The Portland State women’s softball team felt the effects of playing in the Northwest when their first home game was called due to weather. The game against North Dakota was rained out in the top of the third with the Vikings down 3-5, but the cancellation makes the short sheet of statistics unofficial. The Vikings leave their home field this weekend when they play their final pre-season invitational at Boise State.
“It just is kind of a bummer,” head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk said. “The kids get excited for that first time to put their plays in front of our crowd…and even though we were down, the kids had this feeling that we would win no matter what. That is the kind of confidence that comes from playing at home and knowing the field and knowing the situation.”
The Vikings hosted top-ranked Alabama last night, but the results were not available as of press time. After their brief stint at home, the Vikings will again hit the road to face Minnesota, Boise State and Utah State in the Springhill Suites Invitational this weekend.
“We had a pretty intense week of practice,” Echo-Hawk said. “We had some little things we needed to work on and tweak, and the kids embraced the toughness and did a good job. As far as what is expected [for the weekend], we play some good teams. It’s a good time to get some success and build our confidence and go into the regular season with that confidence.”
As of press time the Vikings have a 9-10 overall record. In the most recent invitational, the Vikings split the weekend with two wins and three losses. The wins against Maine and UC Davis highlighted the defensive pitching talents of four-time consecutive Pacific Coast Softball Conference Mountain Division Pitcher of the Week Anna Bertrand.
While Echo-Hawk said that Bertrand was frustrated with her short performance in the rained-out game against North Dakota, the pitcher has consistently performed well for the Vikings and leads the PCSC in three categories.
With Bertrand on the defensive front, the Vikings have seen recent success from senior lead-off hitter Karmen Holladay, sophomore third-baseman Crysta Conn and junior second-baseman Carly McEachran. All three are among the team leaders in batting averages, with Holladay batting a .339, Conn .320 and McEachran a .259. All three made key hits in the Vikings’ win over Maine.
Echo-Hawk said the team has recently put a lot of focus on offensive performance, and that in the short amount of time against North Dakota that practice paid off. Even though the team was down 3-5, Echo-Hawk said the team was paying attention to each at-bat and getting in good hits.
McEachran said that the offensive focus in the upcoming games needs to be on fundamentals and mechanics.
“I think our goal right now is to get better each game and each at-bat,” McEachran said. “So whether it is the outcome we want or not, we need to stay focused.”
The Vikings open the weekend’s invitational against the Minnesota Gophers. The Vikings follow the Minnesota game closely with games versus Boise State and Utah State. Portland State takes on Boise State on Friday, with a double-header against Utah State and Boise State again on Sunday.
The Gophers are currently 17-6, however they play the Boise State Broncos today. Minnesota currently has two key leaders: sophomore pitcher Sara Moulton and freshman utility player Kaitlyn Richardson. This week, Moulton earned her third Big Ten Player of the Week, and Richardson was given her second consecutive Big Ten Freshman of the Week award.
Boise State currently holds a 15-10 overall record. The Broncos are led defensively by senior pitcher Aubrey Zell who earned her 100th appearance as pitcher last weekend. On the offensive side the Bronco’s have sophomore Tara Glover, who won the Mountain Division Player of the Week for March 8.
The Utah State Aggies are not faring as well as the other teams in the win column. The Aggies come into the weekend off a seven-game losing streak and hold an 8-15 overall record. The Aggies have struggled to garner wins despite big offensive performances from sophomore outfielder Kassandra Uchida, who recorded 15 hits in a recent loss to Harvard.
“We need to work on our mental toughness in the upcoming games; it’s the overall main thing we’ve been working on,” Mceachran said. “There are some injuries and people being moved around from positions and in the lineup, so just focusing on the business at hand and getting the job done despite anything that comes up that is beyond our control.”
The Vikings have the Springhill Suites Invitational along with one final pre-season game against Boise State on March 27 before the team holds its regular season opener against Utah Valley on March 30. The results and live stats for this weekend’s games can be found at goviks.com.