. Her career may be over sooner than she would have hoped, but she went out with as grand of a slam as a mid-major hitter has ever achieved.
Pitcher of the Year: Oakley Vickers (LHP, Grand Canyon)
Honorable mentions: Lauryn Carranco, Lauren Fettic
This is one where I will unabashedly go against the views of the conference. Lauren Fettic had a fantastic second half to the season, dropping her ERA from 5.31 down to 3.35 by the end of the season, and carrying her team to victory against juggernauts like GCU and Nevada. However, even before her unbelievable performance during both the conference and NCAA Tournaments, this award should have been Oakley Vickers’ to lose, without question.
In just her sophomore season, the southpaw standout built off of her brilliant freshman campaign by leading the dominant Lopes, and the MW itself, in nearly every pitching stat. Vickers’ ERA was as low as 1.27 at one point, but had some struggles down the stretch, ones which I believe kept this award out of her grasp. However, her season-ending ERA of 1.99 in 126.2 innings or work is still the best in the conference among pitchers with at least 35.0 innings pitched, as are her tally of 138 strikeouts, racking those up against just 35 walks all season. Vickers’ 19.9% K-BB ratio is the 22nd-best in the country, ranking right behind Alabama star Vic Moten. As one could probably guess, said total is also the best in her new conference. She also led the conference in lowest opposing batting average (.200), just for good measure.
Vickers definitely saved her best performances for the end. First, she led GCU to back-to-back wins to steal the conference title away from the Wolf Pack, working 9.0 scoreless innings against the conference’s top offense on the road, earning Tournament MVP honors in the process. Then, Vickers threw 12.1 innings in two games against No. 24 Louisville and No. 1 Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament, allowing just nine hits and two total runs against 10 strikeouts and just four walks. There is simply no way around the fact that Oakley Vickers was the most fearsome force in the circle for the Lopes this season, and that lining up across from her was not bound to end up well for anybody.
I understand why Fettic won the award, but Vickers was the rightful winner, in my opinion. The loss of hardware is not likely to stick with her heading into 2027, though, given the Lopes ultimately got the last laugh in the end. However, if winning this award has indeed become a goal of hers, she may very well be even more lethal next year, a prospect which should terrify every opposing offense in the country.
Freshman of the Year: Caitlin Benningfield (RHP, New Mexico)
Honorable mentions: Katelyn Wetteland, Lauren Fettic
This may be a controversial take, as Katie Wetteland had the best freshman season for a hitter in quite a while in the conference, and Lauren Fettic had the best numbers among freshman pitchers. However, I don’t think a single newcomer had as much of an impact on her program than Caitlin Benningfield, the freshman flamethrower that signaled a complete program rebirth in Albuquerque.
Projected ace McKenna Guest had a total dud of a senior season, heavily regressing from a 3.15 ERA in 2025 to a 4.45 in 2026. This meant that Benningfield had to be the one to step up to lead her team to success, which she did time and time again. For the vast majority of the season, Benningfield led the conference in strikeouts, eventually finishing second to Oakley Vickers with 124 total Ks. Benningfield’s 149.2 innings and 689 batters faced are both second in the conference behind Lauryn Carranco, and her respectable 3.65 ERA ranked in a tie for 10th in the conference.
Entering 2026, the New Mexico Lobos had not had a winning season since 2015, and were the only team in the conference that had not made the conference tournament in the three seasons since its rebirth. Benningfield was the ace of the team that finally broke through, leading UNM to a 28-27 record and not one, but two wins in the conference tournament. The Lobos also came as close as anyone to upsetting the Lopes, falling just short in both games. Benningfield was the driving force of all such success, racking up an insane 289 pitches across each of UNM’s four games in Reno, which was by far the most of any pitcher there.
Fettic and Wetteland would have each been worthy winners, but for my money, the fresh face that brought a long-suffering team back to relevance deserves the conference’s newbie award. Coach Nicole Orgeron and her staff had spent the last three seasons building a solid culture and foundation, but had previously been unable to obtain the success to show for it. This season changed everything for this program, and the catalyst for that change deserves to be honored for her work.
