Feb. 22, 2007
Contact: Alan Ashby
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Upcoming Games:
Longwood Spring Classic
February 24-25, 2007
Farmville, Va. -- Lancer Field
24 at Longwood 12:00 noon
24 vs. Canisius 4:00 p.m.
25 vs. Norfolk State 10:00 a.m.
25 Consolation/Championship 2/4:00 p.m.
Leading Off: Coming off of one of the most successful seasons in school history, the Vikings open their 2007 campaign at the Longwood Spring Classic on Feb. 24-25 in Farmville, Va. With first-year head coach Angie Nicholson making her Cleveland State debut, the Vikings will take on Canisius, Norfolk State and the host Lancers in the two-day event that concludes on Sunday afternoon.
Nicholson Returns To Familiar Surroundings: A 2000 graduate of Cleveland State, Angie Nicholson was named the 10th coach in the program's history on Aug. 21, 2006. She replaced Julie Jones, who accepted the head job at Akron over the summer after winning a school-record 244 games in 10 seasons at the helm of the Vikings. Nicholson has won 137 games in six seasons as a head coach, including leading Cuyahoga Community College to a 30-15 mark, the regional title and a sixth-place finish nationally in 2004. A two-time conference coach of the year while at Tri-C, she moved on to Oberlin in 2005 and guided the Arrows to 25 victories and a regional berth after the program won just three games the previous season. Last year, Nicholson led Butler to a 17-30-1 record. A two-time All-Midwestern Collegiate Conference honoree, she played in 191 games for CSU (as Angie McCall), starting 187 times. A four-year letterwinner (1994; 1998-'00), she was also a four-time recipient of CSU's Athletic Academic Excellence Award.
All-League Trio Anchors Offense: Cleveland State has the good fortune of returning three All-Horizon League selections from 2006. Senior outfielder Michele Penney and junior outfielder Whitney Willard were both first team honorees, while sophomore shortstop Christa Coppus was a second team selection as well as a member of the all-newcomer squad. In league play, Penney led the Vikings with a .412 average, four home runs and 17 RBI, Willard hit .397 with eight stolen bases and Coppus posted a .397 average with a pair of dingers and 16 RBI.
Core Of Defense Returns: The Vikings return five members of last year's defense that set a school record with a .967 fielding percentage. In the infield, senior Sarah Milosek -- CSU's all-time leader in fielding percentage (.991) returns at first base, while sophomores Christa Coppus (shortstop) and Amanda Houchin (third base) will hold down the left side of the infield. Meanwhile, senior center fielder Michele Penney and junior left fielder Whitney Willard have combined to start 218 games in the outfield. In addition, sophomore catcher Haley Keller did not make an error in her two games last year replacing an injured J.J. Thornberry, while freshman outfielder Jessica Burt was a high school All-American, giving the Vikings the potential to be even stronger in the field than they were last season.
Question Mark In The Circle: While there's no arguing the fact the Angie Nicholson inherited a talented team, there's also no denying that the big question is how the youthful Viking pitching squad will perform in 2007. Cleveland State will have to replace two-time Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Grace Luginbuhl, who went 23-11 last year with 224 strikeouts in 226.0 innings, and Kortney Spidell, who went 13-3 while tossing 121.0 innings. The only player on the staff with any collegiate experience is junior Christina Swierz, who threw just 8.1 innings in 2006. She will be joined in the circle by sophomore Tara Meyer and freshmen Jessica Burt and Amanda Macenko.
A Win-Win Situation: Cleveland State finished the 2006 campaign with a school-record 38 victories, surpassing the previous mark of 37 set by the 1995 team. Meanwhile, he 1997 squad won 36 games en route to claiming the Midwestern Collegiate Conference championship and the school's only NCAA berth.
In A League Of Their Own: Despite coming up just a half-game behind UIC in the race for the 2006 Horizon League regular season title, the Vikings still established a new school record with 14 league victories, topping the previous mark of 13 set in 1995 and matched in 2004. Cleveland State's second-place finish also equals the 1997, 1999 and 2004 squads for the best finish in 12 years in the league.
Three-Headed Monster: Last year, Cleveland State became just the third team to lead the Horizon League in batting average (.288), earned run average (2.74) and fielding percentage (.967), joining the 1998 & `99 UIC squads. In addition, the Vikings also ranked nationally in all three categories, standing 39th in batting average, 47th in ERA and 46th in fielding.
More National Rankings: Cleveland State finished as the nation's leader in stolen bases at 2.02, narrowly edging Alabama by a single stolen base. The team was also 18th in triples per game (0.28) and 26th in winning percentage (.717). Individually, Grace Luginbuhl ranked fifth in sacrifices per game (0.43), J.J. Thornberry was 18th in walks per game (0.65) and Sarah Milosek was 27th in hit by pitch per game (0.2).
