ARCATA - After three long trips and 4,000 miles on the road, Humboldt State softball will make its first home appearance of the 2014 season. The No. 4-ranked Lumberjacks will look to their friendly home field to get back to their early season run of success.
HSU suffered its toughest stretch of results last weekend in the Bay Area. The Jacks finished an uncharacteristically 3-3 with three splits from the four-game series at Cal State Monterey Bay and a Sunday twinbill at Dominican University.
HSU starts extended home stretch
After 19 road and neutral site games to open the campaign, HSU will enter its longest stretch of home games of the 2014 season.
The Jacks will entertain their next three CCAA four-game weekend sets and a single twinbill starting this weekend with the Friday/Saturday series against the Wildcats of Chico State.
Following the upcoming four games, HSU will have San Francisco State and Cal State East Bay for two more series, before Cal Baptist wraps up with a single doubleheader.
HSU fall back to familiar spot in latest poll
For the first time in six years, HSU spent the past week as the No. 1 ranked team in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association top 25 poll.
After a rough 3-3 road weekend, the Lumberjacks fell from the top spot to a more familiar spot of No. 4, the same position they started the 2014 season.
Undefeated and previous No. 2 West Texas A&M (17-0) received 15 of 16 first place votes. Alabama-Huntsville (11-2) moved into the second spot up from third.
HSU is tied for No. 4 with Texas Woman's University (14-3) with both programs having 319 points.
Harris leads Jacks weekend hitters
In a weekend of tough hitting production, sophomore Darian Harris posted two of the best games. The catcher helped HSU win the second game against Cal State Monterey Bay last Friday with a 3-for-4 game with a double, a pair of singles and two runs. She helped HSU finish the six-game trip with a double and single to drive in a pair of runs at Dominican.
Jacks series vs. Wildcats
HSU holds an 88-47-2 overall series lead against this week's CCAA opponent, Chico State.
Last season in Arcata, the Wildcats prevailed for the third year in a row against the Jacks by taking three of four. Chico State took four of five in 2012 and three of four two years ago.
Mar. 1, 2013 – Gm. 1: Chico St. 5-0 / Gm. 2: Chico St. 2-1
Mar. 2, 2013 – Game 1: HSU 2-1 / Gm. 2: Chico St. 4-3
Scouting the Chico State (6-7/4-4 CCAA):
The Wildcats recorded their best weekend of the season by capturing wins in three of four league games against the Warriors of Cal State Stanislaus. Chico State swept the first day with scores of 7-2 and 4-1. The home team shut out Cal State Stanislaus, 2-0, before dropping the series finale, 11-3.
• Recorded an even 24-24 mark last season and 21-15 record to tie for 4th in the CCAA
• Coached by 5th-year head coach Angel Shamblin, who has a 129-89 record.
• UC San Diego claimed three of four from Chico State the previous weekend.
• Last in CCAA in batting average (.268) and slugging percentage (.332)
• Amanda Cordeiro leads the CCAA in on base percentage (.583), while hitting .444 (12-for-27).
HSU among the CCAA ranks
• Lead in home runs (31); 2nd in both RBI (105) and slugging percentage (.532)
• Tiffany Hollingsworth – 1st in RBI (22), 2nd in home runs (6), 3rd in doubles (7), 4th in hits (25) and 5th in slugging percentage (.758)
• Katie Obbema – 1st in wins (8) and saves (3); 2nd in complete games (9) and 6th in ERA (2.42)
• Hannah Williams – 1st in walks (21)
-GoJacks-
