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THIS WEEK: The Portland State softball team (6-5) continues its preseason schedule by heading to Sacramento this weekend for the Pacific Coast Softball Conference Crossover Tournament. The Vikings will play four games over three days, starting by taking on host Sac State on Friday at 12:30 p.m. PSU also faces Saint Mary's at 2:30 that day, then closes out by facing Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's game is scheduled for 8:30 a.m., while Sunday's first pitch is slated for 2:30 p.m. Friday's forecast calls for heavy rain in the area. Check GoViks.com for updates on delays or rain outs.

PCSC Crossover Tournament
Sacramento, Calif.  •  Shea Stadium
Feb. 25-27, 2011

OPPONENT, SCHEDULE AND SERIES INFORMATION
Sacramento State (1-5) • Friday, Feb. 25  •  12:30 p.m.
Series Info – Overall: Sac leads 35-15    Streak: Sac 1

Saint Mary's (0-2)  •  Friday, Feb. 25  •  2:30 p.m.
Series Info – Overall: PSU leads 26-19    Streak: SMC 2

Cal State Bakersfield (0-9)  •  Saturday, Feb. 26    8:30 a.m. | Sunday, Feb. 27  •  2:30 p.m.
Series Info – Overall: CSUB leads 15-10    Streak: PSU 2

COVERAGE
Live Audio: HornetSports.com (Available just for Friday's game against Sac State)
Live Stats: HornetSports.com (Available for all games)
• Note: Links for live audio and live stats can be found on GoViks.com under the LIVE EVENTS tab

PCSC CROSSOVER TOURNAMENT FAN INFO: The 2011 PCSC Crossover Tournament, the first of its kind, will feature six teams: Cal State Bakersfield, Idaho State, Portland State, Sacramento State, Saint Mary's and Weber State. All-tournament passes are $25 for adults, $12 for youth ages 13-17 and seniors 65 and older, while kids 12 and under will be admitted free. Single-game tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for youth ages 13-17 and seniors 65 and over, and kids tickets are free. All games will be played at Shea Stadium on Sac State's campus. Live stats are available for every game, while live audio is available just for Sac State games.

LATHAM NAMED PCSC PITCHER OF THE WEEK (FEB. 22): Portland State's Nichole Latham has been named the Pacific Coast Softball Conference Mountain Division Pitcher of the Week for games played Feb. 14-20. A senior righty, Latham went 2-2 with a 0.88 earned run average over 24 innings of work last weekend at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Henderson, Nevada. She tallied 12 strikeouts, went the distance in two of her three starts, and held opposing hitters to a .229 batting average. Against nationally-ranked foes UCLA and Stanford, Latham had a 1.17 ERA and held both teams, which are hitting well over .300, to a combined .256 batting average. Latham started the tourney by coming on in relief against Cal State Northridge on Friday, pitching five innings and allowing just four hits and one run to get the victory. She struck out three and didn't walk a batter. Later that day against No. 18/19 Stanford, Latham suffered the loss as the Cardinal won, 3-1, in eight innings. In a complete-game effort, she gave up eight hits and a pair of earned runs, while striking out three. On Saturday, Latham started and worked four innings against top-ranked and defending national champion UCLA, limiting a potent Bruins' offense to just two hits and one unearned run. She struck out one and walked three, but took the loss in a 3-0 UCLA victory. In her final appearance on Sunday, Latham pitched the Vikings to a 7-1 victory over Cal Poly. In another complete-game performance, Latham scattered five hits and gave up one unearned run while tallying five Ks. Latham's honor marks the second straight week the Vikings have brought home the Mountain Division's Pitcher of the Week Award. Sophomore Anna Bertrand won the season's first award last week. For Latham, this is her sixth career honor. She was a two-time Mountain Division Pitcher of the Week last season, while also winning the PCSC Pitcher of the Week award once in 2008 and twice in 2009.

REWINDING PSU SOFTBALL: The Vikings went 3-2 last weekend at the Louisville Slugger Dessert Classic hosted by UNLV. Portland State defeated Cal State Northridge, 9-5, in their opener on Friday, before losing to No. 18/19 Stanford, 3-1, in eight innings. On Saturday, the Vikings defeated Nevada, 8-0, in five, and then lost a close game to No. 1/1 UCLA, 3-0. Two errors led to the Bruins scoring three unearned runs in the game. On Sunday, the Viks closed by taking down Cal Poly, 7-1. Portland State hit .268 over the five games and belted four homers. Jenna Krogh hit .500 (8-16) with a double and a triple, while Lacey Holm hit .429 (6-14) with one home run and team-high seven RBIs. Danielle Lynn hit .385 (5-13), while doubling and hitting her first homer of 2011, and Arielle Wiser and Crysta Conn both hit .286 (4-14). Conn and Sadie Lopez both hit home runs. In the circle, pitchers Nichole Latham (0.88) and Anna Bertrand (2.80) combined for a 1.44 earned run average. Latham struck out 12 over 24 innings, while Bertrand tallied nine Ks over 10 innings. Latham earned wins against Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly, and Bertrand got the W against Nevada.

