SOFTBALL PREVIEW: UNC, UNLV and San Diego State

April 15, 2008

Game 37 - Colorado State vs. Northern Colorado
April 16, 2008 | Fort Collins, Colo. | 3 p.m. MT

Game 38 - Colorado State vs. UNLV - The Mtn.
April 18, 2008 | Fort Collins, Colo. | 1:30 p.m. MT

Game 39 - Colorado State vs. UNLV - The Mtn.
April 18, 2008 | Fort Collins, Colo. | 3:30 p.m. MT

Game 40 - Colorado State vs. San Diego State
April 19, 2008 | Fort Collins, Colo. | 3 p.m. MT

Game 41 - Colorado State vs. San Diego State
April 20, 2008 | Fort Collins, Colo. | 12 p.m. MT

This Week...
Colorado State (20-16, 1-5 MWC), which has played just three home games this season, returns to Ram Field this week for five games in a six-day stretch, and a total of seven home games over the next 11 days, beginning on Wednesday.  The Rams host in-state rival Northern Colorado, Wednesday at 3 p.m., in a game that was rescheduled because of bad weather a week earlier.  CSU then opens its MWC home slate on Friday with a doubleheader against UNLV.  The Rams and Lady Rebels will be televised live on The Mtn. - the MountainWest Sports Network - beginning at 1:30 p.m. MT.  CSU concludes play this weekend with a pair of games against No. 24/22 San Diego State, beginning at 3 p.m. on Friday and noon on Saturday.    

New Mexico Recaps...
Colorado State dropped a pair of MWC road contests, falling at New Mexico, 15-4 (5) and 4-1, on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.  UNM's pitching stymied the high-powered Rams offense - which entered the week ranked 15th in the nation in scoring (5.71 runs per game), holding the Rams to just five runs in the two games. 

About Northern Colorado...
Northern Colorado comes into Wednesday's game with an overall record of 9-30, having dropped a pair of decisions to Colorado State on March 29 in Greeley, Colo.  Sophomore Jessie Schoepflin leads the Bears at the plate, hitting .336 with a team-best 19 runs scored entering this week's action.  Junior Hillarie Van Otterloo leads the team in home runs (4) and is tied for the team lead with 14 RBI on the season.  Van Otterloo also ranks as the Bears' most effective pitcher, with a 4.41 ERA and an overall record of 3-11 in 16 appearances and 13 starts. 

About UNLV...
UNLV is 21-27-1 overall, including a 1-5 mark in MWC action and an 0-7 record on the road this season.  Most recently, the Lady Rebels battled No. 1-ranked Arizona State, falling 6-5 and 14-7 in the doubleheader.  Sophomore shortstop Jaci Hull leads the UNLV offense with a .313 average, 10 home runs and 28 RBI on the season.  Hull also has scored a team-most 32 runs through last weekend's conference games.  Sophomore hurler Stephanie Bregante shoulders much of the load for UNLV's pitching staff.  Bregante is 12-13 in 34 appearances with a 2.77 ERA on the season.  Traci Odergard leads the team with a 2.60 ERA and is 6-3 in 22 appearances.  UNLV also has a single game scheduled vs. Northern Colorado. 

About San Diego State...
No. 24/22-ranked San Diego State enters action this week with an overall record of 30-13, including a 3-3 mark in MWC action.  The Aztecs are riding a three-game losing streak in which they have failed to score a run, losing by a combined 4-0 in the trio of contests.  Junior transfer Tonye McCorckle leads the Aztecs at the plate, entering the week with a .329 batting average, 29 runs scored, 25 RBI and a team-most three triples.  Senior ace Christina Ross leads the SDSU pitching staff.  Ross  boasts a 0.96 ERA and is 19-10 on the season in 34 appearances and 196.2 innings pitched.  The Aztecs open the week's action with one game at cross-town foe San Diego, then travel to Albuquerque, N.M., for a pair of games against the Lobos, before heading north on I-25 to Fort Collins. 

