CSUN Softball Heads to Prestigious Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic

Friday, February 26

Cathedral City, Calif.

12:30 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

Oregon

Photo by: Juan Ocampo

CSUN Softball Heads to Prestigious Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic

2/25/2016 11:50:00 AM | Softball

Matadors Face Two Nationally Ranked Foes in Cathedral City, CA

By: by Geoffrey Herberg

Complete Release in PDF Format

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. --- The CSUN softball team (6-4) travels to Cathedral City, Calif. this weekend to participate in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic at Big League Dreams Sports Park. At the event, the Matadors will take on a host of talented teams, including two nationally ranked opponents and one that is receiving votes. On Friday, Feb. 26, the Matadors open their time at the tournament with a 12:30 p.m. game against No. 7 Oregon. On Saturday, Feb. 27, the Matadors face a Utah Utes squad receiving votes in the national polls at 2:30 p.m. and then squares off with San Diego State at 7:30 p.m. CSUN concludes its time on Sunday, Feb. 28 with an 11:30 a.m. contest with Boise State and a 4:30 p.m. tilt with No. 20 Fresno State. There will be live stats for select games and all five contests will be broadcast live on FloSoftball.com for a subscription fee. Fans are also encouraged to check with the CSUN Softball Twitter handle (@CSUNSoftball) for updates throughout the weekend.

Last week, CSUN went 3-2 at the DeMarini Desert Classic in Las Vegas, NV. In the five games, the CSUN offense exploded for 46 runs, 13 doubles and seven home runs and the Matadors posted victories over Portland State, Wichita State and Utah State. Taylor Glover batted a sizzling .632 at the plate (12-for-19) with six runs and eight RBIs to earn her third career Big West Conference Player of the Week honors. Taylor Nate, Ariana Wassmer, Karlie Habitz, Savannah Horvath and Katie Hooper all had strong weekends at the plate and in the circle, Taylor Troost won her first career game with a complete-game, 10-strikeout performance against Utah State in the weekend finale.

This week should offer CSUN a good measuring stick of where it stands three weeks into the 2016 season. Four of the Matadors' five opponents played in the 2015 NCAA Tournament and two carry national rankings into the week. No. 7 Oregon is 8-3 on the season after playing five games in Louisiana last weekend. The Ducks are batting .359 as a team with 88 runs, 25 doubles, 17 home runs and 11 stolen bases in their 11 games. In the circle, Oregon has held opponents to a .191 batting average in 73 innings of work and the Oregon staff carries a team ERA of 3.33 with 77 strikeouts. Oregon leads the all-time series with CSUN 12-8, winning the last six meetings. The Matadors have not defeated Oregon since 2003.

Utah also enters the weekend with an 8-3 overall record and will also face Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton at the tournament. As a team, the Utes are batting .310 with 15 doubles, nine home runs and 10 stolen bases in their first 11 games of the season. In the circle, the Utah staff has a microscopic team ERA of 0.55, allowing just four earned runs and seven runs total in 65.2 innings of work. CSUN leads the all-time series with Utah, but the Utes have won the last two games.

The San Diego State Aztecs enter the week with a 7-3 overall record. As a team, SDSU is batting .280 with six doubles, three triples, two home runs and seven stolen bases. In the circle, the Aztecs sport a team ERA of 2.05 and an opponent batting average of .243 with 34 strikeouts in 65 innings of work. CSUN leads the all-time series with San Diego State, but the Aztecs have won the last four meetings, including a win in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.

Boise State is 0-11 on the season and head coach Cindy Ball is a former CSUN assistant coach under Tairia Flowers. The Broncos are batting .197 as a team with six doubles, a triple, three home runs and 12 stolen bases this year. In the circle, the Boise State pitching staff carries a team ERA of 8.40 with an opponent batting average of .316 with 35 strikeouts in 65.1 innings of work. Boise State holds a narrow 2-1 lead in the all-time series between the two schools.

No. 20 Fresno State enters the week with an unblemished 10-0 record. The Bulldogs are batting .326 as a team with 11 doubles, four triples, six home runs and six stolen bases in those 10 contests. In the circle, Fresno State owns a team ERA of 1.57 with an opponent batting average of .230 with 42 strikeouts in 67 innings of work. Fresno State leads the all-time series with CSUN and has won the past four meetings. The Matadors have not defeated the Bulldogs since 2012.

CSUN Team Notes

Junior Taylor Glover was named Big West Player of the Week after batting .632 in five games in Las Vegas
Glover went 12-for-19 with six runs, eight RBIs and a double, home run and stolen base in Sin City
Sophomore Savannah Horvath has reached safely in all 10 games this year
Horvath is batting .345 with 14 runs, five doubles, two home runs, four RBIs and four stolen bases in 2016
In Las Vegas, junior Katie Hooper became just the eighth player in program history to reach 100 career RBIs
Hooper also has 26 career doubles, one shy of tying for ninth in program history
Junior Daphne Pofek sports a 4-2 record with a 4.15 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 27 innings of work this season
Senior Maylynn Mitchell is tied for the team lead with two sacrifice bunts; sports a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in 20 chances
Junoir Taylor Nate batted .357 with two home runs, a triple, five runs, eight RBIs and two stolen bases in Las Vegas
Nate finished 3-for-4 with a home run, three runs scored and four RBIs in victory over Portland State
Senior Ariana Wassmer is batting .348 with three runs, two RBIs, four walks, two sac bunts and a stolen base in 2016
Wassmer finished with a .500 batting average, three runs and two sac bunts in five games in Las Vegas
Junior Karlie Habitz is batting .296 with three doubles, three home runs and 10 RBIs on the season
Habitz hit .353 with three doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs in five games in Sin City
Freshman Taylor Troost recorded her first career win as a Matador with 10 strikeouts over a complete game against Utah State
The Matadors have posted five wins over the Pac-12 Conference since the start of the 2013 season

Next Week

Next week, the Matadors open their 2016 home schedule by co-hosting a tournament with UCLA. The Matadors will play Syracuse, College of Charleston, CSU Bakersfield and Florida State twice from Mar. 4-6. CSUN faces Syracuse at 3 p.m. on Friday, Mar. 4 and Florida State and CSU Bakersfiled on Saturday, Mar. 5. Those three games will be at Matador Diamond. On Sunday, Mar. 6, the Matadors travel to Easton Stadium to face Florida State again and then return to Matador Diamond for the final contest of the weekend, a meeting with College of Charleston. A complete weekend schedule at Matador Diamond can be found here.