CSUN Softball Travels to Las Vegas for DeMarini Desert Classic

Friday, February 19

Henderson, Nev.

9:00 a.m.

California State University at Northridge

Weber State

Photo by: Braden Villanueva

CSUN Softball Travels to Las Vegas for DeMarini Desert Classic

2/17/2016 11:20:00 AM | Softball

Matadors Face Five Regional Opponents in Sin City

By: by Geoffrey Herberg

Complete Release in PDF Format

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. --- The CSUN softball team (3-2) travels to Las Vegas, NV to participate in the DeMarini Desert Classic. The Matadors play five games at Stephanie Lynn Craig Park beginning Friday, Feb. 19 with a 9 a.m. contest against Weber State and a 11:15 a.m. game against Portland State. On Saturday, Feb. 20, the Matadors face Wichita State at 9 a.m. and then take on Colorado State at 1:30 p.m. CSUN concludes its time at the event with a game against Utah State on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 9 a.m. Updates throughout the weekend will come via the Matadors' official Twitter account (@CSUNSoftball) and full game recaps and box scores will be posted on GoMatadors.com.

Last weekend, the Matadors went 3-2 in their time at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, AZ. CSUN posted wins over Creighton, Utah State and Stanford at the event. In the circle, Daphne Pofek went 2-1 with a 2.94 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 16.2 innings of work. She fanned a career-high 10 strikeouts in the win over the Bluejays while Katie Chenault picked up the first win of her CSUN career and Rebecca Bell recorded her first career save.

At the plate, Savannah Horvath homered in the season opener for the second-straight year and added two doubles and two stolen bases in the five games. Taylor Glover (.357), Katie Hooper (.333) and Maylynn Mitchell (.300) also all had strong weekends at the plate and the team combined for nine extra-base hits in the five games.

This week offers five tough tests for the Matadors. Weber State is 4-2 on the year and carries a team batting average of .322 into the weekend. The Wildcats mashed six home runs and six doubles and scored 36 runs over their first six games of the year. In the circle, Weber State carries a team ERA of 2.21 and opponent batting average of .268 in 38 innings of work. CSUN and Weber State are tied 2-2 in the all-time series between the schools.

Portland State is 0-5 on the year after opening its season at the Kajikawa Classic. The Vikings are batting .311 as a team, sport a .373 on-base percentage and have scored 16 runs in their first five games of the season. In the circle, the Vikings own a team ERA of 9.84 with an opponent batting average of .382 in 26.1 innings of work. CSUN leads the all-time series with Portland State 10-3 and has won the last two meetings.

Wichita State is 2-3 on the year after opening the season at a tournament at Texas A&M. As a team, the Shockers are batting .245 with eight doubles, two home runs and 21 runs scored in their first five games. In the circle, Wichita State sports a team ERA of 6.09 with an opponent batting average of .299 in 34 innings of work. CSUN and Wichita State have met only once in softball, with the Matadors taking a 10-4 decision in 1999.

Colorado State is 0-5 on the year after also opening its season at the Texas A&M tournament. As a team, the Rams are batting .268 with four doubles, a triple and 16 runs scored in their first five games. In the circle, Wichita State sports a team ERA of 6.48 with an opponent batting average of .268 in 33.1 innings of work. CSUN leads the all-time series with Colorado State 15-1 and has won the past six meetings in the series.

Utah State is the Matadors' final opponent in Las Vegas and CSUN took a 3-2 decision over the Aggies on opening day. Utah State finished the weekend 2-4 overall and recorded wins over Bradley and Maryland. As a team, Utah State is batting .270 with four home runs, seven doubles and 16 runs scored in its first six games. In the circle, the Aggies sport a team ERA of 5.25 with an opponent batting average of .325 in 36 innings of work. The Matadors lead the all-time series 32-20 against Utah State and have won the last five meetings.

CSUN Team Notes

The Matadors produced three one-run wins in the first weekend of the season
CSUN sports a team fielding percentage of .979 through five games and has committed only three errors in 145 chances
In their first five games of 2016, the Matadors have produced six multi-hit games and one multi-RBI game
The Matadors have stolen five bases in their first five games
Junior Daphne Pofek struck out a career-high 10 batters in the 2016 season-opening win over Creighton
Sophomore Savannah Horvath reached base safely in all five games at the Kajikawa Classic, the only Matador to do so at the event
Horvath had two doubles at the Kajikawa Classic, raising her career total to 17
Junior Katie Hooper batted .333 with her 20th career home run at the Kajikawa Classic
Junior Taylor Glover had two multi-hit games at the Kajikawa Classic, including three against Stanford
Glover collected her 12th career triple at the Kajikawa Classic, the third-most in program history
Senior Maylynn Mitchell batted .500 and played perfect defense in four games at the Kajikawa Classic
Junior Katie Chenault recorded her first career CSUN victory with five innings and five strikeouts against Utah State
Junior Rebecca Bell picked up her first career save with two innings of work against Utah State
Freshman Sabrina Garcia had two doubles at the Kajikawa Classic

Next Week

The Matadors travel to Cathedral City, CA for their third preseason tournament of the 2016 season, the Mary Nutter Cathedral City Classic. At the event, which runs from Feb. 26-28 at Field of Dreams Sports Park, CSUN will face Oregon, California, San Diego State, Fresno State and Boise State.