Matadors Host Three Day Champions Classic Tournament

GAME NOTES
NORTHRIDGE, Calif -- CSUN Softball is hosting its second and final tournament of the year, the CSUN Champions Classic, at Matador Diamond this weekend (Friday-Sunday) against Fairleigh Dickinson and Montana. CSUN will play Montana at 9 a.m. and FDU at 11 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday.

ABOUT LAST WEEK
Last week, CSUN played five games as part of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Calif. The Matadors went 2-3, with wins over San Jose State and BYU. The win over San Jose State was done in dominating fashion. CSUN won 9-1 in five innings via the run rule. The Matadors' victory over BYU was also impressive, considering the Cougars are 9-4 on the year. Also, CSUN played a Monday matinee contest against Washington but lost to the Huskies, 11-0 in five innings.

THE TRANSFER PUTTING THE TEAM ON NOTICE

Tiara Westbrook is quickly making her mark after transferring from Oregon State in the off-season. She is coming off a superb performance in the Mary Nutter Classic. Westbrook took Big West Player of the Week honors for her contributions. She batted .588 with a .882 slugging percentage. She amassed 10 hits in 17 at bats with 15 total bases. She had a total of one home run and six runs batted in. She was a focal point in both of the Matadors' wins in the classic. Against BYU, Westbrook went 3-4 with three runs batted in. Her three runs batted in accounted for half of the runs scored in the win. In the Matadors' victory by run rule against the Spartans, Westbrook tallied two hits, two runs and two runs batted in for her three at bats. Her two runs batted in came via the home run ball, the first of her Matador career.

CARRANCO THE CAPTAIN IN THE CIRCLE
Lauryn Carranco has been the best Matador pitcher seemingly since she first put on the uniform her freshman year. She has had impressive numbers during her first two seasons, and her junior year is no different. The junior from Clovis is 3-4 with a 3.87 ERA against some very strong opponents. She has six complete games so far this season while tallying 34 strikeouts in the process. She already has 50 innings pitched in 10 appearances. Carranco was a Preseason All Big-West Team honoree and she is proving to be worthy of that accolade so far.

CARMAN THE CAPTAIN IN THE OUTFIELD
Outfielder and senior Mikayla Carman has been a leader on the offensive side of the ball so far in this young campaign. She has started in all 15 games and has a .349 batting average with a .500 on base percentage. She gets hits, 15 to be exact. And she draws walks, 11 of them to be exact, as she leads the team by far in that category. Carman was also elected to the Preseason All Big-West Team, and so far she is living up to the billing.

ABOUT MONTANA
CSUN is set to take on Montana twice here in the CSUN Champions Classic. Montana is entering the Classic with a 3-12 record having lost two in a row. Presley Jantzi is their best batter. So far this season, she is batting .413 with a 1.047 OPS. Jantzi had tallied 19 hits with five doubles and a home run. Following Jantzi on the offensive side of the ball is Anna Cockhill. Cockhill is batting .342 with a 1.036 OPS. She has tallied 13 hits with four doubles and a home run.

In the circle is where the Grizzlies have struggled. They have a combined team ERA of 8.33. The pitching staff has only struck out 37 batters through 15 games, giving up 98 runs in the process.

Series History: Montana has never faced CSUN.

ABOUT FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON
The Knights, whose home base is in New Jersey, head to California with a record of 2-6. Those two wins came last weekend where they went 2-1 against Morgan State. The other losses have come against Chattanooga, Stetson and Binghamton. FDU opened the season going 0-5 and getting outscored 27-2. Through eight games, the Knights are batting .213 with 10 runs scored and 11 extra-base hits.

In the circle is where they are decent. The Knights have a combined ERA of 3.62. Their best pitcher, Julia Swan, has a 1.94 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 18 innings. She pitched in three games and completed two of them.

Series History: Both of these teams have never squared off against each other.

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Matadors Host Three Day Champions Classic Tournament

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Players Mentioned

Mikayla Carman

Lauryn Carranco

Tiara Westbrook