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THIS WEEK: The PSU softball continues its preseason schedule by heading north up I-5 to play in the Husky Softball Classic, hosted by Washington. The Vikings will play three games over two days, starting with a 9 a.m. contest on Saturday against Oregon State. PSU then faces league-foe Seattle at 2 p.m., before closing against No. 5/6 Washington on Sunday, at 1 p.m.

Husky Softball Classic  •  March 11-13
Seattle, Washington  •  Husky Softball Stadium

GAME NO. 19
vs. Oregon State (7-7)
Saturday, March 12  •  9 a.m.
Overall Series: OSU leads 81-33-1
Streak: OSU 7

GAME NO. 20
vs. Seattle (1-15)
Saturday, March 12  •  2 p.m.
Overall Series: PSU leads 11-2
Streak: PSU 4

GAME NO. 21
at No. 5/6 Washington (16-0)
Sunday, March 13  •  1 p.m.
Overall Series: Washington leads 37-1
Streak: Washington 5

HOW TO FOLLOW THE VIKS THIS WEEK: Gametracker will be available for all three games through Washington's website: GoHuskies.com. As for radio, none will be available on Friday. On Saturday, PSU fans can listen to an internet audio broadcast through Seattle's website: GoSeattleU.com. On Sunday, Washington will provide a live audio/video feed through its website. Links for everything can be found under the LIVE EVENTS tab on the front of GoViks.com.

LATHAM EARNS THIRD STRAIGHT PITCHER OF THE WEEK HONOR (MAR. 8): For the third consecutive week, Portland State's Nichole Latham was named the Pacific Coast Softball Conference Mountain Division Pitcher of the Week on March 8. Latham continued her brilliant start to her final season on the Park Blocks by going 2-1 with a 0.35 ERA over three starts last weekend at the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Arizona. In 20 innings of work, she struck out 11, walked five and allowed just one extra-base hit and one earned run. Opposing batters hit just .162 against her. In her first start at the tourney, Latham threw a one-hitter in the Vikings' 8-0, five-inning win over Idaho State, finishing with a pair of Ks. On Saturday, she suffered the loss against Minnesota, despite allowing just six hits and on earned run. PSU lost the game, 2-0, as Latham tallied five strikeouts and walked one. The senior righty closed out the weekend by pitching all eight innings in Portland State's 5-2 victory over Utah State on Sunday. Latham limited the Aggies to four hits and two unearned runs, while walking one and striking out four. The Vikings have now taken home the first four PCSC Mountain Division Pitcher of the Week awards as sophomore Anna Bertrand won the honor on Feb. 15. For Latham, this is her eighth 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. 

THEIR BEST START IN 14 YEARS: At 11-7, the Vikings are off to their best start since the 1997 team went 14-4 through their first 18 games. In fact, this is just the third time since '97 that PSU has posted a .500 winning percentage or better through 18 games. The 2006 Vikings were 10-8 at this point, while in 2009 they were 9-9.

IT'S AN ANNUAL AFFAIR IN SEATTLE: Portland State is playing in the Husky Softball Classic for the fifth straight year and is 4-12 all-time in the tournament. Eight of their losses have coming to teams that were ranked in the top 25. Last season, the Vikings went 1-3, splitting with Miami (Ohio) and losing to Washington and Seattle.

PSU-OREGON STATE SERIES NOTES: Oregon State has won seven straight over the Vikings and leads the all-time series, 81-33-1 ... last season, the Beavers swept a doubleheader in Corvallis on March 28, before rallying for a 2-1 victory in Portland on April 21. The Vikings led 1-0 going into the final frame, but a two-run single by Ashley Sanchez proved to be the difference ... Portland State's last victory against Oregon State came on May 6, 2008, in the final game of the season for both schools. The Vikings posted a 1-0 shutout in the game ... Saturday's game will the first neutral site contest between these two since 1982, when they played each other at a tournament in Reno ... last year, Carly McEachran was the lone Viking to hit over .300 against OSU, going 2-for-6 (.333).

PSU-SEATTLE SERIES NOTES: Portland State took four of five games from the Redhawks last year and now leads the all-time series, 11-2 ... Seattle defeated PSU, 6-4, in the Husky Softball Classic last season, while the Vikings swept all four PCSC Mountain Division games in Portland, May 8-9 ... the Vikings outscored the Redhawks, 18-7 over the conference series last spring ... in the five games, PSU hit .329 while Seattle hit just .221. Lacey Holm batted .462 (6-for-13) with three doubles, one home run and five RBIs, and Arielle Wiser hit .429 (6-for-14) ... in the circle last spring, Anna Bertrand was 2-0 with a 0.51 ERA and 21 Ks against Seattle, while Nichole Latham was 1-0 with a 0.58 ERA over two appearances.