ON DECK: Following this weekend's trip to Sacramento, the Vikings will head to Tucson, Ariz., for the Wildcat Invitational. Portland State will play five games over three days, including opening against nationally-ranked, and host, Arizona. PSU also takes on Idaho State, Minnesota, UC Riverside and Utah State. No audio will be available, but live stats will most likely be up through Arizona's website.

PSU-SAC STATE SERIES NOTES: Due to the PCSC splitting into two divisions last spring, the Vikings and Hornets did not play each other for the first time since 2002, when PSU was in its last year as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. In 2009, the Vikings took three of the four games at Erv Lind, winning the first three by scores of 2-0, 10-0 (5) and 4-2 (8). The Hornets took the final game, 6-5 in eight innings. The Hornets held a 16-10 egde in PCSC games, including a 10-2 lead at home. Overall, Sac State maintains a 35-15 lead in the all-time series. The last time these two meet up at Shea Stadium was 2008, with the Hornets winning three of the four games.

PSU-SAINT MARY'S SERIES NOTES: Portland State and Saint Mary's met up last May 14-15, in the inaugural PCSC Championship Series in Moraga. The Vikings took the opener, 1-0, on May 14, before the Gaels swept both games on the 15th by scores of 3-0 and 7-4. That propelled Saint Mary's into the NCAA tournament and kept the Vikings from making their second straight appearance in an NCAA regional. In the all-time series, PSU holds a 26-19 lead. In the final matchups of the original PCSC, the Viks took three of four games at Saint Mary's in 2009. PSU also owned a 18-10 edge in conference games from 2003-2009, and a 9-7 advantage in PCSC games in Moraga. The last time that these two met at a neutral site was in 1992 at the Cal State Hayward tournament. The Vikings won that game, 1-0, in six innings.

PSU-CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD NOTES: Portland State and Cal State Bakersfield last met up in 2008 at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic, with the Vikings taking a 6-5 victory in eight innings. The Vikings have won the last two meetings, but the Roadrunners hold a 15-10 lead in the all-time series, Prior to 2008, they last played in 1998, with Cal State Bakersfield taking two games played in Fremont, Calif., and the Viks winning 5-3 at a tournament hosted by the Roadrunners. PSU is 6-9 in neutral site games played against Cal State Bakersfield. Current Viking senior Nichole Latham started in the 2008 game, allowing five hits and three runs, two of which were earned, and struck out two over four innings.

A GOOD START: At 6-5, the Vikings are off to their best start since the 2006 NCAA tournament team also won six of their first 11 outings. Last weekend in Henderson, Nevada, PSU went 3-2 at the Louisville Slugger Dessert Classic, with both losses coming to nationally-ranked foes.

HOMER HAPPY: With seven home runs already this season, the Vikings are on pace to break last season's total of 19. PSU didn't hit its seventh homer of 2010 until April 10, which came in their 33rd contest. Lacey Holm and Sadie Lopez each have two bombs, while Crysta Conn, Danielle Lynn and Arielle Wiser each have hit one.

LOTS OF TRIPLES: The Vikings have also been racking up triples early in 2011, with five already. Jenna Krogh and Carly McEachran each have hit two, with Alexa Morales tallying the other. Last year, the Vikings didn't record their first triple until their 19th game and didn't tally their fifth triple until game number 35.

HITTING STREAKS: Junior transfer Jenna Krogh is currently on a eight-game hitting streak, with a .444 average (12-27) over that span. Sophomore Danielle Lynn is on a three-game streak and is batting .625 (5-8) with one double, one homer and three RBIs during that time. Junior Lacey Holm had a six-game hitting streak come to an end against No. 1 UCLA on Saturday, but still has at least one hit in the 10 games she has recorded an official at-bat.

IMPROVED OFFENSIVE NUMBERS: Heading into the 2011 season, Head Coach Tobin Echo-Hawk wasn't sure where the offense would come from. The Vikings lost three of the top four hitters from a year ago and welcomed in several new faces this spring. But so far, the Vikings have greatly surpassed the numbers they put up through the first two weeks of 2010. PSU is hitting .259, compared to .212 through the first two weekends of play a year ago (12 games), and has tallied 49 runs, 43 RBIs and seven home runs. Last year at this time they had scored 30 runs, driven in 24 and hit only one homer. The slugging and on-base percentage numbers are significantly improved as well, as PSU is slugging .399 and has an on-base percentage of .338, compared to a .260 slug percentage and .290 on-base percentage last spring. Last year, PSU had just three players hitting over .275 through the first two weeks, while this year there are five over that mark.

