Contact: Tim Ertle
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Cleveland State (13-34, 5-10 HL) vs. Butler (21-29, 11-10 HL)
Dates/Times: Saturday, April 28, at 1:00 p.m. -- Saturday, April 28, at 3:00 p.m. -- Sunday, April 28, at 12:00 p.m.
Site: Viking Field - Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland State/Butler (Game One) Live Stats
Cleveland State/Butler (Game Two) Live Stats
Cleveland State/Butler (Game Three) Live Stats
Cleveland State/Butler Live Webcasts
SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State softball team (13-34, 5-10 Horizon League) will be looking to end its five-game losing streak with a home series against Butler this week. The three-game stand begins with a doubleheader on Saturday (April 28) at 1:00 p.m. and concludes with a 12:00 p.m. game on Sunday (April 29).
Butler is 21-29 and 11-10 in the Horizon League as the Bulldogs just lost two of three to league-leader Valparaiso.
FOLLOW IT LIVE: All three games this weekend will be covered by GameTracker, a free live stats service with links available on the softball schedule page at CSUVikings.com. Each game will be broadcast in a Webcast format, available through the Horizon League Network at HorizonLeague.org.
ALL-TIME WITH THE BULLDOGS: Cleveland State and Butler have met for 43 contests and the Vikings have come out on top 26 times, good for a .605 winning percentage. Butler took two of the three meetings last year, winning the rubber match 2-1 in 16 innings in Indianapolis. The last time the Bulldogs came to Cleveland was in 2010 and the Vikings swept the three-game series.
IT'S A SMALL WORLD: After taking Ursuline College from three wins to 26 wins in her season there, current CSU head coachAngie Nicholson was hired by current Cleveland State Director of Athletics John Parry to be the head coach at Butler in 2006. In her one season there, Nicholson guided the Bulldogs to a 17-30-1 record before returning to her alma mater.
LAST TIME OUT: The Vikings were 0-4 on their road trip last week but lost three games by one run, including last Thursday's (April 19) game at Notre Dame. Cleveland State was swept by Green Bay last weekend (April 21-22) but lost the three games by a combined six runs. Sara Shields sparked the offense last week, hitting .500 (7-14) with her fifth home run of the season while driving in three runs and scoring three of her own in the four-game span. Caila Ferro, who has battled nagging injuries all season long, was 5-for-13 (.385) last week and hit her second home run of the season during the Green Bay series.
IN THE ZONE: Dara Toman enters the weekend having reached base safely in 27 consecutive games. Sara Shields is second on the team having reached base safely in the last four games as part of a four-game hitting streak, during which she is 7-for 14 (.500) with three RBI.
PITCH TO HER!: During the last 27 games, Dara Toman has hit .471 with 13 home runs and 24 RBI. Her on-base percentage is .630, thanks to her 28 walks during the 27-game span. This season, Toman has drawn a school record 36 walks, besting J.J. Thornberry's best of 34.
GET THE LAST THREE OUTS: When leading after six innings, the Vikings are 12-3.
2012 SEASON PREVIEW: The Vikings were picked to finish sixth in the Horizon League in the annual preseason poll and heading into the final two weeks of the season, head coach Angie Nicholson's squad is fighting to qualify for the postseason tournament.
"We're a young team with four seniors and nine underclassmen, but this is a hard-working group that has a lot of talent and has shown me a lot," she said. "There is a lot of young talent who we're excited to have in our program, and we have a lot of players who have been a part of our program that we're looking to take on bigger roles."
Lefty Megan Bashak has waited her turn, and now she gets the opportunity to be one of the leaders of the pitching staff. She made five starts in the circle in 2011 as a junior and compiled a 2-0 record with an ERA of 2.59. This year, she's 3-15 with a save and a 3.52 ERA. Sara Shields, a sophomore transfer from Lake Erie College, has made her impact known immediately. She's become a reliable pitcher and has a 10-12 record with a team-best 95 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.59 in her first 29 appearances (19 starts) while hitting .327 with five homers, 14 RBI and 20 runs scored.
New to the mix on the staff are freshman Alex Radjen (0-3, 5.25 ERA) and transfer Kelsi Reed (0-1, 5.00 ERA). They pair with veterans Brittany Bate (3.90 ERA) and Brandy Holmes (18.67 ERA in three innings).
With the loss of Amy Powell to graduation, the Vikings will rely on freshman Salena Kauffman (38 starts - .257, two homers, nine RBI) to handle the bulk of the load behind the dish. Her classmate Erica McNew (.136) started seven games before suffering a knee injury that ended her season.
Dara Toman (.402, 18 home runs, 38 RBI), a preseason first team All-Horizon League selection, is one of two returners in the infield, but she spent a lot of time at second base in 2011 and figures to see the majority of time at first base this year.
