May 1, 2010
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
CHICAGO, Ill. -- Records were falling left and right on Saturday at the Loyola Softball Park as the Viking swept Loyola, 9-0 and 3-0, to clinch its second Horizon League regular season title in three years.
The Vikings, now 38-13 overall and 18-2 in league play, tied the 2006 squad for the most wins in a season in CSU history and broke the Horizon League record for most wins in a league season, which was set last year when CSU went 17-5.
By clinching the regular season title, CSU will serve as the host of the 2010 Horizon League Championship at Viking Field from Thurs.-Sat., May 13-15.
Individually, senior Amanda Macenko, who began the week with a nation's best 30 wins this season, threw a pair of shutouts to improve to 32-13 on the year. The 32 wins gives her 112 in her career, breaking the Horizon League career record of 111 originally set by Samantha Iuli of UIC (1997-2000) and moving her into 23rd place on the NCAA Career wins list.
Macenko also reset her own school record for innings pitched in a season. She has 285.2 this year, toppling the old mark of 275 set last year. She also struck out 10 in the twinbill to give her a school record 992 in her career, leaving her eight shy of becoming the second pitcher in league history to record 1,000 strikeouts.
At the plate, freshman Tess Sito toppled the season record for hits with her 68th, breaking the old mark of 67 set by Tiffany Stocker in 2001 and Lia Gordon extended her school home run record with the 25th of her career. Freshman Dara Toman hit two home runs to tie the old school record with 13 this season. Sito holds the current mark with 16 this year.
"We came ready to play today and it showed in every phase of the game," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "Amanda was superior in the circle, we were aggressive at the plate and on the bases and we played some great defense.
"We knew going in that the championship was ours to win today and we came out and took control early. It was our goal all year to play the tournament at home this year and we took care of achieving that goal today.
"Loyola is a good team that has beaten some very good teams this year. I was a little concerned after playing so poorly earlier this week that we might not come out ready today, but we put that worry to rest early in the gamem," Nicholson added.
The Vikings took control of the opener when Amy Powell clubbed her sixth home run of the season to lead off the second inning. After Gabby Gillilan walked, Toman followed with a home run to right-center to put CSU ahead, 3-0.
CSU made it 5-0 in the fifth when Sito doubled down the left field line and then came around to score on Gordon's home run to left field.
While CSU was going long ball, Loyola was struggling against Macenko, getting just one hit, a lead off single by Amy Solava to lead off the sixth. Macenko struck out six and allowed just one base runner in the game.
The Vikings put the game out of reach in the seventh when Megan Bashak, Jessica Burt and Sito walked to lead off the inning. Katelyn Ciminelli followed with a two-run double to center and Sito scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to 9-0.
Macenko set the Ramblers down in order in the seventh to record her 11th shutout of the year.
The Vikings took a 1-0 lead in the third when Bashak singled with two outs and Burt doubled to drive her in.
Loyola put runners on base in each of the first five innings of the nightcap, but they had problems on the base paths. A runner was called out for leaving the bag early in the first and Amy Powell picked off a runner in the second. The Ramblers also had a pair of singles in the third, but Macenko enticed Stephanie Cihlar to strike out to end the threat.
Cleveland State struck quickly in the fifth. After Gillilan walked with one out, Toman blasted a prodigious home run to left center, a clout that cleared the giant net put in place to protect a student housing complex and gave CSU a 3-0 lead.
Macenko settled down, retiring the final six hitters of the game for her second straight shutout.
"Today was just a good day for us," Nicholson said of the Vikings, who joined the 2008 squad as regular season champions. "Now we just need to finish up tomorrow and then come home and take care of things in the next two weeks."
The Vikings face Loyola in the final game of the three-game series on Sunday (May 2) at 1:00 p.m. EDT at the Loyola Softball Park.
