May 14, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Game 51
2009 NCAA Championship
Notre Dame (41-15) vs. Cleveland State (35-16)
Date: Friday, May 15, 2009
Site: Alumni Field, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Tourney Schedule
Friday, May 15
Game 1: CSU vs. Notre Dame, 4:30 p.m.
Game 2: Miami (OH) at Michigan, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 16
Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 12:00 noon
Game 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 2:30 p.m. (loser eliminated)
Game 5: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 5:00 p.m. (loser eliminated)
Sunday, May 17
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 1:00 p.m.
Game 7: If necessary, 3:30 p.m. (if Game 3 winner loses in Game 6).
SETTING THE SCENE: After winning four of five games last week to claim the 2009 Horizon League Championship, Cleveland State will play in the NCAA Championship for just the second time in school history when the Vikings travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. to take part in the double-elimination Michigan Regional. CSU (35-16) will take on Notre Dame (41-15) at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 15 at Alumni Field on the University of Michigan campus. Host Michigan will take on Miami (OH) at 7:00 p.m. with the winners meeting on Saturday (May 16) at 12:00 noon and the two losers squaring off in an elimination contest at 2:30 p.m. The Vikings have won 22 of their last 26 games to improve to 35-16, setting a Horizon League record for league victories in a season with 17. Notre Dame (41-15) has been equally as impressive, winning 22 of its last 24 games to win the Big East Championship after finishing a half-game behind DePaul in the regular season race.
PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: In her third season as head coach of the Viking softball team, Angie Nicholson has the deepest and most experienced team to work with to date. With nine starters returning from last year's squad that posted a 31-18 record and the addition of four first year players, the Vikings set a record for league wins in a season with 17. Like all good teams, the Vikings are strong up the middle. The middle of the infield consists of the senior duo of second baseman Christa Coppus (.326 avg., 36, runs, 38 RBI), a first team all-league choice in each of the last three seasons, and Natalie DeMatteis (.367, 24, 20), the league tourney MVP, at shortstop. Senior Amanda Houchin (.352, 25, 35), a first team honoree in 2007 and second team pick this season, moves from second to third with junior Mimi Mahon (.292, 18, 15) taking over at first base for an injured Katelyn Ciminelli (.320, 14, 16) with Amy Powell (.194, 2, 6) handling the majority of the catching duties. Junior Lia Gordon (.336, 25, 38, 13 HR), who missed most of 2008 because of illness, is having a record-setting year at DP, earning second team all-league honors. The outfield is led by Danielle Young (.315, 25, 14) in center with sophomore Andrea Nagy (.250, 19, 11) in left and senior Shalyn Adams (.307, 12, 17), a second team all-league pick, in right field. 2008 & 2009 Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Amanda Macenko (28-12, 2.53 ERA) has set just about every CSU single season pitching record. Sophomore Brittany Bate (5-3, 3.85) has come on strong of late, going 3-0 in the last two weeks to provide Macenko with some relief in the circle.
SIX VIKINGS EARN ALL-LEAGUE HONORS: The Vikings were recognized for their strong season when six starters were named to the various All-Horizon League teams. Senior Christa Coppus and junior Amanda Macenko were each repeat members of the all-league first team with Coppus being tabbed for the third year in a row. Seniors Amanda Houchin, Shalyn Adams and junior Lia Gordon were each second team honorees while junior Mimi Mahon was named to the all-newcomer team.
. . . AND MACENKO REPEATS AS PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Junior Amanda Macenko earned additional recognition, being tabbed as the Horizon League Pitcher of the Year for the second straight season. She earned the honor after leading the league in wins (28), starts (43), appearances (46) and strikeouts (254).
THE FIFTH TIME IS THE CHARM: Forget the old adage, but after five trips to the title game of the Horizon League Championship, the Vikings finally broke loose and claimed their first tourney championship last week. CSU defeated Butler, Wright State and UIC to advance out of the winner's bracket into the title game and then rebounded from a Saturday night loss to regular season champion UIC to defeat the Flames, 4-2, in the title game on Sunday. The only other time that CSU won a league tournament title came in 1997 when the Vikings captured the Mid-Continent Conference trophy. Officially, CSU finished second in the league tourney in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2008.
CSU IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: This will be Cleveland State's second appearance in the NCAA Championships and the first since 1997. After winning the league tourney that year, CSU defeated Florida A&M in a best of three play-in series, which was held at CSU. The Vikings lost the first game, 4-2, but bounced back to win 8-0 and 12-0 to advance to the regional at Michigan. The run ended there as CSU lost to Michigan (1-0) and Michigan State (6-0) to be eliminated from the tourney.
VIKINGS vs. THE FIELD: Cleveland State enters the Michigan Regional with a 3-6 all-time mark against three teams it could face this weekend but it hasn't faced any of them in 10 seasons. CSU is 0-2 against Notre Dame, dropping a doubleheader in South Bend during the 1995 season. The Vikings are also 3-1 vs. Miami (OH) and 0-3 against Michigan.
TOURNEY AWARDS COME CSU'S WAY: One by-product of winning the Horizon League Championship came when the post-tourney awards were announced. The Vikings placed Amanda Macenko, Amanda Houchin, Danielle Young and Natalie DeMatteis on the all-tourney team. Macenko was tabbed as the pitcher of the tourney after going 4-1 with a 2.57 ERA. DeMatteis was named the tournament MVP after going nine-for-17 (.529) with three doubles, two homeruns, three runs scored and eight RBI and Houchin was tabbed as the tourney's batting champion. Houchin hit .529 (9-17) with four homeruns, five runs scored and nine RBIs.
