ARCATA — Playing only two of their scheduled six games in the Best of the West Invitational last week, the Humboldt State softball team opens California Collegiate Athletic Association play this weekend in Carson as they face off against the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros in a five-game series over the weekend.

The Jacks (1-1) play a double header on Friday and another on Saturday with first pitches scheduled for 1 p.m. and 11 a.m. respectively.  The Friday and Saturday games will be the conference opening series for each team.  The squads will play a single non-conference game on Sunday that will not be counted among their conference stats.  First pitch for the Sunday single game is 10 a.m.

Live Stats
All Lumberjack softball home games can be tracked online by using the Live Stats feature on hsujacks.com. Real time statistics, momentum tracker and other information are featured on the game viewer. The feature can be found at http://www.sidearmstats.com/humboldt/softball/.

Lumberjack Links
Following are links to more information on the Lumberjacks softball program:

Roster
Schedule
Statistics

Lumberjacks Notes
Humboldt State has been picked to win the regular season CCAA title as selected by the conference's head coaches in their annual preseason poll. In addition the Jacks were ranked 11th in the nation in the National Fastpitch Coaches Poll. … HSU returns four top starters on offense including Daktronics & NFCA All-West Region and All-CCAA first-team performer Nikki Ketteringham (.365 AVG, 76 H, 45 R, 13 2B, 6 HR, 25 RBI), Lindsay Warren (.347 AVG, 59 H, 12 2B 10 HR, 44 RBI) a Daktronics All-West Region honoree, Felicia Viveiros, first-team All-CCAA (.299 AVG, 41 H, 29 R, 7 HR, 25 RBI) and Geneva Perrine (.307 AVG, 50 H, 37 R, 10 SB, 18 BB).  In the circle Gracie Perez (19-9, 3.11 ERA, 134 K, 175.2 IP) is the teams top returner.  Newcomers pitcher Vaneza Hoover and first baseman Chrissy Stalf, catcher Courtney Hiatt and outfielder Gia Hampton are expected to contribute immediately. … Head Coach Frank Cheek was elected to the NFCA Hall of Fame in December after reaching the 1,000th career win plateau last year.  Entering the season he has an overall record of 1,018-264-1. … Last week the Jacks played in the annual Best of the West Invitational.  They defeated San Francisco State in game one behind the strong pitching of Perez (7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER) and the hitting of Hiatt (2-for-4, 3 RBI, 1 R).  In game two, against Cal State Monterey Bay, HSU got a strong pitching performance by Hoover (6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER), but left 11 runners on base in a 2-0 loss.

Cal State Dominguez Hills Notes
The Toros (2-0) participated in the rain shortened Best of the West Invitational in Turlock over the weekend.  They defeated Central Washington 3-0 and Davis & Elkins 9-0.  Freshman pitcher Lauren Harper won both games.  She pitched a total of 10.0 innings giving up eight hits and striking out eight over two games. …Cal State Dominguez Hills finished the 2009 season in sixth place in the CCAA with a 17-15 league mark and 35-23 overall record. They have returned six starters among their seven letterwinner back from last season.  Their offense is led by reigning CCAA Freshman of the Year and second-team All-CCAA selection Emiley McEwen (.381 AVG, 64 H, 7 HR, 35 RBI in 2009) and seniors Katie Jordan and Katie Garcia, both second-team All-CCAA honorees.  The Toros have been picked to finish sixth in the CCAA preseason poll.

Head-to-Head
The Jacks lead Cal State Dominguez Hills 23-12 in the all-time series. Last season the teams split the four-game series in Arcata.  The Jacks won both openers 9-0 and 5-2, but dropped the second game each day, 6-2 and 6-5 respectively.

Head Coach Frank Cheek's Comments
“I was pleased with the way our entire team played particularly the freshman. (Gia) Hampton hit well, had two sacrifices and two walks.  She is a good number two hitter.  (Chrissy) Stalf, right now, has not weakness at the plate.  She has worked very hard on her hitting and this weekend saw the results.  (Courtney) Hiatt hit the ball hard and handled the pitcher well. (Vaneza) Hoover threw the ball well and deserved a win. So, overall I was pleased with all our young players.” … “In all aspects of the game (hitting, pitching and defense) I was happy with our performance.” … “Dominguez Hills is always tough at home.  With the way their field is configured, right field becomes very tough late it the day and with a 1 p.m. start on Friday we might have trouble getting both games in. Traditionally they have a lot of speed.  They will bunt and steal.  They won both their games over the weekend (at the BWI), but the level of competition was below what they will start to see as we get into conference play.”