CHICO – The Chico State softball team continues to better its chances at earning an NCAA postseason bid, but with just eight games left in the regular season, the Wildcats are still on the outside looking in for an invite to the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament. Chico State, climbing from seventh to No. 6 in the latest NCAA West Region rankings, travel to Hayward for an important four-game conference series Friday and Saturday against Cal State East Bay.
The Wildcats, coming off a split of last weekend’s four-game set with San Francisco State, are 20-17 on the year and in seventh place in the CCAA with a 13-14 conference mark. Chico State will need to finish strong against Cal State East Bay and in next weekend’s regular season finale versus Cal State Stanislaus to overtake the three other schools vying for the fourth and final CCAA Championship Tournament berth – the ’Cats enter this weekend’s action trailing fourth place Cal State San Bernardino by three games, 2½ games behind fifth place Cal State Dominguez Hills, and a half game back of sixth place San Francisco State.
Chico State will be looking for its offense to come alive against Cal State East Bay, which surrenders an average of just under five runs a game. Despite exceptional pitching last weekend by Wildcat starters Jessica McDermott and Kacie McCarthy – the pair combined to give up just two earned runs and 11 hits in 30 innings of work – Chico State could only manage five total runs to earn a split of the four-game series with the Gators. Charlotte Honciano (.350) ranks as the lone Wildcat batting over .300 entering the weekend, with Christine Johnson hitting .293 and Rachel Failla – who leads the team with 18 RBI – batting at a .282 clip.
McCarthy and McDermott each picked up their ninth win of the season last weekend, with McCarthy climbing to sixth in the CCAA with a 2.46 ERA. McDermott’s 97 strikeouts ranks seventh among conference hurlers, and she stands just three K’s shy of becoming the first Chico State pitcher to post back-to-back seasons of at least 100 strikeouts since Katie Stokx and Kristin Paese both accomplished the feat in 2004-05.
Cal State East Bay comes into the weekend with a 12-28 season record and sits in last place in the CCAA with a 5-23 conference mark. The Pioneers have struggled in April, losing eight straight, including four in a row last weekend against Cal State Stanislaus; East Bay has also dropped its last nine conference games. The Pioneers are led by junior outfielder Nikki Freiberg, batting .292 on the year, and senior catcher Rachelle Boone, hitting .287 with a team-high 19 RBI. Freshman infielder Sara Holdridge is batting just .231, but is East Bay’s main power threat, with five home runs this season. Junior pitcher Cat Schorn leads the Pioneer staff with seven victories, and freshman Lauren Zweigle, despite just five wins on the season, is the CCAA’s top strikeout pitcher with 114 K’s to her credit.
The first of two doubleheaders between Chico State and Cal State East Bay gets underway at 1:00 Friday afternoon at Pioneer Field, with Saturday’s twinbill slated to start at noon.
