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Easton Desert Classic • Feb. 14-16 • UNLV • Las Vegas, Nev. 
vs. Cal State Fullerton Titans (2-2); Friday, Feb. 15; 9 a.m.
vs. UNLV Rebels (2-3); Friday, Feb. 15; 1:30 p.m.
vs. BYU Cougars (2-3); Saturday, Feb. 16; 1:30 p.m.
vs. Nevada Wolfpack (3-2); Saturday, Feb. 16; 6:00 p.m.
vs. California Golden Bears (2-2); Sunday, Feb. 17; 9:00 a.m.

FIRST PITCH
THIS WEEK: The Portland State Vikings (2-4 overall) head to Las Vegas, Nev. this week to take part in the Easton Desert Classic hosted by the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV). The Vikings will play five games at the Desert Classic starting with the Cal State Fullerton Titans Friday, Feb. 19 at 9 a.m.

FOLLOW THE VIKINGS: Fans can follow the Vikings throughout the Easton Desert Classic online via live stats and a live audio broadcast. Live stats will be available for most games and links can be found on the softball schedule page at GoViks.com. A live audio broadcast will be available for all but the first game against Cal State Fullerton.

EASTON DESERT CLASSIC: The Vikings have headed to Las Vegas for the Desert Classic for the past seven years. The Vikings went 5-0 their first year at the classic in 2006. The Desert Classic will be played at two sites. It will be played at the Eller Media Stadium in Las Vegas, the home of UNLV softball and at the Stephanie Lynn Craig Park in Henderson, Nev. The Vikings will play UNLV and California at the Eller Media Stadium and their remaining games at SLC Park.

LAST WEEK: The Vikings opened the 2013 season by going 2-4 at the Kajikawa Classic hosted by Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz. The Vikings dropped their season opener to San Jose State 12-2. Senior Carly McEachran started the season hitting a home run on the first pitch she saw as she led off for the Vikings in the bottom of the first against the Spartans. She then hit a pair of home runs in a 2-1 win over Boise State for the Vikings first win of the season. The Vikings lost to No. 20 Stanford 3-1 before dropping a game to Bradley. PSU added a 5-3 win over Kentucky before dropping the final game of the Classic to Indiana. McEachran blasted four home runs on the opening weekend after hitting four all of last year.

THE OPPONENTS
CAL STATE FULLERTON: The Titans enter the weekend 2-2 on the season after splitting a pair of games with Southern Miss and McNeese State. CS Fullerton is hitting .202 as a team while their opponents are hitting just .175. Ariel Tsuchiyama leads the team hitting .500 (5-for-10) with a run scored and two RBIs. She is slugging .700 and has an on-base percentage of .500. The Titans have hit only one home run as a team. They have a team ERA of 1.75 between three pitchers. Jasmine Antunez is 1-2 on the season with a 1.75 ERA. She has pitched a team-high 16 innings, given up four earned runs on seven hits, walked seven, and struck out 26. Opponents are hitting just .118 against her.

UNLV: The Rebels started the season going 2-3 at the Sportco Kick-Off Classic. They started the season losing to DePaul by a score of 9-0. They picked up their first win of the season, 10-1, over Louisville. UNLV is hitting .302 as a team, led by S. Juarez who is hitting .444 (4-for-9) with a pair of runs scored and three RBIs. J. Balilea leads the team in RBIs with six and has one of the team's three home runs. The pitching staff has struggled this season and has a team ERA of 5.91. A. Oliverto has started four games and has thrown 18 1/3 innings this season giving up 13 runs, only seven of which were earned. She has walked 13 and struck out 15.

BYU: The Cougars also enter the weekend 2-3 on the season after picking up wins over Seattle and Idaho State. Their losses have come to Colorado State, Nevada, and Tennessee. BYU is hitting .333 as a team led by Gordy Bravo who is hitting .556 (10-for-18). Bravo has a pair of doubles, four RBIs, four runs scored. BYU has a team ERA of 4.00. The Cougars have two starters who have pitched over 14 innings and each have an ERA of over 4.00.

