April 17, 2007
Contact: Alan Ashby
Complete Release in PDF Format
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Upcoming Games:
at Kent State
April 18 -- 3:30 p.m.
Kent, Ohio -- Kent State Softball Field
Loyola
April 21 -- 1:00 p.m. (DH)
April 22 -- Noon
Cleveland, Ohio -- Viking Field
Leading Off: After having eight of their last 12 games canceled due to inclement weather, the Vikings will attempt to play four games this week. Cleveland State will travel to Kent State for a single game on Wednesday as a make-up of their twin bill which was originally scheduled for April 4. The Vikings will then host Horizon League-leading Loyola over the weekend, with Saturday's doubleheader serving as Senior Day for Sarah Milosek and Michele Penney.
Weather Woes: To say the Vikings have struggled with Mother Nature this season would be a massive understatement. While Cleveland State has played 27 games so far this year, the Vikings have also had 16 contests either postponed or canceled due to various forms of weather. Here's a (not so) brief recap of the beating the schedule has taken to this point:
Postponements: 3/27 at Oakland (DH), 4/4 at Kent State (DH), 4/9 at IPFW (DH)
Cancelations: 2/25 at Longwood Invitational (Consolation/Championship), 3/24 at UMBC Spring Classic (forced cancelation of bracket play), 4/6 & 7 at Butler (three games), 4/12 at Niagara (DH), 4/15 vs. Wright State, 4/17 at St. Francis (DH)
Off With A Bang: Despite the loss of six seniors to graduation, Cleveland State has still managed to put together an impressive 19-8 start -- just one game behind last year's stellar pace. The 1995 (22-5) and 1997 (20-7) squads join 2006 as the only other teams to post better 27-game marks in the 29-year history of the program.
Senior Salute: In between games of Saturday's doubleheader with Loyola, Cleveland State will take a moment to recognize seniors Sarah Milosek and Michele Penney. The pair -- who both enter this week with a career .301 batting average -- have played in 287 games in their standout careers for the Vikings, starting all but 13 of those contests. Milosek ranks first in school history with a .989 fielding percentage (in 851 chances), while Penney ranks fourth among the career leaders in doubles (28), home runs (11) and RBI (84), seventh in runs (78) and eighth in hits (147).
Vikings Among Nation's Best: The NCAA released its first set of national stats on April 8 and the Vikings were well-represented in the rankings. As a team, Cleveland State ranked in the top 10 in batting average (4th - .338), stolen bases per game (7th - 2.13) and earned run average (10th - 1.35), while standing 24th in win-loss percentage (.739). Individually, Whitney Willard was fourth in stolen bases per game (0.9), Amanda Macenko was 37th in ERA (1.34) and 51st in victories (14) and Christa Coppus ranked among the leaders in doubles per game (61st - 0.3), batting average (92nd - .397) and runs batted in per game (97th - 0.87).
Coppus Comes On Strong: While sophomore Christa Coppus has been consistent all year at the plate for the Vikings -- collecting at least one hit in all but six contests, she has never been hotter than during her current career-best eight game hitting streak. The Tiffin, Ohio native is 11-for-24 (.458) since starting the skein on March 31 to raise her average to a team-best .402. Coppus also paces Cleveland State in hits (35), doubles (7), home runs (3), RBI (23) and slugging percentage (.586) and is second with six stolen bases.
...And She's Rocketing Up The Career Charts: Despite donning a Viking uniform for a little more than a year-and-a-half, Christa Coppus is already tied for fifth in Cleveland State annals with nine home runs while ranking eighth with 60 runs batted in. In addition, her .347 batting average would be good for third all-time.
