Bertrand named Pitcher of the Week

Freshman pitcher Anna Bertrand earned the Pacific Coast Softball Conference's Mountain Division Pitcher of the Week honor for the second time this season, according to a statement released today by the league.

Bertrand pitched 13 innings over the weekend, and contributed to Portland State's four-game sweep over Northern Colorado to open conference play. She recorded 20 strikeouts, including a career-high 12 in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, and is the only pitcher in the PCSC to have triple-digit strikeout numbers (123). Bertrand also leads the league with a 1.92 ERA.

Portland State is 14–21 on the season and 4–0 in conference play. Bertrand's is the seventh weekly honor for a Viking this season.

Women prepare for NCAA action

SEATTLE—They may only be 180 miles away from their home court at the Stott Center, but the Portland State women’s basketball team is a long way from home at the NCAA Tournament.

The team makes its debut appearance in the Division I-level tournament later tonight at the University of Washington’s Bank of America Arena, but has been in Seattle since Thursday in preparation for the milestone event.

Yesterday was the team’s media day and featured open and closed practices, player and coach interviews and a press conference in front of the NCAA banner.

“It’s surreal,” said junior guard-forward Kelly Marchant, describing the atmosphere of the tournament.

For Portland State, the road to the March Madness in Seattle began in Cheney, Wash., exactly one week ago. It was there that the Vikings claimed the Big Sky Tournament title with a victory over Montana State, and with it the conference’s automatic entry into the NCAA Tournament.

As the fifth seed in the six-team tournament, the Vikings were underdogs then and remain the underdogs today when they face ninth-ranked Texas A&M.


“It’s just exciting to have another week to play, and staying alive another week,” said senior guard Claire Faucher. “Having this opportunity and knowing that we are the obvious underdogs and playing with the mentality that we have nothing to lose here.”

“We did not just come all this way to say we went to the tournament. We are here now and we want to make some noise, and not only represent Portland State, but represent the Big Sky (Conference),” she said.

Tip-off for No. 15 Portland State versus No. 2 Texas A&M in round one of the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship is scheduled for 5:06 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

—All photos by Aaron Leopold, Daily Vanguard

The road to San Antonio begins in Seattle

The brackets are set for the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, and in their first-ever trip to the Big Dance, Portland State is starting local.

The Vikings begin the tournament in Seattle as the No. 15 seed in the Sacramento Region, and are set to face No. 2 Texas A&M at 5:06 p.m. on Saturday at UW's Bank of America Arena. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

Portland State (18–14) is making its first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament after earning the Big Sky Conference's automatic bid with Saturday's win over Montana State in the championship game of the conference tournament.

This year marks the fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament for Texas A&M (25–7). They won the Big 12 Conference Tournament for the second time in three years with a win over Oklahoma on Sunday.

A printable PDF of the complete tournament seeding is available here.

Women clinch Big Sky title

PSU defeats Montana State in Big Sky Championship

The Portland State women’s basketball team is the newly crowned champion of the Big Sky Conference.

The Vikings defeated Montana State, 62–58, yesterday in Cheney, Wash., to win their first-ever Big Sky title, and with it the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

Saturday saw several firsts. In addition to setting up PSU’s first NCAA Tournament appearance, it was the first time in Big Sky history that two quarterfinalists met in the championship game, and as the No. 5 seed, the Vikings became the lowest seeded team to ever win the conference tournament.

Photo courtesy Portland State Athletics Department

 

“We did it the hard way, but we did it,” head coach Sherri Murrell said in a television interview after the game.

Not only will her team be competing in the NCAA Division I Tournament for the first time, but this will also mark Murrell’s first time in the Big Dance.

“To be a part of history is something very special. It means a lot to the players who have battled hard,” she said. “It took me 20 years of my career to do it, so I’m pretty happy.”

Senior guard Claire Faucher, the Tournament MVP, broke the conference and school records in both three-pointers attempted and three-pointers made when she shot 8 for 16 from behind the arc.

Portland State, BABIP and ISO

by James MacKenzie
Vanguard staff

A quick introduction: I'm James MacKenzie and I write for the sports section in the Vanguard. This is what I hope to be the first in a running series of posts that will analyze the Portland State softball team through sabermetric analysis, a field in which softball is sorely lacking.

Sabermetrics are so absent from softball, that when you type it into Google it asks, "did you mean: football sabermetrics?" Which is a pity, because really, doesn't softball in all of its similarity to baseball, deserve to be picked apart, scrutinized and analyzed with every stupid number one can throw at it in the same way that baseball is? I would answer that it does and that's the aim here. 

I would, however, like to add the caveat that since sabermetrics are absent from softball in most available statistical archives, I have derived most of the statistics used here from my own work provided by the raw statistics available at goviks.com. That being said, I'd like to say that I am an amateur statistician at best and as always when you read things on the internet, take it with a grain a salt.

Through twelve games, it's safe to say that Portland State's offensive production has been nothing short of putrid. The raw slash line of .212/.290/.260 is rough, as is the .550 OPS it amounts too. Portland State ranks second to last in batting average and slugging in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference ahead of only Santa Clara and ranks third to last in on-base percentage. Quite simply, the Vikings aren't hitting.

Vikings football names D-line coach

The Portland State Athletics Department announced today that Legi Suiaunoa will join the PSU football team. Including the addition of Suiaunoa, first-year head coach Nigel Burton has now added 10 assistants to his staff.

A complete breakdown of the coaching roster and the press release in its entirety is included after the jump.

Viks earn twin honors

Two Portland State Vikings have been selected today as Big Sky Basketball's Players of the Week.

Junior guard Kelly Marchant was selected as the women's basketball honoree, while senior guard Dominic Waters shares the men's basketball honors with Weber State's Damian Lillard.

Read more about Marchant and Waters after the jump.

Does PSU football have a new head coach?

The Portland Tribune is reporting that an announcement is expected tomorrow declaring Nigel Burton the new head coach of Portland State's football program.

Despite the Tribune's report, the Portland State Athletics Department remains tight-lipped on the decision. Director of Athletics Torre Chisholm called the report "premature" and said that, while nothing has been made official, Burton is among the top candidates to become the new leader of Vikings football.

Read more about Burton after the jump.

Vikings Volleyball: Battle Tested – Battle Ready

by J. Logue, Vanguard staff

As the night begins to set in over Spokane, I can barely contain my excitement. While everyone walks around doing their holiday shopping, I know there is a battle that is about to take place right outside town.

Crossing paths with head coach Michael Seemann today, I could feel his intensity and it was clear he was ready to play. Speaking on last night, he noted how Montana brought an intensity that caught the Vikings off guard.