Yori's Coaching Milestones...
Head Coach Mary Yori, who earlier this season coached in her 1,000th-career game (vs. Utah State, March 8) and won her 200th game at CSU (vs. Texas - San Antonio, Feb. 15), coached in the 400th game of her career at CSU in Game 1 against BYU on April 4.  Yori enters Wednesday's game vs. Northern Colorado with a career record of 671-349 (.658) and is 212-191 (.526) at CSU.

Kiss it Goodbye...
Colorado State is currently in second place in the MWC with 44 home runs. Senior Lauren Cusick leads the conference and the team with 14 home runs. She is currently on track to hit 19 home runs, which would surpass sophomore Ashley Munoz, who hit 14 last season, for the top spot on the single-season home run chart. Cusick is also on pace to break the all-time home run record held by former Ram Brittany Huerta, who hit 33 in her career at Colorado State.  Cusick currently needs two more roundtrippers to break that record.

The Big Five...
The Rams hold the best team batting average in the MWC (.306) and also boast the highest slugging percentage (.510).  Five Rams (Caitlan Stem, Lauren Cusick, Julia Kloppe, Munoz, Allison Majam) are currently batting over .300.  Those five players have accounted for 71.1 percent (123 of 173) of the team's RBI and are also responsible for 79.1 percent (34 of 43) of the team's home runs.

Lights. Camera. Action...
Friday's televised doubleheader with UNLV marks the first live broadcast of a home CSU softball event at Ram Field.  The games, which will air live on The Mtn. (Comcast 411) and tape-delayed on CBS College Sports (Comcast 412), will feature The Mtn.'s Anne Marie Anderson and former CSU All-American and head coach Teri Goldberg. 

Rams in MWC home openers...
Colorado State is 4-3 all-time in Mountain West Conference home openers under Head Coach Mary Yori. The chart below shows the MWC home-opener results under Yori.

Two-Out Rally...
As a team, Colorado State is batting at a .302 clip this season with two outs. Forty-two percent (74-of-173) of the team's RBI this season have come with two outs in an inning. Freshman Caitlan Stem leads the team with a .567 average (17-for-30) in two-out situations.  She is followed by senior Lauren Cusick with a .406 (13-for-32) average.  Stem has also recorded 16 of her 27 RBI with two outs while Cusick has recorded nine of her 31 RBI with two outs.

Score Some More...
The Rams are batting .307 with runners in scoring position. Freshman Eranne Daugharthy leads the team with a .444 average (4-for-9) followed by senior Julia Kloppe  with a .436 average (17-for-39). Freshman Caitlan Stem, who is batting .419 (18-for-43) with runners at second or third, sits in the third spot.

Streaking...
Freshman Caitlan Stem is currently riding a nine-game hit streak heading into Wednesday's game with Northern Colorado, which is a career high for the freshman. Stem also had an eight-game hit streak earlier this season that began on Feb. 9 against Winthrop. Stem boasts a .384 overall batting average on the season with 44 hits, 10 doubles, a triple, five home runs and 27 RBI. She also has recorded a slugging percentage of .624 on the season. Stem has 13 multiple-hit games this season with eight multiple-RBI games.

Extra, extra...
In extra innings, Colorado State has outscored its opponents 16-5, and is 4-0 in extra inning games. The most recent win in extras came two weeks ago against Utah. The Rams won 13-9 in eight innings thanks to a Julia Kloppe three-run home run in the top of the eighth to give the Rams a 13-7 lead.  

Home Sweet Home...
The Rams, who have played just three home games this season, begin a stretch of seven games in 11 days at Ram Field. First up is in-state rival Northern Colorado on Wednesday, followed by a televised doubleheader against UNLV Friday. Colorado State will face SDSU on Saturday and Sunday and will conclude the homestand next Saturday and Sunday against New Mexico.

Rams in national rankings...
As of statistics released April 6 by the NCAA, the CSU softball team ranked among the Top 25 programs in the country in several categories including:

Home runs per game:  6th (1.26)
Slugging percentage:  10th (0.510)
Doubles per game:  11th (1.68)
Scoring:  15th (5.71)
Batting average:  22nd (.306)

On Deck...
The Rams host New Mexico April 26-27.  First pitch both days is scheduled for 1 p.m. MT at Ram Field.

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