Friday, April 20 
vs. No. 19 Chico State (30-14, 21-9 CCAA)
Pioneer Field | Hayward
1 p.m. | 3 p.m.
Live stats

Saturday, April 21 - Senior Day
vs. No. 19 Chico State
Pioneer Field | Hayward
11 a.m. | 1 p.m.
Live stats

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HAYWARD, Calif. – Though the Cal State East Bay softball team didn't qualify for the 2012 CCAA Tournament, it will be looking to keep its NCAA playoff hopes alive when it takes on No. 19 Chico State in its final series of the regular season. The Pioneers (31-20, 17-15 CCAA) are set to open the four-game series with a doubleheader on Friday at 1 p.m. before meeting the Wildcats for the final pair 11 a.m. on Saturday, which also marks Senior Day for eight East Bay seniors.

Cal State East Bay is ranked No. 9 in the latest NCAA Division II West Region Rankings, down one spot from last week, and are looking to make up some ground against the No. 4 team in the region this weekend. The Pioneers are coming off their second series sweep of the season last week when they knocked off Humboldt State four times on the road, including a pair of run-rule victories. East Bay is riding a five-game winning streak and has won eight of its last 10 games. During that span, the Pioneers have hit .359 as a team, outscoring the opposition 72-36 and slugging at a .551 clip. In the circle, East Bay held opponents to a .267 average, striking out 36 and allowing just 3.34 runs per game while scoring nearly double that number.

The Pioneers are second to only the seventh-ranked Otters in the CCAA, hitting at a .310 average and scoring an average of 5.51 runs per game. East Bay is also 16th in the nation and second in the league in homeruns per game, averaging 1.14, and is just four homers away from doubling the previous team season record of 31. The Pioneers have claimed three wins over nationally-ranked opponents this year and will be looking to increase that total against the Wildcats this weekend.

Helping out with that quest will be the top homerun hitter in the league in Taylor Neumann, who needs just two homeruns to tie the CCAA season record, entering the weekend with 16 on the year which also ranks ninth in all of Division II. Meanwhile, fellow senior Jamie Yaller leads the team in batting average, runs and RBI, ranking eighth in the CCAA with a .392 average and third in the league in both RBI (46) and runs scored (42). Sara Holdridge is just behind Yaller, batting .354 and driving in 40 runs while joining both Neumann and Salmones with double-figure homers with 11. Eight Pioneer players are batting above .300 and 11 players have reached double digits in either runs, RBI or both.

The pitching staff has also turned it on of late, with Talia Ferrari, Heidi McAllister and Kelly Lowe combining for seven of the last eight wins. Ferrari is leading the team with 11 wins on the year, ranking seventh in the CCAA, while her 127.2 innings and 10 complete games both rank among the top 10 in the conference. Meanwhile, McAllister has picked up a win in each of her appearances this season, allowing just five runs on 12 hits in 11.2 innings of work for East Bay. Lowe earned two wins last week and is tied for ninth in the league with 68 strikeouts, while Lauren Zweigle has been lights out, earning two saves and a win over the last 10 games to lead the league in saves with four.

In addition to picking up wins this series, the Pioneers will likely need some other games to go in their favor in the final weekend of the regular season. With five other CCAA teams ranked ahead of it in the regional ranking, East Bay will need some help from the rest of the league. San Francisco State will meet Sonoma State at home and UC San Diego and Cal State Monterey are set to face off in La Jolla and with the Seawolves ranked No. 7 and the Tritons sixth in the West Region, any help the Gators and Otters can provide would increase the Pioneers' chances of earning a playoff spot. The final NCAA West Region rankings, which are used to help determine which teams will earn bids to the NCAA Division II Softball Championships, will come out on April 29, with the top team from each region earning a bid to the NCAA Softball Championships. The top two teams in each region are also the frontrunners to host the NCAA regional tournaments.

Watching the Wildcats
Chico State enters the weekend as the No. 19 team in the national poll and sits in fourth place in the CCAA, having already clinched the final berth into the 2012 CCAA Tournament. The Wildcats bring a 30-14 overall record and a 21-9 mark in CCAA play into the final weekend of the regular season. Chico is coming off a doubleheader split with No. 7 Cal State Monterey Bay on Wednesday and has won five of its last eight games. The Wildcats are the best fielding team in the conference and rank fifth in Division II in fielding percentage and also boast big bats, ranking third in the conference with a .303 team batting average. Sam Quadt is third in the league with a .406 batting average, while Hailey Stockman's 1.12 RBI per game lead the league and rank 26th in DII. In the circle, Sam Baker and Jessica McDermott have led the way for Chico, with Baker claiming 14 wins to rank fifth in the CCAA and also posting a team-best 1.9 ERA and 7.5 strikeouts per game, while McDermott has eight wins and is holding opponents to a .243 batting average. The last time the two teams met, the Wildcats claimed a 3-1 series win in Chico, falling in game one before bouncing back to take the final three games of the series in 2011.

Senior Special
This weekend will mark the final home series for Cal State East Bay's eight seniors: Taylor Neumann, Jamie Yaller, Breezy Johnson, Heidi McAllister, Mishka Hamor, Talia Ferrari, Devin Salmones and Kelly Colker. The group has helped guide the Pioneers into Division II, especially Johnson, the only four-year player among the 2012 senior class. The group of eight has made a name for itself in the record books, with nearly every player earning a spot on one top 10 list or another. Neumann has broken the single season and career homerun records this year and is just two homeruns away from tying the CCAA season record. Yaller enters the weekend just seven runs away from breaking the program's season record, while Ferrari is now eighth all time in wins (21) and Salmones ranks fourth all-time in homeruns (13). The 2012 seniors will be honored in a pre-game ceremony on Saturday before taking the field for the final two times at Pioneer Field.