Apparently the San Diego Toreros did not get the memo that the second-to-last-place team in the PCSC isn’t supposed to beat the top team, because that’s just what they did on Friday, defeating the Vikings, who were 4-0, in two straight games.
The losses at the hands of the Toreros snapped a four-game conference-winning streak that started with a series sweep against Santa Clara on April 4.
On Saturday, however, the Vikings tightened up their game and rallied back to sweep the doubleheader against the Toreros, hanging on to the second-best record (6-2) in the conference just below Loyola Marymount (7-1) and just ahead of Sacramento State (5-2).
The Vikings seemed poised to keep their win streak alive in the first half of the opening inning on Friday as junior Brandi Scoggins belted a double that scored infielder Jamee Rauch.
But that’s where their luck ran out, as the rest of the night would be a succession of woes resulting from their sloppy defense.
“It was one of those days where if someone told you it was going to go that way, you wouldn’t have believed them,” said Vikings first-year head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk. “We had a number of fluke plays and bad hops. If something could go wrong, it did.”
Murphy’s Law was indeed in effect for the Vikings, who scored a total of eight runs on 12 hits Friday, but committed four costly errors that paved the way for the San Diego victory. The Vikings also left a total of 14 runners stranded on the bases throughout the two games.
While not wanting to take anything away from San Diego, Echo-Hawk believes that it wasn’t the overpowering play of the Toreros that downed her team, but the Vikings’ plethora of mental mistakes.
“There’s no way those games should have been that close,” she said. “We absolutely beat ourselves.”
But as top teams often do, the Vikings took to the diamond on Saturday with more focus and drive, cleaning up their performance and exploding on offense for a 10-3 victory in the first game.
The win was highlighted by a five-hit, four-run fifth inning, commenced by a triple from De’Chauna Skinner and punctuated by a Brandi Scoggins single.
In the second game, junior pitcher Tori Rogers threw six strikeouts on her way to her second shutout of the season, blanking the Toreros in the 1-0 victory.
Rauch drove in the Vikings’ only run in the fifth inning, but it was enough to hold off the Toreros and balance the weekend’s record.
“On Saturday, we were back to our normal selves,” Echo-Hawk said. “We were playing with consistency, which is what has helped our success all season long.”
The Vikings will not have the luxury of much rest, as they travel to Oregon State on Wednesday to face the Beavers, whom they were swept by in a doubleheader last week.