Most Underrated Player of the Year: Sydney McCray (CF, GCU)
Honorable mentions: N/A
Yes, Sydney McCray did win Defensive Player of the Year, which was fully deserved given her resume. However, that award fully undersells her value to the Lopes, especially since she inexplicably did not win a single MW Player of the Week award throughout the entire season. Considering the Lopes took home nine of these awards in 2026, including Player of the Week thrice, McCray’s all-around excellence needs to be recognized here.
McCray started every game of the 2026 season in center field, ending the season with just one error against 108 putouts. Her lone error came in the NCAA Tournament against South Dakota, meaning that by the time the award was announced, McCray still had a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. She was a very deserving defensive winner, and yet, her true impact came in her offensive mastery.
McCray ended the season with a .353 batting average, second on the team behind Jada Cooper. I believe most of McCray’s underrated nature comes from the fact that she is a strikeout queen, leading the Mountain West with 41 strikeouts on the season. Yes, the Lopes did play five more games than any other team, but that is still quite the mark. McCray’s true impact came with her speed. Serving as the Lopes’ leadoff hitter, McCray led the conference in runs, coming around to score 68 times on the year. This is largely due to the fact that McCray stole a conference-leading 39 bases, all without being caught stealing once all season. If she got on base, it was more likely than not that she would end up being in scoring position without any help from her teammates; a massive advantage to have, regardless of circumstance.
Yes, the senior had her flaws, but by and large, there was seldom a player more impactful for a team than Sydney McCray. Yes, her defensive masterpiece did get honored, but her offensive impact cannot be overstated, either. She got little in terms of recognition for half of her phenomenal performance this season, which is why there was no one else that could have possibly been the Most Underrated Player in 2026.
Coach of the Year: Shanon Hays (GCU)
Honorable mention: Nicole Orgeron
This will be a much shorter section than the others, as there was simply no debate here. Love him or hate him, Shanon Hays is a brilliant softball mind that has turned previously lowly GCU into a powerhouse. The list of records the Lopes broke in their last four seasons in the WAC had simply gotten too long, so their early move to the Mountain West came with good timing in that regard.
GCU was either first or second in the Mountain West in just about every single statistic, with their team ERA of 2.47 ranking as the 12th-best mark in the country, taking place in a year where every umpire has seemingly forgotten the definition of a strike zone. The Lopes began the 2026 season a Mountain West record 30-0, only losing 10 games from that point on for a 54-10 final record. The Lopes came back from losing three of their first four against the Wolf Pack, taking the last two of the season series, as well as the conference title along with them. The Lopes then made a run to the NCAA Lincoln Regional Final, losing both games to the No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers by a combined three runs.
The craziest part about this team is the fact that they did all of this with just four seniors, and without preseason MW Player of the Year Savannah Kirk, who missed the entire season due to injury. That takes a special level of brilliance and excecution to pull off, which this Lopes staff has in spades. With Kirk coming back for 2027, and all of their returning production, GCU will continue to be a force in their new conference, if not an even greater one. The Lopes are not going anywhere as long as Hays is around, which is great for GCU fans, as Hays seems to have no desire to leave at all.
Surprise of the Year: UNLV Rebels
Honorable mention: New Mexico Lobos
I predicted the Lobos would make the conference tournament before the year, so the only thing that was surprising to me was just how much success they were able to attain. UNLV, however, was not on my radar before the year, and up until the first week of conference play, there was little to be excited about in Vegas. However, by the end of the season, the Rebels making it to the double-elimination round of the conference tournament was considered by many to be a bit of a disappointing end. Despite losing a lot of their core in the offseason, this season was a big-time rebound for Kristie Fox’s squad after being one of the worst teams in the MW in 2025.
By the midway point of the season, UNLV was sitting at 13-15, with a plentiful amount of disturbing results tucked away in that record. UNLV had only managed to keep two games within two runs during nonconference play, one being a loss to an absolutely putrid UC Riverside squad. However, the Rebels scored what would end up being a massive, run-rule win against the eventual Big Sky champion Idaho State Bengals, along with another home upset of an always-solid Loyola Marymount team. Those results gave the Rebels some optimism, even after they somehow managed to lose their opening conference series to lowly San Jose State.