PSU-WASHINGTON SERIES NOTES: No other team has a more dominant record against the Vikings then Washington. The Huskies are 37-1 all-time against PSU and won the first 31 meetings in the series ... PSU's only victory came at the 2008 Husky Softball Classic. The Vikings pulled out a 4-2 win in eight innings over the 25th-ranked Huskies on March 2 ... since then, the Huskies have won five straight and were ranked number one in the country in every meeeting ... Washington took all three games last year, defeating PSU, 5-0, on March 13 at the Husky Softball Classic, before sweeping the Viks by scores of 3-2 and 7-0 in Portland on March 27 ... over 1,200 fans watched last year's doubleheader at Erv Lind Stadium, setting a new PSU home attendance record ... over the three games last year, Arielle Wiser batted .500 (4-for-8) and Sadie Lopez hit .286 (2-for-7). Pitching-wise, Anna Bertrand faced the Huskies one time, losing 3-2, despite striking out eight in a complete-game effort.

PSU AND RANKED TEAMS: For the eighth straight season, Portland State defeated a ranked team when they rallied for a 4-3 victory in eight innings over No. 16/20 BYU on Feb. 11. The Vikings have now knocked off at least one ranked team every season from 2004 on. Since they moved to a full-time DI schedule in 1999, the Vikings have defeated a ranked foe every year except 2003. The most wins PSU has against ranked opponents in a season is two, set in 2001 and 2007. This year, PSU is 1-4 against ranked foes.

SUPER SENIOR: Vikings senior Arielle Wiser has played in all 188 games during her career, starting 187 of them. All 188 starts have come at shortstop and she has started 175 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 earlier this year. She now has 94 in her career and moved up from seventh to a tie for fifth this past weekend. Wiser can also join the top 10 in several other categories, including doubles (she has 19 and needs four more), at-bats (she has 573 and needs 30 more) and games played (she needs seven more). In the PCSC this year, Wiser ranks second in runs scored (12), fifth in hits (19) and ninth in total bases (23).

SHINING IN HER FINAL SEASON: Nichole Latham will undoubtedly leave the Park Blocks as one of the best pitchers in Portland State history and she is only adding to her resume with a great start to her senior season. Latham is 6-4 with a 1.40 ERA and holding opponents to a .226 batting average. In the PCSC, Latham ranks first in wins, games started (10) and innings pitched (65.0), second in strikeouts (33) and batters struck out looking (15), and fourth in earned run average and opposing batting average. Latham limited top-ranked UCLA to just two hits in four innings on Feb. 19 and has pitched two complete-game shutouts this year.

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. She has 66 strikeouts this year to lead the PCSC and 284 in her career. This past weekend in Arizona, Bertrand moved up from eighth to sixth in Ks at PSU. In the PCSC, she also leads all pitchers in batters struck out looking (21), while ranking second in wins (5) and innings pitched (55.1), fourth in games started (8) and sixth in opposing batting average (.239). In five of her eight starts, Bertrand has recorded at least seven Ks.

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 16 of 18 games. She ranks amongst the league leaders in several categories, including first in hits (22), runs (13) and triples (3), while also ranking third in total bases (30), fifth in stolen bases (3) and eighth in batting average (.367). Krogh has also tallied a lead-off hit in nine of 18 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 and ranks tied for first in the PCSC in RBIs (16), third in batting average (.435), tied for second in hits (20), fourth in total bases (29), seventh in slugging (.630) and eighth in on-base percentage (.481). Holm has already matched her home run total of a year ago and is almost to her total of 19 runs driven in last spring.

LYNN FINDING HER SWING: After a slow start to her sophomore season, Danielle Lynn has batted a team-best .464 (13-for-28) over the past 10 games. She has also tallied all of her 10 RBIs, both of her doubles and her lone home run during that span, while recording a .643 slugging percentage and .559 on-base percentage. Last year, Lynn had a very-respectable .366 on-base percentage, thanks in part to her team-leading 19 walks. This year she is second on the team with a .415 on-base percentage and is tied for the team lead with six free trips.

CONN CONTRIBUTING RIGHT AWAY: Crysta Conn has stepped right in at third base as a true freshman and provided solid defense at the hot corner, while also providing some offense in the middle of the Vikings' lineup. Conn is hitting .280 and is second on the team with 10 RBIs, which ranks her tied for sixth in the PCSC with teammate Danielle Lynn. Conn is the only one of the four freshmen on PSU's roster to start all 18 games. In fact, she is the lone frosh to appear in every game.