The first weekend of March will be a busy one around Big West softball stadiums as Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside host tournaments. CSF hosts its prestigious DeMarini Invitational, CSUN welcomes clubs for the Matador Invitational and UCR readies itself for its annual aTen Construction Tournament.

NOTEWORTHY

CENTURY CLUB
Cal State Fullerton is already in a class of its own in Big West history with eight league titles, 20 NCAA appearances and a national title as a member of the conference, but a milestone the Titans are set to hit this season may shine above them all. With 18 more wins this year, CSF will be the first team in league history to get to 1,000 victories. The Titans are 84 wins ahead of second place Long Beach State in conference lore and with their win over Southern Utah on February 13, recorded the 1,200th win all-time in program history.

PACIFIC'S UP AND DOWN WEEKEND
Pacific had quite weekend in Cathedral City as the Palm Springs Classic. The Tigers opened up the tournament with a 4-3 win over a nationally-ranked Tennessee squad, then got blanked in six innings by another national power in Oklahoma. The following day, Pacific downed its second ranked team of the weekend with a 4-2 win over Northwestern, but then got shut out again at the hands of Colorado State, 10-0 in five innings. Mother Nature got in the way of their finale against Oregon as the contest was cancelled due to Pacific’s travel constraints following several rain delays.

Peña DOES IT TO NORTHWESTERN...AGAIN
Cal Poly's Helen Peña had pretty fond memories of the last time she faced Northwestern two years ago. In that game, Peña went the distance and allowed eight hits, two runs (both earned), walked four and struck out 10 in a 6-2 Mustang win. Last Saturday, Peña got another chance against the Wildcats and delivered again, going the distance and allowing five hits, no runs, walking three and striking out eight in a 4-0 Cal Poly win.

GIANT KILLERS BACK?
The Big West has thrived in the past against the powers of the softball world, posting upset wins against some of the elite programs in the country. Last weekend, Pacific topped Tennessee and Northwestern, Cal Poly downed NU and Cal State Fullerton topped Baylor. The Lady Vols and Wildcats were ranked in both polls last weekend, while Baylor was in the receiving votes section of both polls.

SO...HOW ABOUT WE JUST PLAY THREE
Cal State Northridge was originally scheduled to play a doubleheader against Michigan State last Saturday then a single game Sunday, but the heavens opened up and changed all that. Suddenly an opener that started on Saturday was getting completed on Sunday as part of a tripleheader. CSUN won resumed game 6-5, won the second game, 6-1, then won a six-inning affair in game three by a 4-3 final.

TITANIC DUO
Cal State Fullerton has struggled out of the gate with a 3-13 mark, but the Titans have two of the more impressive offensive duos in the Big West. Junior Torrie Anderson has smacked five home runs, three doubles, 14 RBI and scored eight runs. Her sophomore teammate Trina Harrison has hit five home runs of her own, knocked in eight runs, scored eight times and recorded a pair of doubles. Between them, the duo owns five of the team’s nine doubles, 10 of the squad’s 11 homers and 22 of the 41 RBI. Anderson and Harrison are also two of only four players at this point in the season to post .600 or better slugging percentages.

ROLE REVERSAL
A year ago, Long Beach State posted a 2.42 ERA, recorded 11 shutouts and posted 320 strikeouts against 123 walks in the circle. The vaunted 49er staff has struggled so far in 2010 as they’ve posted a 5.35 ERA, no shutouts and 73 strikeouts against 40 walks in 90.1 innings over 14 games. Another reversal from a year ago deals with the LBSU offense. In 2009, the club hit .270 with 26 homers and scored an average of 3.9 runs an outing in 56 games. This year the offense is down to a .234 average, but has already mustered 11 roundtrippers and is still scoring at a solid pace of 3.4 per game.

NOT KEEPING THEM OFF THE BOARD LIKE WE USED TO
With some of the finest pitching talent in the west coast returning to the Big West in 2010, one might have figured that the league would have no difficulties keeping opposing lineups off the board. Amazingly that has not been the case thus far as the league has mustered just five shutouts in 102 games this season. A year ago, the eight Big West schools were handing out shutouts left and right as they recorded an amazing 66 blankings in the 417 games played, roughly an average of one per six games played.

SOLID TRIO OF ROOKS FOR PACIFIC
After posting just a 17-33 mark a year ago, the 4-6 Pacific Tigers are showing signs of a recovery and a trio of talented newcomers have been a large part of it. At the dish, freshman Megan Hom is second on the teamin batting (.455) and on-base percentage (.471) and leads the way in hits (15) and steals (3). In the circle, aside from the efforts of Big West Pitcher of the Week Nikki Armagost, Baylor transfer Shaina Brock has emerged as the Tigers’ #1 pitcher. She is 2-3 with a 2.94 ERA in 31.0 innings. She also has posted 28 strikeouts against just 10 walks while only nine of the 33 hits she has allowed have gone for extra bases.

ENOUGH WITH THE RAIN PART II
Rain has already wreaked havoc on this week's Big West softball schedule as two matches have already been given alternate dates. The Saint Mary’s/Pacific twinbill has been moved to April 13, while UC Davis and Cal will now play a doubleheader on March 14. Last week’s Santa Clara/UCD doubledip was also given a new date of March 11.

NEW (OLD) VOICE IN THE DUGOUT
Cal State Northridge has a new voice at the helm of the program as associate coach Roni Sparrey takes over. Sparrey is a veteran of Big West battles as she played and coached at Cal Poly before joining the CSUN coaching staff prior to the 2007 season. In her three seasons as an assistant with CSUN, the Matador defense has posted an average fielding percentage of .966 and has finished among the top fielding teams in the Big West Conference and Division I. Sparrey also helped the 2009 Matadors lead the Big West in stolen bases, finishing the year with 62 stolen bases. She has also overseen several Matadors receive All-Big West Conference honors, ranging from First Team awards to Conference Freshman of the Year honors.

ANOTHER SEASON, ANOTHER COACHING MILESTONE FOR GROMACKI
A year ago, Cal State Fullerton head coach Michelle Gromacki became just the fourth coach in league history to win 350+ overall games and 150+conference outings during Big West membership. This season, Gromacki might not only lead the Titans to its 1,000th win as a member of the conference, but the 11th-year coach is also just 30 wins from 400 for her career.