Two of the tri-leaders in the Big West softball standings tangle in the Central Coast region this weekend as Cal State Fullerton makes the journey north to take on Cal Poly at Bob Janssen Field in San Luis Obispo. The two clubs, along with UC Riverside, have taken an early lead on the rest of the league with 4-2 records.

NOTEWORTHY

UCR'S ALVIDREZ SETS PROGRAM MARK
Marissa Alvidrez, the lynchpin of UC Riverside's ascent into first place in the Big West standings, added another notch to her sterling career with a pair of wins last weekend against Cal State Fullerton. The two W’s gave her 14 on the year, surpassing the single-season Highlander mark that former standout Stephanie Marshall set at 13 in 2006. Alvidrez helped UCR to its best start to conference play in its DI history (4-2) and the first series win against the Titans ever.

YOU'LL PROBABLY WIN WHEN THIS HAPPENS
Pacific and San Jose State played one of the more bizarre games you’ll ever see last Thursday, a 7-2 Tiger win. The Spartans committed seven errors, leading to zero Pacific earned runs. In fact, the Tigers only managed six base hits, five RBI and actually gave up one earned run to SJSU’s none. Pacific also didn’t record an extra base hit in the contest.

MIGHT WANT TO LEAVE THE GLOVE AT HOME
UC Santa Barbara's struggling offense is going through a power outage as the team has only amassed seven homers in its 37 games. The Gauchos are the only team in the Big West to not have double-digit homers to this point and have not hit a ball out of the yard since March 12 against Iowa State, a 17-game homer drought. UCSB’s next opponent will make it difficult to knock one out as UC Riverside has allowed the third-fewest home runs (24) in the Big West.

A BIT OF A STRUGGLE ON THE ROAD
Traditionally a strong conference away from home, the Big West has encountered some struggles away from its home venues this season. In all, the eight conference clubs are 56-55 at home while posting just a 63-120 record in road/neutral site contests. A year ago, the league was 95-55 at home and compiled a respectable 124-143 mark in road/neutral games.

ARMAGOST THE GREAT
Pacific freshman Nikki Armagost has made quite the transition from the high school to college ranks as the first year sensation is leading a Tiger resurgence. The native of Andover Kan., is second in the Big West in ERA (2.13), tops in opponents’ batting average (.215), 10th in innings pitched (88.2), seventh in strikeouts (69), tied for fourth in wins (9) and has given up the second-fewest runs (32) in the league. Armagost has also been a force at the plate as she is hitting .281with two homers, leads the club with 22 RBI and seven doubles and has not committed an error in 141 chances.

MOSIER'S TIME TO SHINE
Cal State Northridge's Jennifer Mosier took a season to get adjusted to life at the DI level, but the transfer from Santa Barbara City College has turned out to be just fine. After batting just .211 in 31 games a year ago, Mosier is second in the Big West with a .358 batting average, fourth in slugging (.537), third in on-base percentage (.455), tied for fourth in runs scored (23), sixth in hits (34) and sixth in total bases (51).  Mosier has also been a terror on the basepaths with 14 walks and is an incredible 13-for-13 in stolen bases. The 13 steals accumulated by Mosier accounts for 39% of the thefts by the Matadors this season.

BRING 'EM UP, SHUT 'EM DOWN
UC Riverside's 4-2 Big West start has been keyed by its lockdown pitching staff which has posted a 1.23 ERA in 40.0 innings against conference foes. The Highlanders have shut out two of their six conference opponents, allowed just 10 runs (seven earned) and of the 22 hits the staff has allowed, only five have gone for extra bases (all doubles). To further illustrate how dominant the UCR pitchers have been, the staff has allowed batters to hit just .162 in six games. The next best number on the league leaderboard is .211 by UC Davis.

TITAN MASHERS RETURN
The turnaround Cal State Fullerton has experienced in conference play can be attributed to an improved offensive attack. The Titans are batting .289 with eight homers, 34 runs scored and 44 hits. The batting average is second, homers and RBI first and hits third among clubs during Big West play. The balls have been flying all over the yard for CSF as it has a league-high 15 extra-base hits (7 2B, 8 HR), leading to a .493 slugging percentage which is the best figure so far in conference play. It also makes the Titans the lone ball club to post a slugging percentage over .400 in league action.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE MISCELLANEOUS PART II
It was such a success the first time that the world of miscellaneous stats is making a return for the second consecutive week:
•  Cal State Fullerton is the only club in the league to have 200+ hits, 20+ doubles, 5+ triples and 20+ homers. Cal State Northridge's next homer also puts them in that category. Team batting averages:  CSF - .217, CSUN - .261.
•  Cal Poly has not hit a triple this season after ranking third in the Big West with seven a year ago. In the field, the Mustangs have committed 42 errors in 32 games after posting 54 miscues in 53 games last season.
•  Long Beach State's Ashley Weber is 12th-toughest batter to strike out in the country, fanning once every 27.8 at-bats. Of her four strikeouts this year, two came in LBSU’s matchup against UCLA March 26. Meanwhile, 23 players have struck out three times in a game this season.
•  UC Santa Barbara ranks sixth in the country with .49 double plays per game, converting 18 in 37 games. The Gauchos converted only 13 in 51 games in 2009.
•  Cal State Northridge leads the Big West with 41 batters hit by pitches. No other team has more than 30 but the Matadors have only one player ranked in the top 300 in hit by pitch per game in the NCAA.

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 24 wins from 400 for her career.