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2013 Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament
March 8-10 • University of Hawaii • Honolulu, Hawaii

vs. East Carolina Pirates (8-11); Friday, March 8; 8:00 p.m. PT - Live Stats
vs. #21 Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (13-5); Friday, March 8; 10:00 p.m. PT - Live Stats
vs. #21 Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (13-5); Saturday, March 9; 6:00 p.m. PT - Live Stats
vs. East Carolina Pirates (8-11); Sunday, March 10; 2:00 p.m. PT - Live Stats
vs. # 21 Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine (13-5); Sunday, March 10; 6:00 p.m. PT - Live Stats

FIRST PITCH
THIS WEEK: The Vikings take off for the sunny state of Hawaii this week to play in the 2013 Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament hosted by the University of Hawai'i in Honolulu. Portland State will take on East Carolina twice and play No. 21 Hawai'i three times. Portland opens the tournament with East Carolina on Friday, March 8 at 8 p.m. PT.

FOLLOW THE VIKINGS: Fans can follow each game of the 2013 Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament live online via Live Stats. Links can be found on the PSU Softball schedule page or at HawaiiAthletics.com.

LAST WEEKEND: The Vikings are coming off a 1-4 weekend last week at the 2013 Wildcat Invitational hosted by the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz. Portland State dropped the first day's doubleheader to UC Riverside and Boston University by scores of 1-0 and 8-3 respectively. The Vikings then broke out the bats for an 11-3 win over UC Riverside on Saturday before dropping the second half of the day's doubleheader to No. 17 Arizona by a score of 12-3. Brittany Hendrickson had a breakout game in Saturday's win over UC Riverside going 2-for-2 with a run scored and a three-run home run. She drove in five RBIs in the game. Portland State then dropped the final game of the Invitational to Arizona by a score of 8-1.

EAST CAROLINA: The Pirates enter the weekend with an 8-11 overall record after going 2-3 last weekend at the Wilson/DeMarini Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. They defeated Binghamton and North Dakota but fell to North Carolina, Baylor, and Arizona State. ECU is hitting .293 as a team in 2013 lead by Kristi Oshiro who his hitting .464 (26-for-56). She also leads the team in runs scored (19), doubles (6), triples (4), and on-base percentage (.523). The Pirates have hit 12 home runs on the season, five coming off the bat of Alex Fieldhouse to lead the team. Fieldhouse also leads the team in RBIs (18) and slugging percentage (.800).
The Pirates pitching staff boasts a 3.76 team ERA having given up 66 earned runs in 123 combined innings. Mary Beth Smith leads the way with a 1.73 ERA and a 1-2 record in 24 1/3 innings pitched. Sarah Christian has pitched the most innings at 64 2/3 innings and has a 3.03 ERA to go along with her 6-4 record.

NO. 21 HAWAI'I: The Rainbow Wahine enter the weekend with a 13-5 overall record and as the No. 21 team in the country according to the USA Today/NFCA Coaches' poll. Hawai'i went 4-1 last weekend at its own Bank of Hawaii Invitational. Hawaii is hitting .257 as a team led by Keiki Carlos who is hitting .3347 (17-for-49) on the season. Carlos leads the team in doubles (8) and has 12 RBIs on the season with a pair of home runs. Kelly Majam leads the team in home runs with six. She also has the best slugging percentage (.759) and on-base percentage (.463).

The Hawai'i pitching staff as a 2.61 team ERA and is led by Kaia Parnaby who has pitched the bulk of the innings so far this season. Parnaby has a 1.28 ERA with an 11-2 record. She has struck out 103 in 92 2/3 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting just .193 against Parnaby.

COMING UP: Following this weekend in Hawaii, Portland State has one more tournament weekend on the schedule before opening Big Sky Conference play. The Vikings will take part in the SpringHill Suites Invitational in Boise, Idaho March 16-17. They will play a pair of games against both Utah State and host team Boise State.

NEWS AND NOTES
HENDRICKSON'S BIG DAY: Sophomore Brittany Hendrickson posted a career-day against UC Riverside on March 2 going 2-for-2 with two runs scored and a three-run home run. To top it off she drove in a career-high five RBIs in the game, which is a PSU individual, season high. The last Viking to drive in five RBIs was Alicia Fine against Northern Colorado last spring.

CONSISTENT CONN: Junior Crysta Conn is currently riding a Portland State season-high six-game hitting streak. Conn has recorded a hit in each of her last six games raising her batting average to .283 in the process. She has reached base safely in 14 of the Vikings' 20 games this season via either a hit or a hit by pitch. Her .309 on-base percentage is fifth best on the team. 