THE PITCHING IS BETTER TOO: Just like the offense, the Vikings' pitching has been better through the first two weeks of the season compared to last year. Anna Bertrand and Nichole Latham have a combined 2.74 ERA and have held opponents to a .233 batting average, while last year through the first two weeks the Vikings' pitching staff had a 4.47 ERA and opponents were hitting .269.

SUCCESS STARTS AT THE TOP: Portland State's softball team has experienced great success under Head Coach Tobin Echo-Hawk. Over the past two-plus seasons the Vikings have a 65-58 overall mark and 33-7 conference record under Echo-Hawk, who was an assistant with the program for two seasons before being promoted to the top spot on Sept. 12, 2008. Echo-Hawk was the 2009 PCSC Coach of the Year after leading the Vikings to the conference title and a trip to the NCAA tournament. In 2010, she was voted as the PCSC Mountain Division Coach of the Year after guiding PSU to a 18-2 league mark. The 18 league wins set a school record and also matched the 2007 Loyola Marymount team for the most wins in PCSC history.

SUPER SENIOR: Vikings senior Arielle has played in all 181 games during her career, starting 180 of them. All 180 starts have come at shortstop and she has started 168 straight games dating back to her freshman season. Wiser already ranks first all-time at Portland State in sacrifice hits with 37 and also joined the top 10 in runs scored this past weekend. She now has 89 in her career and is tied for ninth. Wiser can also join the top 10 in several other categories, including doubles (she has 18 and needs five more) and at-bats (she has 550 and needs 53 more).

LATHAM LOOKING TO MOVE UP: Senior right-handed pitcher Nichole Latham will look to move up in several career categories in the PSU record book this season. Latham was the 2009 PCSC Pitcher of the Year and earned first team All-Mountain Division honors last season. In the record book she ranks second in saves (4), fourth in appearances (106), fifth in strikeouts (336) and strikeout ratio (5.01), sixth in winning percentage (.542/39-33), ninth in games started (69) and innings pitched (469.1), and tied for ninth in wins (39). She tallied two wins this past weekend to move into a tie with Michelle Hext (39-49) for ninth place in that category and also moved up from sixth to fourth in appearances. Also, with three more starts she'll bump up to eighth in that category.

PICKING UP RIGHT WHERE SHE LEFT OFF: Sophomore Anna Bertrand picked up right where she left off last season, racking up 39 strikeouts over five appearances during the first weekend of play, Feb. 11-13. She averaged 10.5 Ks per seven innings and matched her career high of 16 Ks against Nevada in her first start of the season. Bertrand had six double-digits strikeout performances a year ago, including recording 16 against Idaho State on April 24, in Portland. In what turned out to be a remarkable freshman campaign, Bertrand tallied 218 Ks, which was the second highest single season mark in PSU history and the sixth best in PCSC history. Now with 48 strikeouts this year and 266 in her career, Bertrand ranks eighth all-time. She needs 3 more Ks to take over the seventh slot and six more to move up to sixth.

SETTING THE TONE: For the first time in her three seasons as the head coach at PSU, Tobin Echo-Hawk has a prototypical leadoff hitter in junior transfer Jenna Krogh. The speedy left spent her first two seasons at Colorado State, batting .346 and stealing 23 bases. So far in 2011, Krogh has set the tone offensively for the Vikings and is the only PSU player with at least one hit in 10 of 11 games. She is currently on a eight-game hitting streak and is second on the team with a .389 batting average and a .450 on-base percentage, while leading the Vikings in runs scored (9), hits (14) and stolen bases (2). Krogh has also tallied a lead-off hit in seven of 11 games this year, including hitting a double in her first ABs in both games against nationally-ranked Stanford and hitting a triple to lead off against Cal Poly.

PROVIDING THE BIG STICK: As mentioned earlier, the Vikings didn't know where the offensive production would come from this season. Gone were Brandi Scoggins, Becca Diede and De'Chauner Skinner, who were 1-2-4 in batting average and also drove in a majority of the team's runs. So far in 2011, it's been junior Lacey Holm who has provided the big stick in the lineup. Holm leads the team in most offensive categories, including batting average (.435), home runs (2), RBIs (12), slugging (.696%) and on-base percentage (.500%). Holm has already matched her home run total of a year ago and is more than halfway to her total of 19 runs driven in last spring.