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Vikings Head To Indianapolis For League Tourney

Vikings Head To Indianapolis For League Tourney
Posted: May 05, 2009

May 5, 2009

Contact: Brian McCann

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Game 47
2009 Horizon League Championship
No. 5 Butler (23-26, 12-11) or No. 8 Youngstown State (8-40, 4-19)
vs. Cleveland State (31-15, 17-5)
Date: Thurs., May 7, 2009
Site: Legends Field, Pendleton, Ind.
Time: 6:00 p.m.

Other Opening Day Games
No. 6 Valparaiso vs. No. 7 Green Bay, 9:00 a.m.
No. 5 Butler vs. No. 8 Youngstown St., 11:00 a.m.
No. 4 Loyola vs. No. 9 Detroit, 1:00 p.m.
No. 1 UIC vs. Valpo/GB, 4:00 p.m.
No. 2 CSU vs. Butler/YSU, 6:00 p.m.
No. 3 Wright State vs. Loyola/Detroit, 8:00 p.m.

SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State (31-15, 17-5) enters the 2009 Horizon League Championship as the No. 2 seed and will need to win four games without a loss to secure its second-ever league title. The nine-team tournament will be played from Thursday-Sunday, May 7-10 at Legends Field in Pendleton, Ind. The Vikings will receive a first round bye, opening tourney play on Thursday (May 7) against the winner of the No. 5 Butler vs. No. 8 Youngstown State game beginning at 6:00 p.m. EDT. A victory would send CSU to the quarterfinals on Friday at 1:00 p.m. while a loss would put the Vikings into the back draw and require CSU to win six games to claim the title. CSU enters the tourney having won their final five games of the regular season, including a three-game sweep at Valparaiso over the weekend that allowed them to break the league record for league wins in a season (17) while also putting the Vikings over the 30-win mark for the school-record fourth straight year.

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 (.329 avg., 31, runs, 37 RBI), a first team all-league choice in each of the last two seasons, and Natalie DeMatteis (.344, 21, 12) at shortstop. Senior Amanda Houchin (.328, 20, 26), a first team honoree in 2007, moves from second to third with junior Mimi Mahon (.314, 16, 13) taking over at first base for an injured Katelyn Ciminelli (.326, 13, 16) with Amy Powell (.230, 2, 6) handling the majority of the catching duties. Junior Lia Gordon (.333, 23, 34, 13 HR), who missed most of 2008 because of illness, is having a record-setting year at DP. The outfield is led by second team all-league choice Danielle Young (.292, 20, 11) in center with either sophomore Christina Stoffer (.206, 18, 7) or freshman Alicia Nichols (.302, 25, 2) in left and senior Shalyn Adams (.324, 11, 16) in right field. 2008 Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Amanda Macenko (24-11, 2.52 ERA) is back for her junior campaign after leading the league in all but one statistical category last year. Sophomore Brittany Bate (5-3, 3.85) has come on strong of late, going 3-0 last week to provide Macenko with some relief in the circle.

LAST TIME OUT: The Vikings had a great week, going 5-0, including a three-game sweep at Valparaiso. Here is a summary of those games:

Game 42: CSU 4, Kent State 1
Andrea Nagy hit a pinch-hit two run homerun and Amanda Macenko scattered eight hits and allowed just one unearned run with 11 strikeouts as CSU took game one from the Golden Flashes, 4-1.
Cleveland State 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 -4-6-3
Kent State 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 -1-8-4
WP: Macenko (23-10). LP: Reynolds (18-13).

Game 43: CSU 6, Kent State 0
Christa Coppus, Lia Gordon and Amy Powell each hit homeruns and Brittany Bate threw a four-hit shutout with a career-high eight strikeouts as CSU routed KSU, 6-0.
Cleveland State 0 1 0 1 1 1 2 - 6-9-0
Kent State 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0-4-0
WP: Bate (3-3). LP: Pozzuto (4-8).

Game 44: CSU 6, Valparaiso 2
The Vikings scored five runs on five hits in the decisive sixth inning, turning a close game into a rout. Macenko went the distance, allowing two runs on seven hits, vstriking out three without a walk. Amanda Houchin led CSU with two hits. Cleveland State 0 1 0 0 5 0 0 - 6-8-0 Valparaiso 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 - 2-7-3 WP: Macenko (24-11) LP: Kelly (8-8)

Game 45: CSU 10, Valparaiso 5 Christina Stoffer drove in four runs, three on a second inning homerun, and Houchin added a bases-loaded double in the sixth as CSU routed Valpo, 10-5. Coppus, Stoffer and young each had three hits for the Vikings. Cleveland State 1 4 0 1 0 4 0 - 10-13-1 Valparaiso 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 - 5-9-0 WP: Bate (4-3). LP: Legeese (4-5).







Game 46: CSU 7, Valparaiso 1
CSU exploded for three runs in both the first and third innings to sweep the season series from Valpo with a 7-1 decision. Shalyn Adams led CSU with three hits while Lia Gordon, Natalie DeMatteis and Mimi Mahon added two hits each. Brittany Bate earned her third win of the week by throwing two scoreless innings.
Cleveland State 3 0 3 1 0 0 0 - 7-13-0
Valparaiso 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1-5-3
WP: Bate (5-3). LP: McGee (9-5).

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.

.300 REASONS WHY CSU IS WINNING: One reason why the Vikings rank second in the league with a .309 team batting average has been the consistency of the batting order from top to bottom. Eight of the nine regular starters are hitting above .300 this year with Danielle Young (.292) the lone regular below the mark. The list includes starters Megan Bashak (.340) and Katelyn Ciminelli (.326), both of whom are currently out of the lineup with injuries. A ninth Viking -- reserve Alicia Nichols -- is also above the mark with a .302 average.

195 & COUNTING FOR COPPUS: Senior Christa Coppus enters the Horizon League Championship having started every game during her Viking career, a streak that stands at 195 games and counting. She 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 46 games this season. Coppus needs to start six more games to break the school record of 200 starts in a career, which is held by Tiffany Stocker (1999-02).

VIKINGS SHATTER OFFENSIVE RECORDS: The Vikings head to the Horizon League Championship having already broken the school single season team records for homeruns (40), doubles (75), runs scored (239) and RBIs (213). 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.

. . . AND GORDON OWNS HOMERUN MARK: Junior Lia Gordon enters the post-season 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 COPPUS OWNS CAREER MARKS: When Christa Coppus launched a two-run homer against Kent State last week, it was the ninth of the season, allowing her to tie the school record for career homeruns with 21. It allowed her to tie or break the last of the major CSU career marks. She enters the tourney holding the CSU career rcords for runs (122), hits (214), doubles (47), RBIs (130) and of course, homeruns (21). She also ranks second with a .353 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 23-0 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.