Click here to view the complete game notes (PDF)

THIS WEEK: The PSU softball team (17-15, 5-3 PCSC) travels up Interstate 5 to play a four-game PCSC Mountain Division series at SeattleU. The Vikings and Redhawks (9-25, 5-3 PCSC) are currently tied with Utah Valley for second place in the Mountain Division, two games back of first-place Northern Colorado (7-1).

GAMES 33 & 34
at Seattle (9-25, 5-3 PCSC)
Friday, April 22  •  12 p.m.  •  Doubleheader
Seattle, WA  •  Logan Field

GAMES 35 & 36
at Seattle (9-25, 5-3 PCSC)
Saturday, April 23  •  12 p.m.  •  Doubleheader
Seattle, WA  •  Logan Field

HOW TO FOLLOW THE VIKS THIS WEEK: All four games this weekend at SeattleU will feature live audio through GoViks.com and live stats. Softball Sports Information Director Ryan Borde will call the action. Links for everything can be found under the LIVE EVENTS tab on GoViks.com.

PSU-SEATTLE SERIES INFO
Overall: PSU leads 12-2
At Logan Field: First Meeting
Streak: PSU 5
Last PSU Win: PSU 10, SU 2 (5); 3/12/11 @ Husky Softball Classic, Seattle, WA
Last SU Win: SU 6, PSU 4; 3/14/10 @ Husky Softball Classic, Seattle, WA

PSU-SEATTLE SERIES NOTES: The Vikings have won five straight over Seattle, including a 10-2 win in five innings earlier this year at the Husky Softball Classic in Seattle ... PSU leads the all-time series, 12-2, and has won 9 of 10 ... last year, PSU swept the four-game PCSC series, but the Redhawks did claim a 6-4 win at the Husky Softball Classic in the first meeting of 2010 ... the Vikings won the four-game series last year by a combined score of 18-7. PSU clinched the division title on the first day of the series ... in the game on March 12 of this season, PSU tallied 10 hits and Nichole Latham pitched all five innings, giving up two runs on six hits and one walk with four Ks. PSU's top four hitters in the lineup (Jenna Krogh, Arielle Wiser, Lacey Holm, Alexa Morales) all hit 2-for-3. Krogh and Wiser both drove in two runs, while Holm drove in four. Sadie Lopez also went 2-for-3 ... career wise against the Redhawks, Latham is 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA and 29 Ks in 30 innings. SU has hit just .178 against her ... Bertrand is 2-0 with a 0.51 ERA and 21 Ks in 13.2 IP, and SU has hit only .133 against her ... Holm is hitting .500 (8-16) with 2 HR and 9 RBIs ... Wiser is batting .407 with 3 2B and 5 RBIs ... Morales is hitting .400 (4-10) and Lopez .333 (4-12).

FUTURE AUDIO BROADCASTS: After this weekend's games at Seattle, all 13 remaining regular season contests will be broadcast live over GoViks.com. Teri Mariani will travel with the team for the six games in Colorado later this month and she will also call PSU's final seven home games.

McEACHRAN, LATHAM SWEEP PCSC WEEKLY HONORS: Carly McEachran and Nichole Latham were honored as the Pacific Coast Softball Conference Mountain Division Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, it was announced by the league office on April 19. The duo helped PSU to a four-game sweep of Idaho State over the weekend. McEachran led the charge offensively, batting 6-for-9 for a .667 average. Four of her hits went for extra bases as she belted two doubles, a triple and her team-leading fourth home run. She scored five runs, drove in six more and had a hit in all four games. On Saturday, McEachran came off the bench in the opener to drive in a run in the seventh inning. The Vikings trailed 1-0 going into their final turn at bat, but scored four runs in the frame to pull out a 4-3 victory. PSU scored all four runs with two outs and McEachran's single to left field brought in Danielle Lynn to make the score 3-1. McEachran then doubled and had a sacrifice bunt in PSU's 3-2 victory in the second contest. On Sunday, McEachran hit a two-run double during the Vikings' eight-run third inning of game one and also scored twice as PSU claimed a 12-2 win in five innings. She then capped off the weekend with the first three-hit game of her career, going 3-for-4 with a career-best three RBIs. McEachran had a RBI-triple in the second inning and two-run homer in the sixth to help the Vikings take the game, 13-5 in six innings. With her impressive weekend at the plate, McEachran raised her batting average 46 points to .267. In the circle, Latham picked up two victories, going 2-0 with a 2.80 ERA in 10 innings of work. She struck out 12, walked seven, gave up 11 hits and allowed five runs, four of which were earned. Latham worked six innings in the series opener on Saturday, earning the decision after allowing eight hits, three runs and three walks with a season-high eight Ks. The next day she upped her record to 10-7 after getting the win in game one. Latham pitched four innings, scattering three hits, walking four and striking out four. She gave up just two runs, only one earned. For McEachran, this is her first career weekly honor, and for Latham this is the fourth honor this season and the ninth of her career. On the year, PSU has received three division player of the week awards and five pitcher of the week honors.

