Last Week: The Jacks split their weekend series against Cal State San Bernardino, losing game one on both days, 2-0 and 5-4, and taking the second game both days, 11-4 and 7-1. Lizzy Prescott pitched 22 innings, giving up five runs, seven doubles and two home runs, while striking out 15 on the weekend. Prescott finished the weekend with a 1.54 ERA after appearing in all four games. Marissa Slattery and Nikki Ketteringham were the Lumberjacks’ big hitters, both posting a .667 batting average for the weekend. Slattery contributed seven runs batted in and one home run. Also contributing a big weekend was Caitlin Klug who led the team with eight RBIs and banging out one double, a triple and a home run with a .429 batting average.
Live Stats: Home games this year will feature LiveStats provided online. Play-by-play and boxscore statistics will available in real time on the hsujacks.com web site. Visit the softball page and click on the LiveStats link in the right menu to access the service free of charge.
Lumberjacks Notes: HSU fell to the No. 2 slot in the conference standings after splitting last weekend’s CCAA series dropped the Jacks to 13-7 in the CCAA. After winning four games over Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State Stanislaus took over the league’s lead with a 16-8 CCAA record. … Heather Bingisser, who was a member of the Jacks for two seasons previously, rejoined the team last week and made her first appearance Friday as a pinch runner. During the weekend series, Bingisser was two-for-two in stolen bases. … HSU has four athletes hitting over .300, topped by Natalie Galletly’s team-leading .417 bating average. She also sets the pace with eight home runs and 46 RBIS, while Slattery is second with 33 RBIs and leads the team with 17 doubles.
Opponents’ Notes: UC San Diego also split four CCAA games last weeken, defeating Cal State Monterey Bay, 6-0 and 6-4 and losing to the Otters, 3-2 and 2-1. The Tritons are third in the CCAA standings with a 13-9 CCAA record and are 28-14 overall. … UCSD has only two athletes batting in the .300s, and a team batting average of .262. “This team is a running team,” Humboldt State head softball coach Frank Cheek said. The Tritons are 54-for-69 in stolen bases, led by Sarah Woofter’s 10 steals in 11 attempts. Jenny Maze leads the team with eight home runs and 23 RBIs, with 11 doubles. Jenni Habib leads the team with 12 doubles.
Head-to-Head: HSU leads UC San Diego with an 11-4 all-time series record, the most recent win a 2-0 decision on May 12, 2007. Earlier this season, the Tritons defeated the Jacks, 5-2 at the Mizuno’s Best of the West Classic in Turlock.
Cheek’s Thoughts: “(UC San Diego) is where they’re at because they’re a big running team and have speed,” said Cheek. “On their line-up, they all steal except for Jenny Maze, who is the team’s long ball hitter.” … “Their pitching staff is just like ours. They have a version of our Lizzy (Prescott) in Melissa Ward. They also struggle with their No. 2, 3 and 4 pitchers, just like us. Ward who has 1.63 ERA and a 13-9 record, is a lefty and was able to strike out our lefty hitters, Nikki Ketteringham and Natalie Galletly, twice earlier this season.” … “Francesca West re-earned the third-base starting position, which is also the best choice because she knows how to get in the face of the batter, especially when it comes time to bunt. With this team, we can stop their running game with forcing them to hit and not bunt. If we take away their bunts and steals, we’ll be okay. We have to be able to neutralize the team’s speed if we plan on beating them. The game will be in our favor if we can catch them stealing and stop their running team.”