Softball team’s title dreams on hold

Put the celebration on hold, at least for the time being. During their weekend series against Sacramento State, the Portland State softball team received the same treatment they have been dishing out to seemingly every other opponent. The Hornets swept the Viks, just as Portland State had swept conference foes San Diego and St. Mary’s. With these losses, the Viks are forced to clear up the Pacific Coast Softball Conference title picture by making up three games versus Loyola Marymount, which were postponed due to inclement weather.

Coming into their final conference series of the season this result was completely unexpected, especially since the Viks were soaring into the series with the momentum of a nine-game winning streak and a walk off homerun supplied by left fielder Kimi Daniel to propel the Viks over the University of Oregon on Wednesday.

“I think that going into the weekend, anytime that you can take a win from a Pac 10 team, let alone two, it is going to be a good 24 hours,” head coach Amy Hayes said. “We are three and five against Pac 10 teams this year, we really felt like we could have gone three and one against Oregon this year, so it is really exciting for us to get that sweep and be undefeated at home.”

But their antics before the series are irrelevant because the fact of the matter is that the Hornets simply outplayed the Viks during the series, pulling into a tie atop the PCSC standings. Sacramento State enhanced their record to 35-20 overall, 14-6 in the PCSC with the sweep as the Viks fell to 34-18 overall and 12-5 in the PCSC.

Portland State is still fractions of a point ahead of the Hornets in the standings; however, this disarray will be resolved when the Viks host Loyola Marymount in three vital games that will determine the conference championship.

In preparation for the series, Portland State coaches made adjustments to the style of pitching that they provided for the players during practice. This was mainly due to their scouting reports on the Hornet’s elite pitching staff.

“Defensively there isn’t much to change,” Hayes said. “From a hitting standpoint they do have a kid that throws fairly hard and she throws the ball up, so coach (Brooke) Monroe changed the itinerary for hitting a little bit. She moved the machine up a few notches and raised the height, so we could get used to seeing high pitches and laying off them.”

The players were also aware of what was patiently waiting for them on the mound in Sacramento, but had confidence that they could overcome the high heat.

“A lot of people talk about them having one really good pitcher, but throughout the season we have faced some pretty tough pitchers,” junior infielder Katie Stokes said. “So, if we stay on it I think that we can get her.”

The Viking’s players and coaching staff identified exactly the aspect of Sacramento State’s team that proved to be the most formidable throughout the weekend. The Hornet’s pitching staff, most notably freshman right-hander Cassie Cervantes and senior right-hander Nikki Cinque, had a colossal weekend by limiting the Viks to only four runs the entire weekend. This included a couple of remarkable pitching performances by each flamethrower on Saturday.

In game one Cervantes took the Portland State offensive by storm, registering a no-hitter and striking out 15 Vikings to lead her team to a 4-0 victory. In the series’ second match up, veteran pitching-ace Cinque stepped to the mound and dominated the Viks in another superior pitching performance. She struck out eight and hampered the powerful Viking offense by limiting them to just three hits during the outing. These two overpowering right-handers dictated the outcome of each game during the series, letting up a little during Sunday’s games but still pitching well enough to be victorious.

So, the Viks will still attempt to stake their claim as conference champions by winning all three games against Loyola Marymount at Erv Lind Stadium this Friday and Saturday. The Viks must win all three of their makeup games. Otherwise, Sacramento State will become the eventual champions and the Viks will end this exceptional season without the conference title that seemed inevitable prior to this series.