A Penney For Your Thoughts: Senior clean-up hitter Michele Penney is coming off of the best year of her career at the plate. A .278 hitter her first two seasons, she hit .337 as a junior, including a .412 mark in Horizon League play. The Ravenna, Ohio native ranked among the league leaders in runs (3rd-37), RBI (2nd-38), hits (3rd-57) and doubles (4th-12). In addition, she made life miserable all year long for Horizon League pitchers. Penney put together a 10-game league hitting streak and at least one hit in 19 of CSU's 21 conference games. In league contests, she ranked fourth in average, second in hits (28), third in slugging (.691) and fifth in runs (15) and RBI (17).
Where There's A Willard, There's A Way: Junior left fielder Whitney Willard almost redshirted last year following off-season shoulder surgery. It's safe to say it's a good thing she didn't. The Nova, Ohio native hit .397 in league play and put together a .500 (17-for-34) average during her team season-high 11-game hitting streak that ran from April 29-May 12. The team's overall leader with a .353 average, she finished 20-for-24 on the year in stolen bases to rank third in the league and had at least one base hit in 27 of CSU's last 31 games.
Milosek Breaks Out: Senior Sarah Milosek entered the March 28 doubleheader at Robert Morris with four RBI in 67 career at-bats. Just a few hours later, that total was significantly higher, as the Brighton, Mich. native went 5-for-6 with two doubles, a pair of home runs and eight RBI. A .166 hitter her first two seasons in a CSU uniform, she ranked third on the team last year in both average (.321) and RBI (21) while playing a nearly flawless first base -- committing just four errors in 376 chances (.989).
Coppus Plays Like A Veteran: Christa Coppus had no trouble adjusting to college last year, settling in early on at the number three spot in the line-up for the Vikings. A .316 hitter, she ranked among the league leaders 13 different offensive categories. She showed an impressive eye at the plate, drawing 20 walks while fanning just 15 times in 155 at-bats which led to her setting the school season record with 37 runs scored. The Tiffin, Ohio native stepped up her play in league action, hitting .397 with 16 RBI. On April 29-30 at Wright State, she had her first career five-hit game and was 7-for-12 (.583) at the plate with two doubles, a triple and a home run to help the Vikings to a three-game sweep.
CSU To Host Championship: For the third time since joining the conference in 1995, Cleveland State will host the Horizon League Championship. This year, action will take place at Viking Field on May 10-12. The Vikings previously hosted the event in 1995 and 2003.
Hammer Time: Cleveland State's offense really stepped up its performance in Horizon League play to the tune of a league-best .328 average. Michele Penney led the way with a .412 mark, while Whitney Willard and Christa Coppus both hit .397. The Vikings averaged over four runs a game in the conference.
Like A Broken Record: The school record for victories wasn't the only thing that fell by the wayside in 2006 as the Vikings also set marks for batting average (.288), runs (237), hits (386), doubles (59), home runs (26), RBI (193), sacrifices (83), hit by pitch (23) and fielding percentage (.967). Individually, Christa Coppus established a new mark for runs scored (37), while Grace Luginbuhl posted new records in the circle for games started (34) and innings pitched (226.0).
Luginbuhl Earns League's Highest Honor: Fifty-nine times during her Viking playing career, Grace Luginbuhl walked off the mound a winner. The Lima, Ohio native may have picked up her biggest victory on June 29 when she was named as one of two recipients of the 2006 Cecil N. Coleman Medal. Luginbuhl joins men's honoree, UW-Milwaukee distance runner Josh Nygren in receiving the award. The Coleman Medal, which is named in honor of the league's first commissioner, is the highest athletic honor given out each year by the Horizon League. It goes annually to the top male and female student-athletes who best exemplify the dignity and high purpose of the Horizon League and its membership. The individuals demonstrate outstanding achievement in academics, athletics and extracurricular activities.
Academic Excellence: The Cleveland State softball team excelled not only on the field last year but in the classroom as well. The Vikings were ranked in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Academic Division I top 20 for the 2005-06 school year, finishing third with a team GPA of 3.506, marking the 14th consecutive year that CSU has been ranked in the top 20. Last season was CSU's fifth top 10 finish, joining the 2005 (3rd), 2004 (8th), 2002 (8th) and 1995 (5th) squads. In addition, senior pitcher Grace Luginbuhl (first team) and senior catcher J.J. Thornberry (second) were both named ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-Americans last year.
Up Next: After a two-week break, Cleveland State makes its annual trek down to Kissimmee, Fla. for the Rebel Spring Games. This year, the Vikings will play 10 games from March 11-15.
