Powerless at the plate

While the Vikings hit for a good batting average as a team this season (.274), their Achilles’ heel has been their power numbers. With just one game remaining, they have just 16 home runs as a team–half as many as the Pacific Coast Softball Conference champion, Sacramento State.

One at-bat a couple of weeks ago perfectly exemplifies the Vikings’ difficulties in hitting the ball over the fences.

As Vikings senior slugger and staff ace Mandy Hill dug into the batter’s box on April 16 to face Oregon pitcher Brittany Rumfelt, the sparse crowd at Erv Lind Stadium started to chatter expectantly.

With Portland State down 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning and centerfielder Jackie Heide standing on first base, many in the crowd, including former Portland State softball coach Teri Mariani, hoped the powerful Hill would swing for the fences.

Instead, Hill executed a sacrifice bunt that sent Heide to second base and left junior first baseman Jana Rae Slayton to drive in a two-out run. After a wild pitch sent Heide to third base, Slayton dribbled a shot toward first base for the final out, ending any chance for a Vikings rally.

Hill, who entered the season as the school’s career leader in home runs, has hit just four dingers this year with one game remaining after pummeling 12 homers in 2006 and 11 last year. Heide and Slayton lead the team this year with five long balls each.

In fact, Heide, Hill and Slayton represent a large majority of the power on this Vikings team. The trio accounts for 14 of the team’s 18 homers, and 88 RBIs.

After winning 12 of 13 games from March 9 to April 6, the Vikings went on to lose 10 of 15 games. The team scored just 17 runs in those 10 losses before exploding for 21 runs over four games in its sweep of Santa Clara, one of the conference’s weakest teams, last weekend.

On the year, the Vikings were especially slow to adjust to junk-ball pitchers, who throw off-speed pitches that rely on deception, movement and location. Oregon’s Alison Cook, who held the Vikings to no runs in a lengthy relief stint April 16, is one such pitcher.

So is St. Mary’s Maryanne Cronin, who won two games against the Vikings as the teams split their four-game series.

“St. Mary’s did a really good job with their off-speeds,” Slayton said.

Hayes said she was never worried about her team’s ability to manufacture runs despite its offensive woes down the stretch, which included 1-0 and 2-1 losses to St. Mary’s, and 5-0 and 1-0 losses to Loyola Marymount.

“If you look at what those kids have done offensively for us, across the board,” Hayes said, “we’re fine. I think the frustrating thing for all of us … is we didn’t make the adjustments quick enough.”