CHICO – You can certainly forgive the Chico State softball team for being a little impatient and chomping at the bit to get on the field. After seeing its first four games of the season rained out last weekend, the Wildcats finally get the 2015 season underway this week with a pair of home doubleheaders. Thursday the 'Cats welcome Hawaii-Hilo to University Softball Field, with Southern Oregon in town for two on Sunday. Both doubleheaders are slated to get underway at 12 p.m.
The Wildcats were originally scheduled to open up last weekend in the Cal State Stanislaus-hosted Best of the West Invitational, but rain and soggy field conditions wiped out the two-day tournament before it even started. As a result, the Wildcats had four important pre-conference contests erased from their schedule.
The forecast this week, however, promises ideal weather conditions for Chico State to kick off the 2015 campaign…and now they get to do it in front of the Wildcat faithful.
The 'Cats are hoping this weekend continues a multi-year trend of consistent winning at home. Since Head Coach Angel Shamblin took over the program in 2010, Chico State has won 61 of 92 games (a .663 winning percentage) at University Softball Field.
Hawaii-Hilo, Chico State's Thursday opponent and a member of the Pacific West Conference, is starting out 2015 with an intense West Coast swing that begins this week with doubleheaders against Sonoma State Tuesday and Wednesday versus Cal State Monterey Bay. Following Thursday's twinbill with the Wildcats, the Vulcans will play back-to-back doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday against Dominican and double dips next week against Cal State Stanislaus and San Francisco State before flying back to the islands.
Hawaii-Hilo finished 2014 with an overall record of 22-20 and was sixth in the Pac West with a 15-14 conference mark.
Thursday will mark the first time the Wildcats and Vulcans have met on the softball field in nearly three years, and the first time ever that Hawaii-Hilo has faced off with the 'Cats in Chico. The Wildcats won the last meeting 7-0 back on April 1, 2012 during the Mizuno Tournament of Champions, but the Vulcans lead the all-time series 8-3.
Southern Oregon, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) school, will already have played a dozen games by the time they square off with the Wildcats Sunday. The Raiders, 4-0 to start the season, come to Chico after a Wednesday doubleheader with Hope International University and competing Friday and Saturday in a tournament hosted by Simpson University in Redding.
Southern Oregon has been picked to finish fifth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) preseason coaches' poll, and is looking to improve on its 15-23 record and fourth place CCC finish of a year ago.
Sunday will be just the second time Chico State and Southern Oregon have met on the softball field...and the first time was nearly 14 years ago. The two teams split a doubleheader way back on March 31, 2001 at University Softball Field – following a 9-0 Wildcat win in the opener, Southern Oregon took the nightcap 3-2 in a 14-inning marathon that took nearly three-and-a-half hours to complete.
Fans unable to attend in person can follow the action of both softball doubleheaders online via Live Stats, available through the Wildcat Athletics website.