NEVADA: The Wolf Pack is 3-2 this season and is hitting .364 as a team. They have six players hitting over .300, four over .400, two over .500, and one player hitting .700. Karley Hopkins leads the team hitting .700 (14-for-20) with nine runs scored. She is slugging .850 and has an on-base percentage of .714. Megan Fincher is hitting .375 (6-for-16) and leads the team in home runs with three. The Wolf Pack has struggled pitching thus far this season allowing 31 earned runs in 32 innings for a 6.78 team ERA. Three players have started this season. K. Jones is 1-1 on the season with a team-best ERA of 5.53. She has given up 10 runs; all earned, walked one, and struck out 16.

CALIFORNIA: The Golden Bears are ranked No. 8 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and No. 9 in the USA Today/NFCA poll with a 3-2 overall record. They went 2-2 at the Kajikawa Classic with wins over Cal State Northridge and Indiana and losses to No. 14 Florida and Kentucky. The picked up their third win on Feb. 13 with a 7-0 win at UC Davis. Victoria Jones leads the team hitting .583 (7-for-12) with four runs scored, two doubles, and a home run. The Golden Bears are hitting .336 as a team with five home runs and 26 RBIs. California has a team ERA of 2.33. Jolene Henderson has pitched the majority of the innings for the Bears allowing 12 earned runs and 11 walks while striking out 33.

COMING UP: Following this weekend in Las Vegas, the Vikings return to Tempe, Ariz. for a four-game series with No. 3 Arizona State Feb. 22-24.

NEWS AND NOTES
STARTING WITH A BANG: Senior Carly McEachran started the season the way no Viking ever has. McEachran hit a home run over the left field fence on the first pitch as she led off for the Vikings in the bottom of the first against San Jose State. McEachran hit two more home runs against Boise State and added another against No. 20 Stanford. She hit home runs for her first three hits of 2013. Her four long balls on the opening weekend matched her total from all of 2012.

COMING UP CLUTCH: Freshman Candice Orozco hit a ground-rule double over the center field fence driving in a pair of runs against No. 20 Stanford. The fact that it was Orozco's first career hit as a Viking made it more memorable.  

BLISSFUL BEGINNINGS: Freshman catcher Lauran Bliss has been a blessing for the Vikings after transferring from Texas Tech. She stepped right into the lineup as the starting catcher and leads the Vikings in batting average after going .438 (7-for-16) on the opening weekend. She has a pair of doubles and three RBIs. She is slugging .563 and has an on-base percentage of .500. She has been a big help behind the plate throwing out three runners, including a pair against Kentucky.

PRESEASON POLL: The Portland State softball team enters the 2013 season as the favorite to win the inaugural Big Sky Softball Championship as selected by conference coaches. Portland State finished first in the coaches' poll with 35 points including five first-place votes. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team in the preseason poll.

DOUBLE THE BLISS: With the addition of mid-year transfer Lauran Bliss, the 2013 Vikings will have double the Bliss and double the fun. Lauran Bliss joins junior Becca Bliss on the roster though there is no relation between the two.

2012 PSCS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: The Vikings claimed their second straight PCSC Championship series with a sweep of the Saint Mary's Gaels in Moraga, Calif. The Vikings took the first game 6-1 thanks to a four-run sixth inning capped by a Becca Bliss three-run home run. It was tougher going in the second game but pitcher Anna Bertrand led the Vikings to the series sweep with a complete game three-hit shutout of the Gales. Brittany Hendrickson drove in the only run of the game with a single to right field scoring pinch runner Aubrey Nitschelm from second.

VIKINGS' 2014 NLIS: Head Coach Tobin Echo-Hawk announced the signing of seven players to National Letters of Intent for the 2014 season on Nov. 11. The 2014 recruiting class consists of Amee Aarhus (Camas, Wash./Camas HS), Mackenzie Bourbanis (Tacoma, Wash./Fife HS), Celena Carrisosa (Tracy, Calif./Merrill F. West HS), Alex Flores (Hillsboro, Ore./Liberty HS), Kelsie Gardner (Salem, Ore./South Salem HS), Meagan Hendrix (Puyallup, Wash./Emerald Ridge HS), and Jenna Stanford (Portland, Ore./Lincoln HS).