BACK ON TRACK: After a disappointing PCSC-opening weekend in which they lost three of four at home to Utah Valley, the Vikings bounced back by sweeping four games at Idaho State this past weekend. The Vikings won a pair of close games on Saturday, 4-3 and 3-2, and had to rally in the seventh of the opener after trailing 1-0 going into their final turn at bat. On Sunday, PSU's offense finally got in a grove, batting .481 and pounding out 26 hits in the doubleheader sweep. The Viks won the first game, 12-2 in five innings, and the second contest, 13-5 in six. The four victories thrust the Vikings back into contention for the Mountain Division title. At 5-3, PSU is tied with SeattleU and Utah Valley for second place, two games back of first-place Northern Colorado (7-1).

SUPER SENIOR: Vikings senior Arielle Wiser has played in all 202 games during her career, starting 201 of them. All of her starts have come at shortstop and she has started 189 straight games dating back to her freshman season. Wiser already ranks first all-time at Portland State in sacrifice hits with 39 and also joined the top 10 in hits and runs scored earlier this year. This past weekend, Wiser moved up from a tie for eighth to a tie for fifth in hits (184), from a tie for ninth to a tie for fifth in doubles (25), from a tie for 10th to eighth in games played and from 10th to eighth in at-bats (620). She also ranks fifth in runs (102). Wiser has been especially hot at the plate since the start of conference play, batting a team-best .444 (12-27) with five doubles and six RBIs.

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), tied for third in appearances (117), fifth in strikeouts (378) and strikeout ratio (4.91), sixth in winning percentage (.554/46-37), seventh in wins (46) and eighth in games started (80) and innings pitched (538.2). This last weekend, her two victories bumped her up one slot in the record book, while she also moved up one spot in appearances and innings pitched.

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 10-7 and is second in the PCSC in ERA (1.96) and wins. She also ranks sixth in opponent batting average (.256), seventh in innings pitched (107.1) and strikeouts looking (21) and ninth in strikeouts (61). Latham limited top-ranked UCLA to just two hits in four innings on Feb. 19 and has pitched three 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 115 strikeouts this year to lead the PCSC and 333 in her career to rank sixth on the Park Blocks. In the PCSC, she also leads all pitchers in opponent batting average (.223), while ranking second in strikeouts looking (38), tied for fifth in wins (7) and ninth in innings pitched (106.1). In eight of her 15 starts, Bertrand has recorded at least seven Ks. Bertrand has two double-digit strikeout performance this year and eight in her career.

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 25 of 32 games. She leads the Viks in runs (20), stolen bases (5) and triples (4), and is second in batting average (.350) and on-base percentage (.387). Krogh has also tallied a lead-off hit in 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. After a fast start to this season, Krogh had struggled in recent weeks, prompting Echo-Hawk to bat her ninth on Sunday at Idaho State. Krogh responded by going a combined 4-for-5 with three runs scored and a triple.

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 in the PCSC she ranks fifth in batting average (.378) and tied for fifth in RBIs (24). Holm, who has hit three homers, has already surpassed her home run (2) and RBI (19) totals of a year ago, and her batting average hovered around the .400 mark during much of the preseason. Additionally, she has recorded at least one hit in 24 of the 29 games that she has an at-bat in.

WALK THIS WAY: One year after leading the Vikings in walks, sophomore Danielle Lynn is again doing so with 11 in 2011. Lynn has racked up those nine walks despite ranking sixth on the team in at bats. Last year she had 19 walks while ranking ninth on the team in at bats. With 30 walks in her one-plus seasons on the Park Blocks, Lynn should easily join the PSU top 10 as the tenth slot is held down by three players who had 39 walks in their PSU careers.