Softball goes into season swinging

The Portland State women’s softball team opened its pre-season this weekend. The Vikings came out of the Kajikawa Classic with two wins and three losses, including a shutout 9-0 victory over Cal Poly. The team lost some crucial seniors coming into the season, but strong returners and up-and-coming new players present a strong roster for 2012. Picked first in pre-season division rankings, the Vikings hope to come out strong and repeat their win in the division and conference championships last year.

Head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk said that the team has been performing extremely well in recent practices and she wants to repeat that intensity on game days.

“We talked about how we would be successful coming back and playing together as a team,” Echo-Hawk said. “And the answer is not outcome-specific in terms of number of wins and losses, but instead we need to focus on what we can do to perform the way we have been in the last few weeks of practice, and we should come back strong and win games.”

The Vikings come into the season facing high expectations from themselves and others. The team dominated in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference over the past few years with two trips to the NCAA tournament in the last three years.

Junior pitcher Anna Bertrand said that her goal of the season is to expand on the team’s past achievements.

“I think that as a team we just want to repeat the success we had last year, win Division and go to NCAA Regionals,” Bertrand said. “And we would like to go a little farther into the regional tournament.”

Bertrand is one of the leaders of the team this year. After the Vikings fell 7-3 in their opening game of the season to San Diego State, she led them back with a convincing 9-0 win over the Cal Poly Mustangs, pitching a hitless game.

She came out big again in the Vikings’ second win of the weekend against McNeese State, where she allowed only three hits in a 4-1 victory.

While Bertrand commands the mound, the Vikings have two impressive offensive players: junior second baseman Carly McEachran and senior center fielder Jenna Krogh. McEachran and Krogh both led the Vikings in batting averages in the 2011 season.

While 2011 senior stars shortstop Arielle Wiser and pitcher Nichole Latham are gone, the Vikings have a new trio of seniors to take the reins. Krogh is joined by reserve pitcher and lead-off hitter Karmen Holladay and catcher Maggie Sholian.

“They have done a great job already,” Echo-Hawk said of the seniors. “All three of my seniors are being really vocal leaders, taking people under their wings and raising expectations in terms of performance and work ethic. All three of them can make a difference on the team.”

Echo-Hawk specifically commented on Krogh’s hitting performance and said that she expects to see her continue and improve on her success at bat from last season.

Echo-Hawk said that while injuries have limited the amount of time Holladay is physically able to stay on the mound, the coach looks forward to seeing more playing time from the senior this season.

Sholian and a handful of other players are still fighting for positions on the team. Catcher, shortstop, outfield and first base are all still officially undecided.

“They’re competitive, but if one of them does something good they’ll celebrate with them,” Echo-Hawk said. “We have a pretty good competition going for first base between Alexa [Morales] and Karmen [Holladay]. The other day Karmen did something good, and Alexa was the first to celebrate with her. As much as we have competition we have support, and that is crucial.

Bertran said she approved of the competition.

“I think it is really healthy for our team,” she said. “It provides the extra motivation to work hard if your position is not set in stone—there’s always things you can do to give you a leg up in the competition.”

The Vikings will put their skills to the test again next weekend for the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Henderson, Nev. Their first game is against Brigham Young University this afternoon at 3 p.m., with the next game against Hawai’i on Friday at 11:15 a.m. The complete schedule and times can be found on goviks.com.