AN EARLY START: When the Vikings opened the 2009 season against Ohio State on Feb. 6, the game marked the earliest season opener in school history, easily topping last year's Feb. 15 opener. This year was only the third time in school history that CSU played games in February, with a total of 11 February games scheduled in all. The Vikings played three February games in 2007 and four last year.
. . . AND A LATE FINISH: If the Vikings are able to stay alive in tournament play until Sunday (May 17), then they will assure themselves of at least matching the latest game into the season in program history. The May 17 contest would equal the 1995 season when CSU faced Michigan State in a second round NCAA Championship game in Ann Arbor. CSU has never played a game after May 17.
THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE ROAD: One of the reasons for the Vikings' success the last couple of seasons is their ability to win games on the road. After losing the road league opener at Wright State, the Vikings ran off nine straight wins to close the season, finishing with a 9-1 mark, tops in the league this season. Last year, the Vikings were a league-best 9-2 on the road in league competition en route to winning their first-ever regular season crown.
200 & COUNTING FOR COPPUS: When senior Christa Coppus started at second base against UIC in the Horizon League Championship game, it marked the 200th consecutive start, tying the school record for both career games played and consecutive games started. She will break both records against Notre Dame on Friday. Coppus earned the starting nod in all 53 games as a freshman in 2006 and started 47 straight in 2007. Last year, she was one of five Vikings to start all 49 contests and she is just one of two players to start all 51 games this season. She is currently tied with Tiffany Stocker (1999-02), who also played in and started 200 times..
MACENKO REACHES 80 WIN MARK: The victory over UIC on Sunday allowed Amanda Macenko to extend her school record for career wins to 80. Included in that total are back-to-back-to-back seasons of 20 wins or more to become the first Viking to win 20 games or more in consecutive seasons (let alone three consecutive seasons). The only other pitcher to win 20 or more games in multiple seasons is Amy Kyler, who accomplished it in both 1995 & 1997.
VIKINGS GET ANOTHER 30: The Vikings carry a 35-16 record into the NCAA Championship, marking the school-record fourth straight season that CSU has topped the 30-win mark. The streak started in 2006 when CSU set the single season win record with a 38-15 mark. The Vikings were 33-14 in 2007 and 31-18 in 2008.
. . . AND NICHOLSON GOES FOR 100TH: Third-year Viking head coach Angie Nicholson enters the NCAA Championship with a 99-48 record during her CSU coaching tenure, needing one more win to become only the second head coach to win 100 games at Cleveland State. In five years as a head coach, Nicholson is 142-95-2.
WHAT A SENIOR CLASS: The NCAA Championships will mark the final playing appearance for Viking seniors Shalyn Adams, Christa Coppus, Natalie DeMatteis, Amanda Houchin, Haley Keller and Danielle Young. The class, which has failed to win less than 30 games in any season, has won a total of 138 games during their careers, easily the highest total by a senior class in program history (old high was 126 set last year).
VIKINGS SHATTER OFFENSIVE RECORDS: The Vikings head to the NCAA Championship having already broken the school single season team records for hits (428), homeruns (48), doubles (82), runs scored (270), RBIs (241), walks (129). Most of the records have barely been broken -- even though CSU will play at least one more week and further extend them. The lone exception is the homerun mark which was set in late March, topping the old record of 26 in 2006. Two records that could fall this week are At-Bats and hit by pitch. CSU has 1,384 at-bats this year, needing 45 to break the mark of 1,429 set in 2000. Viking batters have been hit 20 times this year, three short of the record of 23 set in 2006.
. . . AND GORDON OWNS HOMERUN MARK: Junior Lia Gordon enters the NCAA Championship leading the Horizon League with a school-record 13 home runs this year. The record is quite an accomplishment, especially when you consider that last year at this time, she was struggling through an illness plagued season that limited her to just .137 hitting in 23 games. Now healthy, she has bounced back to break the 12-year old record of eight set by Amy Jauert in 1997.
. . . AND HOUCHIN & COPPUS BREAK MARK AS WELL: This has certainly been the year of the homerun for the Vikings as not only has Lia Gordon set the season homerun record, but Amanda Houchin and Christa Coppus have toppled the old mark as well. Houchin, who hit four home runs last week, has 10 long balls this year while Coppus has gone deep nine times.
. . . AND COPPUS OWNS CAREER MARKS: When Christa Coppus launched a two-run homer against Kent State on April 29, it was her ninth of the season, allowing her to tie the school record for career homeruns with 21. It was the last of the major CSU career marks that she had tied or broken. She enters the NCAA tourney holding the CSU career rcords for runs (127), hits (218), doubles (49), RBIs (131) and of course, homeruns (21). She also ranks second with a .351 batting average.
CLOSING OUT WINS: One trend that has held true this season is that the Vikings are very difficult to come back on, owning a perfect 27-0 in games in which it led after both five and six innings. Last year, CSU was 21-1 in games it led after five innings and 22-1 in games it led after six innings with the lone loss coming when Wright State scored three in the top of the seventh to come back from a 4-3 deficit in the second round of the league championship.
AN INFIELD SHIFT: When Cleveland State started the 2009 season, it boasted the entire starting infield from a year ago returning intact. Midway through the year, only Katelyn Ciminelli was starting at the position she played last year as Angie Nicholson rotated the infield, moving Natalie DeMatteis from third to short, Christa Coppus from shortstop to second and Amanda Houchin from second to third.
