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THIS WEEK: The Portland State softball team (25-23, 15-5 PCSC) will square off with the Gaels of Saint Mary's College (26-21, 15-4) in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference Championship series on Moraga, Calif. for the second time in the last three years. The best two-out-of-three series will begin on Friday, May 11 with one game slated to start at 3 p.m. PDT. The second will be on Saturday at 12 p.m. with a third game to follow if necessary.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW THE VIKS THIS WEEK: The PCSC Championship series can be heard live, online at GoViks.com, with Teri Mariani calling the action. Live Stats will also be provided through GoViks.com. Live stats for the series can be found at www.smcgaels.com.
 
THE REMATCH: This weekend's PCSC Championship Series is a rematch of the inaugural series in 2010 in which the Gaels took in three games. The Vikings took the first game of the series 1-0 with a run in the top of the seventh. The Gaels then took the second game of the series by a score of 3-0 forcing the rubber-match. Both teams scored two runs in the first inning. The Vikings added one in the second but the Gaels put four on the board to take the 6-3 lead. Each team added a run in the sixth with the Gaels taking the series by a final score of 7-4 in game three.
 
PSU-SMC SERIES TIDBITS: The Vikings and Gaels faced each other once this year in the PCSC Crossover Tournament that the Gaels hosted in Moraga, Calif. The Vikings went 3-1 in the tournament with their one loss coming at the hands of the Gaels by a score of 2-1. Anna Bertrand threw six innings and gave up just the two runs in the losing effort. The Vikings lead the all-time series with the Gaels 31-18. The Series in Moraga is tied at 14-14.
 
A QUICK LOOK AT THE GAELS: The Gaels come into the championship series with a 26-21 overall record after posting a 15-4 PCSC record to win the Costal Division title. Michelle Mounts leads the team with a .397 batting average. She is tied for the team lead with 58 hits and has a team-best 13 doubles. Brittany and Rebecca Sabatini provide the power for the Gaels accounting for nine and eight home runs respectively. Jessica Lemmon has thrown 147.0 innings allowing 61 earned runs for a team best 2.90 between the two main starters. She has also racked up 100 strikeouts on the season while posting a record of 13-10. Britany Linton is 11-7 on the season and has started 21 games for the Gaels with a 3.80 earned run average.
 
STRENGTH VS. STRENGTH: The Vikings pitching staff that has the best team ERA in the league (2.54) will face the PCSC's best hitting team. The Gaels come into the championship series with a team batting average of .293. In the final weekend of the regular season, the Vikings faced Weber State who came into the weekend as the then best hitting team in the league. The Vikings held the Wildcats in check allowing just 15 hits in 101 at bats for a .149 batting average.
 
VIKINGS SWEEP WILDCATS FOR MOUNTAIN DIVISION: The Vikings took the first two games of their four-game series against the Wildcats to clinch the PCSC Mountain Division title. Anna Bertrand threw back-to-back complete game shutouts of the Wildcats to pick up her 19th and 20th wins of the season with two 2-0 wins. Raya Johnson started the final two games of the series and picked up two wins after the Vikings took the third game of the series by a score of 6-1. The Vikings took the final game of the series by a score of 4-2 to finish the series sweep.
  
BERTAND EARNS RECORD EIGHTH PCSC PITCHER OF THE WEEK AWARD: Junior pitcher Anna Bertrand picked up her Pacific Coast Softball Conference record eighth pitcher of the week honor this season. The junior from McMinnville, Ore. now has 15-career pitcher of the week honors, which ties her for the most in PCSC history. She ties Tiffany Pagano who picked up 15-career honors from 2005-08 at Loyola Marymount. Bertrand threw back-to-back complete game shutouts against Weber State on Saturday to secure the Mountain Division title for the Vikings. The Wildcats came into the weekend as the top hitting team in the conference but hit just .131 against Bertrand. She threw all 14 innings against Weber State on Saturday and gave up only seven hits while striking out 21 batters to pick up two wins. She added three innings in relieve to close out the series and picked up her second save of the season. She is now the all-time career leader in saves at Portland State with six.