SCHEDULING TOUGH: Portland State has by far one of the toughest schedules in the Big Sky Conference. The Vikings have already played eight games against ranked opponents including five straight against top 10 teams. The Vikings have played a ranked opponent each of the first four weeks of the season. They played No. 20 Stanford at the Kajikawa Classic, No. 8 California at the Easton Desert Classic, No. 3 Arizona State for a four-game set, and No. 17 Arizona at the Wildcat Invitational. The schedule does not lighten this week as the Vikings take on No. 21 Hawaii three times at the 2013 Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament.

FINDING THE LONG BALL: The Vikings have hit 18 long balls through their first 20 games this season. That puts them on a pace for 48 home runs on the season after hitting just 27 in 2012.The school record for team home runs in a season is 49 set by the 2006 squad. 

TRIFECTA: Coming into the 2013 season, the Vikings had not hit three home runs in a single contest since an 11-0 win over Weber State during the 2011 season. Through the first 20 games this season, Portland State has hit three home runs in a game three times. The Vikings first blasted a trio of long balls in a 5-3 win over BYU on Feb. 16. They hit three home runs in a game again on Feb. 22 off Dallas Escobedo in a 6-5 loss in 12 innings at No. 3 Arizona State. The most recent offensive explosion came in an 11-3 rout of UC Riverside on March 2. The one common denominator is senior Alexa Morales. Morales has hit a home run in each of the three games in which the Vikings have hit three as a team. 

ONE FINE WEEK: Sophomore shortstop Alicia Fine led the Vikings hitting .417 (5-for-12) at the Easton Desert Classic in Las Vegas, Nev. Her five hits led the team as did her two doubles. She also blasted her first home run of the season in a 5-3 win over BYU. She drove in three runners on the weekend and dropped down a pair of sacrifice bunts. She had a .833 slugging percentage and a .417 on-base percentage on the weekend. She entered the tournament hitting .188 and raised her average nearly 100 points to .286. She started the tournament going 2-for-3 with a run scored while driving in the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth in a 3-2 win over Cal State Fullerton. She then hit her first home run of the season to give the Vikings a lead against BYU. In the final game of the weekend she hit a pair of doubles off No. 8 California while driving in a run.

ARIZONA STATE: The Vikings dropped a four-game series with No. 3 Arizona State Feb. 22-24 in Tempe, Ariz. The series could easily have gone to a 2-2 split as the Vikings lost two games by a combined two runs. PSU dropped the series opener 6-5 in a 12-inning marathon. The Vikings led twice in the game including in the ninth but ASU came back to tie it and then won it in the 12th. ASU took the next two games in five innings by scores of 19-2 and 9-0 respectively. The Vikings held a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the seventh in the series finale but could not get the final three outs to secure the win as Arizona State plated three runs to win it 4-3.

EASON DESERT CLASSIC: The Vikings went 2-3 at the Easton Desert Classic hosted by UNLV in Henderson and Las Vegas, Nev. PSU opened the weekend up with a 3-2 win over Cal State Fullerton thanks to an Alicia Fine game-winning single in the bottom of the sixth. After the Vikings lost to UNLV, they defeated the BYU Cougars, 5-3, behind a trio of home runs. PSU then closed out the weekend with losses to Nevada and then-No. 8 California. Fine hit .417 (5-for-12) with a home run to lead the Vikings on the weekend.

KAJIKAWA CLASSIC: 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 leading 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.

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 she saw leading 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. What makes the hit even better is the fact that it was Orozco's first career hit as a Viking.  

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.

TOURNAMENT WIN: With the Vikings 2-0 win over Mississippi State at the NCAA Eugene Regional, the Vikings picked up their second NCAA Division I Tournament win and the first since 2006. It was also Head Coach Tobin Echo-Hawk's first career tournament win.

2012 NCAA EUGENE REGIONAL: The Vikings advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season in 2012 and the third time in the last four years. Portland State lost its tournament opener to Oregon before defeating Mississippi State 2-0 for its first tournament win since 2006. The regional came to an end with a 2-0 loss to BYU.

2012 PSCS CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: The Vikings claimed their second straight PCSC Championship series by sweeping 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.

2012 PCSC MOUNTAIN DIVISION CHAMPIONS: The Vikings won their third consecutive PCSC Mountain Division championship in 2012 after going 15-5 in conference play. They went 7-1 over their final eight conference games to secure the title.

2012 POST-SEASON AWARDS: The Vikings cleaned up the 2012 PCSC Mountain Division claiming three of the four individual awards. Anna Bertrand was named the unanimous Pitcher of the Year while Alicia Fine was named the Freshman of the Year. Head Coach Tobin Echo-Hawk was named the Coach of the Year. Six Vikings earned Mountain Division honors. Jenna Krogh, Karmen Holladay, Bertrand and Fine were named to the first team while Crysta Conn and Carly McEachran were named honorable mention. Bertrand was also named to the NFCA Division I Pacific Region Second team for the second straight year in 2012.

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).