Immediately to her right will usually be Andrea Nagy (.226, 18 runs, 18 RBI), a fifth-year senior, who has played a lot of shortstop for the Vikings but looks to be the second baseman in 2012.
An injury to true freshman Cynthia Woodard (.273, 10 RBI, 11 runs) moved classmate Nena Doran (.222, three home runs, 13 runs, 15 RBI) from third base to shortstop.
Bashak (.245, 15 runs, 15 RBI) will see plenty of time at third when she isn't in the circle. Brittani Newsome (.176) could also see time at third base or in the outfield.
The Vikings have two of the three outfield spots locked up: Caila Ferro (.276, 14 runs, 15 RBI) and Alicia Nichols (.265, 17 runs, nine stolen bases) will move back and forth in center and right. Who takes over in left field on a full-time basis remains to be seen.
Luckily, Nicholson feels good about the cast of candidates she has at her disposal and hopes one of the underclassmen can develop into a piece she can count on. Redshirt freshman Hannah Yoe (.164, four runs) has received the starting nod in left field as of late while Afton Allred (.176, 10 RBI) has seen time in left field this season and has done a solid job. Jasmin Filiaggi (0/8, two runs) - another member of the talented freshmen class - will provide outfield depth. Nicholson calls her one of the fastest players on the team and says she has learned a lot since stepping foot on campus.
WE MISS YOU: Two true freshmen who the Vikings were counting on for big things in 2012 had their seasons cut short due to injury. Erica McNew started the first seven games of the season before her year ended. Cynthia Woodard started the first 25 games at shortstop before her season came to a screeching halt. Injuries have forced a few Vikings to play multiple positions.Nena Doran started at third base and caught before seeing time exclusively at shortstop with the Woodard injury. Hannah Yoe has seen time at second base, third base and lately almost exclusively in the outfield.
UP TO THE HYPE: After being tabbed as a first team preseason All-Horizon League performer, Dara Toman has proved to be more than worthy of the honor. She leads the team in batting average (.402), slugging percentage (.921), RBI (38), home runs (18), total bases (117), hits (51) and runs scored (39). She is tied for fifth in the country in home runs and is sixth nationally in slugging percentage (through April 22).
...AND TOMAN's POWER IS RECORD SETTING: With her first homer of the season against Tennessee State on February 11th,Dara Toman passed Lia Gordon to become the all-time home run leader in program history. Gordon hit 26 homers during her playing career that lasted from 2007-10. After hitting 16 homers as a freshman in 2010, Toman responded with 10 blasts last season. Her 18 home runs this season equal Tess Sito's school record for the most in a single season set in 2010. Toman, who has 44 career home runs, is two shy of the single season Horizon League record and eight away from tying the league career record of 52 set by UIC's Amanda Rivera.
KAUFFMAN's PROGRESS: After Erica McNew went down, Salena Kauffman stepped in as the catcher but mainly was in the flex and didn't bat. Once she was inserted in the lineup, she was hitless in her first 10 at-bats. She got her first base knock in a three-hit performance against Rider on March 16 and since then, she's fourth on the team with a .300 (18-60) average in a span that covers 22 games.
SHE'S BACK: Caila Ferro started the season with a bang, hitting .462 in her first four games of the season to earn all-tournament honors at the South Carolina Palmetto Classic. She didn't have an at-bat between March 16 and March 28, but since returning to the lineup, she is hitting .306 (15-49) in her last 18 games. Ferro has driven in six and scored three runs while not committing an error in the outfield.
SENIOR IN THE CLUTCH: On a team with just four seniors, veterans are needed to step up in big situations. Senior Andrea Nagyhas done that all season for the club - especially with baserunners in scoring position. Nagy leads the team (20 chances to qualify) with a .353 (18-51) average in those types of situations. Salena Kauffman is 6-for-10 (.600) with runners in scoring position while Dara Toman (11-for-33, .333) and Sara Shields (10-for-33, .303) have excelled under pressure.
HIT PARADE: In CSU's 10-6 win over Manhattan on March 14th, each of the first six batters had at least two hits: Alicia Nichols,Megan Bashak, Andrea Nagy, Dara Toman, Cynthia Woodard and Caila Ferro. So far this season, 11 different Vikings have a multi-hit game to their name for a grand total of 66 two-hit games. Seven different student-athletes (Nena Doran, Salena Kauffman(twice), Nagy, Nichols, Toman (three times), Shields and Woodard have recorded three hits in a single game.
PLAY GOOD 'D': The Vikings are 10-11 when committing one error or less. In the 26 games that CSU has committed two or more errors, the Vikings are 3-23.
NEXT UP: The final six contests will be home games against league opponents. Detroit comes for a mid-week series May 1-2 and the regular season ends with a three-game series against Valparaiso May 4-5.