CHICO – For three weeks, the Chico State softball team couldn’t get on the field. Now, the Wildcats seem to be living between the chalk lines. In the midst of a stretch that will see the team play 12 games in nine days, the ’Cats host Cal State East Bay Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon at University Softball Field. The four-game set is a makeup of the originally scheduled Feb. 18-19 series, which was postponed due to rain. Tuesday’s doubleheader is scheduled to start at 1 p.m., with Wednesday’s twinbill beginning at noon.
Chico State, 9-4 overall and in third place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) with a 6-2 conference mark, will be just three days removed from splitting a four-game series with San Francisco State over the weekend. The Wildcats won the first two games Friday, only to see the Gators return the favor Saturday, beating the ’Cats 2-0 and 4-3. The losses snapped Chico State’s six-game winning streak.
The Wildcats, despite collecting just 19 hits in the four San Francisco State games, are still batting .279 as a team, tied for fifth best in the CCAA. Chico State’s pitching staff is ranked third in the conference with a team earned run average of 1.92. Individually, Britt Wright leads the CCAA batting race with a .442 average, while ranking fourth in the conference with eight stolen bases. Sam Baker is No. 2 among CCAA pitchers in both ERA (0.75) and strikeouts (79), and is tied for third in victories (7).
Cal State East Bay comes to Chico with a 7-9 season record; the Pioneers are in eighth place in the CCAA with a 4-8 conference mark. East Bay has been an up-and-down team so far this year – after losing five of six early in the season, the Pioneers upended Cal State Monterey Bay four straight Feb. 26-27 in Hayward. But over the weekend, East Bay dropped four in a row to Cal State Stanislaus, and was outscored by the Warriors 21-8.
The Pioneers are hitting just .215 as a team – ninth in the CCAA – but East Bay’s pitching staff ranks fifth in the conference with a 3.06 team ERA. The Pioneers’ top hitter is senior second baseman Kassandra Winger, batting .316 on the season; junior utility player Jamie Yaller provides most of the team’s extra-base pop with three home runs and nine runs batted in. Sophomore Lauren Zweigle and freshman Kelly Lowe are East Bay’s main starting pitchers – Lowe is 2-3 with a 2.92 ERA, while Zweigle is 1-3 with a 3.72 ERA.
Chico State holds a 42-31 edge over the Pioneers in the all-time series between the two teams. The Wildcats won all four meetings with East Bay in 2010, outscoring the Pioneers by a combined score of 27-1 Apr. 16-17.
Fans unable to attend Tuesday or Wednesday’s doubleheaders in person can follow the action on the Internet via LiveStats, available through the Wildcat Athletics website.