For the rest of the season, UNLV only lost one more conference series, finishing the season on an 18-5 tear. UNLV scored their first ranked win since 2022 when they took down GCU in nine innings, then proceeded to become the first team to defeat Nevada in a conference series in over two years by upsetting their rivals in a season-ending sweep. Their torrid finish, as well as their sweep of Nevada, secured the Rebels the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, inexplicably rising all the way to a first-round bye in Reno.
UNLV’s best feature all season was their offense, which ended the season with the fourth-best batting average (.305) and third-most RBIs (262) in the conference. Their struggles early in the season came down to an atrocious pitching staff that dragged them down constantly. That problem ended up being quelled by the emergence of eventual MW Pitcher of the Year Lauren Fettic, who lowered her ERA by nearly two full runs over the last month and a half of the season. Yanina Sherwood and Emma Wardlaw each stepped up their respective games down the stretch, turning the Rebels into a team that could easily keep any team in the conference within reach.
Unfortunately for the Rebs, their season ended with a whimper. In their first conference tournament game, the Rebels were forced to “host” the Wolf Pack again. Nevada boat-raced the Rebels 13-6 in a game that never felt remotely close. That sent UNLV into the loser’s bracket, where they would get to face a New Mexico squad coming off of a devastating loss to GCU. The Rebels failed to take advantage, getting no-hit by Caitlin Benningfield for four innings, ending up with one more error (four) than hits (three) in a 5-0 season-ending shutout loss. It marked the second straight time the Rebels have earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament, only to fail to win a single game while there.
It was a disappointing end to what was a great season in Sin City. UNLV will now move into the offseason, where they are the lone Mountain West team to have already lost a player: backup pitcher Sherwood has announced she will enter the transfer portal when it opens. If the rest of the team can stay together, the Rebels have earned enough credibility to be a considerable destination for potential recruits. I think the Rebels will be back in 2027, perhaps even being able to make a run in the tournament this time.
Disaster of the Year: San Diego State Aztecs
Dishonorable mention: Utah State Aggies
What a catastrophe. San Diego State was projected by many to compete with the Lopes and Wolf Pack for the conference title, myself included. Why wouldn’t we predict this? SDSU was the four-time reigning MW champion, and have been the masters of replacing talent quickly during their time under Stacey Nuveman-Deniz. However, it turns out that they fell flat in this particular area in ways that nobody had seen coming entering the year.
SDSU began the season with an 8-2 record at home, but that start belied the nature of their dominance, as five of those wins had come via walkoffs. The Aztecs were certainly clutch, but they had to figure out the other six innings of play before their luck ran out. Needless to say, they did not. The Aztecs went 16-24 the rest of the year, going 2-8-2 on the season in series of two or more games. The Aztecs either lost or tied their last eight conference series, with the only non-loss being their series against last-place San Jose State, who run-ruled the Aztecs 8-0 in a rain-delayed Game 2.
The Aztecs looked good on paper, finishing ranked third in batting average (.312) and fifth in ERA (4.37). Unfortunately, these numbers belie the Aztecs’ offensive struggles, as they finished the season with just 210 RBIs, which ranked down in seventh in the MW. Their pitching staff struggled far more than what one may think as well, giving up an average of 5.59 runs per game during their 7-15 conference skid to end the season. San Diego State went just 5-9 at home during conference play, failing to win against even the worst teams in the conference. SDSU was a complete disaster this season, ending their conference dynasty with a sickening thud.
Practically everyone—myself included—predicted that the Aztecs would be right up with the Lopes and Wolf Pack atop the conference. In the end, the Aztecs went 1-4 against those teams, being ouscored 44-20 overall, all at home. SDSU failed to make the conference tournament at all, with precisely nobody having a good season, and being one of the worst teams with runners on base I have personally ever seen. Well, at least it’s finally over, Aztec fans. You will never have to watch this embarrassment of a team play in the Mountain West again. Have fun in the Pac-12, guys. Texas State will rip you to pieces if you play anything like you did this year.
