CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State softball team closes the 2016 regular season with a three-game series against Green Bay at Viking Field this weekend.
The series opens with a 3:00 pm game on Friday (May 6) and concludes with a doubleheader on Saturday (May 7) with the first game at 12:00 pm.
Saturday will be Senior Day with CSU's six seniors - Alyson Broschk, Susan Knight, Erica McNew, Katelind Phillips, Alisha Silva and Darien Ward - being honored in a pre-game ceremony before the first game of the twinbill.
The Vikings enter the final weekend of the season having won 10 of their last 13 games and are 18-28 overall and in fifth place in the Horizon League at 11-10. CSU is percentage points behind fourth place Green Bay, which is 10-9 in the League and 19-30 overall.
Wright State tops the League standings at 16-5 with UIC in second place at 15-5 and Youngstown State in third at 13-6, followed by Green Bay and CSU. Oakland is in sixth at 8-11, while Valparaiso is in seventh place at 7-12.
The top six teams make the Horizon League Tournament which will be played from May 11-15 at the site of the top-seed.
The Vikings won five of their six games last week, taking two of three at Oakland and sweeping a three-game series at Detroit.
Senior Erica McNew, last week's Horizon League Player of the Week, continues to lead the Viking offense as she is tops in the Horizon League in batting average (.500), home runs (13), RBI (47), slugging percentage (.914), on-base percentage (.667) and walks (58).
She leads the country in on-base percentage, while also ranking second in batting average and fifth in slugging percentage. McNew has 49 career home runs, second all-time in school history, and has driven in 146 career runs, three shy of breaking the school record of 148 held by Dara Toman (2010-13).
McNew's career average of .410 is tops in school history, while her 213 career hits are tied for second in CSU history.
Senior Katelind Phillips has also had another strong offensive season, ranking fifth in the League with a .377 average as CSU's leadoff hitter. She is also sixth in the League with 36 runs and tied for sixth with 10 doubles. Phillips has proven to be one of the most useful players in the League with the ability to play any position, including the left side of the infield as a lefty.
Phillips ranks fifth in school history with a .340 career average.
Freshman Riley Ries is batting .301 with eight doubles, three homers and 30 RBI in her first collegiate season, while Alyson Broschk is hitting .281 with five homers and 27 RBI.
Senior Susan Knight has once again proven to be a dual-threat this season at the plate and in the circle. She is hitting .260 with 27 runs, five doubles, three homers and 24 triples and has six wins with a 3.64 ERA, 11 complete games and 74 strikeouts in 123 innings of work.
Knight was the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week last week after winning four games and posting a 1.40 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 25 innings of work.
Knight has won her last four starts, all complete games.
Macy Kaisk is tied for the team lead with six wins and has seven complete games, one shutout and 41 strikeouts during her first season in college.
