May 2, 2009
Contact: Brian McCann
VALPARAISO, Ind. - Cleveland State banged out a total of 21 hits and scored 16 runs to sweep a doubleheader from Valparaiso on Saturday at the Valparaiso Softball Field. The Vikings won the first game, 6-2, before routing the Crusaders, 10-5, in the nightcap.
The wins allowed the Vikings to reach the 30-win mark for the school-record fourth straight season, improving to 30-15 overall and 16-5 in league play. Valpo slips to 24-20 overall and 9-9 in conference action.
The news wasn't all good for CSU on Saturday however as UIC swept two games at Wright State to clinch the Horizon League regular season title and top seed in next week's league tourney. The Flames are 16-3 in league play, two games ahead of the Vikings with only one game to go.
Cleveland State is assured of being the No. 2 seed in the tourney and will get a bye past the first round. CSU will open tourney play on Thursday, May 7 at 6:00 p.m.
"We played real well again today," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "We started out a little slow offensively, but when we started hitting, we used the entire park.
"The funny thing is that even though we are missing three or four starters because of injury, we continue to hit the ball well and produce a lot of runs. I think that we are ready for the league tournament next week.
"I'm disappointed that we didn't win the regular season title because we won more league games than last year but it just wasn't enough. Still, the important thing was to get a bye through the first round of the tournament which we have done."
The Vikings took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the opener when Mimi Mahon was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Danielle Young hit a grounder that Valpo pitcher Stephanie Kelly fielded but threw wildly to first. When Mahon tried to take third on the play, Sadie Conner retrieved the ball but her throw to third sailed down the left field line, allowing Mahon to score.
CSU broke the game open in the fifth. Christa Coppus led off with a double and Natalie DeMatteis followed with an infield single that moved Coppus to third. The Vikings then pulled off the double steal with DeMatteis taking second and Coppus crossing the plate to make it 2-0.
A single through the left side by Amanda Houchin scored DeMatteis to make it 3-0. Lia Gordon followed with a double to move runners to second and third.
That was all for Kelly, who was replaced by Shaleigh Jansen.
Jansen induced Shalyn Adams to hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Houchin to push the lead to 4-0.
Mimi Mahon kept the rally going by singling and stealing second base to put runners at second and third. DeMatteis would score on a ground out by Andrea Nagy with Mahon finishing the rally when she scored on a wild pitch.
Valparaiso would trim the lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the frame when Sara Strickland hit a two-run homerun.
That was all the Crusaders would get off Amanda Macenko, who allowed just two runs on seven hits, striking out three without a walk to improve to 24-11 on the year.
The Vikings took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap when Christina Stoffer singled, went to third on a Christa Coppus double and scored on a wild pitch.
The Crusaders answered back, scoring three in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-1 lead.
The lead didn't last long as the Vikings scored four times in the second to take a 5-3 lead.
DeMatteis and Young each singled with DeMatteis scoring on a Coppus double. Stoffer followed with a three-run homerun to right. It was the second homer of the year for Stoffer, who was starting for just the 11th time this season.
Stoffer picked up her fourth RBI of the game in the fourth when she singled to score Young to extend CSU's lead to 6-3.
The Vikings blew the game open in the sixth when Houchin's bases-loaded double scored three runs with Houchin scoring one at-bat later on a single by Lia Gordon.
The clutch hit was a staple in game two as all but the one run in the first inning was scored with two outs. In fact, just one of those nine runs got on base with less than two outs.
Valpo added a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh on back-to-back solo homers by Jill Jacobson and Karen Korb.
Brittany Bate went the distance to pick up her second win of the week and improve to 4-3 on the year. She let up five runs on nine hits with one strikeout and no walks.
Most of the damage was done by the batters in the top three and last spots in the batting order. Danielle Young (3-3, 3 runs), who hit ninth, along with Christa Coppus (3-4, 2 runs, RBI), Christina Stoffer (3-3, 3 runs, 4 RBI) and Houchin (2-4, run, 3 RBI) combined to go 11-for-14 with nine runs scored and eight RBIs.
The Vikings and Crusaders will play the final game of the three-game series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
