This weekend, the Cal State East Bay Pioneers softball team will wrap up a season that dipped as low as 3-11 during a 14 game stretch early and rose to 8-2 in their last 10 games.

After splitting their series with the Cal State Stanislaus Warriors last weekend, the Pioneers have recorded a 15-17 record in conference and are just two games back from Sonoma State who hold the fourth and final playoff spot.

The Pioneers will have their final four games at home this Friday and Saturday against the Chico State Wildcats who, at 16-16 in conference this year, are one of three teams that stand between them and the final playoff spot.

While the Pioneers will focus on their upcoming series, they will also have to scoreboard watch. They will keep a close eye on Sonoma State, 17-15, and San Francisco State, 8-24, as well as the series between Cal State San Bernardino and Cal State Monterey.

The team strategy is not to worry about the final spot, but instead to stay focused on the outcomes within their control a game at a time, maybe even less than that.

“We like to break it down even further than that, for we have adopted a one pitch at a time strategy on our team this year,” said Head Coach Barbara Pierce. “Not getting ahead of ourselves so we know we have done everything we could to be in contention for the last playoff spot.”

The Pioneers find themselves in this situation, in large part, due to their offensive outburst throughout the season, ranking second in the CCAA with 42 home runs.  This has allowed the Pioneers to change the outcome of games with one swing of the bat.

But those home runs seem to come at a cost, as the team is also second in the league in strikeouts with 178 and second to last in team batting average at .236. This ‘swing for the fences’ mentality has hurt the team but has also led this team to where they are now.

“We seem to be a back and forth team, but it is clear we are unstoppable when we are hitting,” said Pierce. “This team has the ability to take over games with their power at the plate.”

Junior Kelsey LaVaute is a prime example of this offensive power, recording three home runs in three games over the past weekend, which helped lead the team to the series spilt.

“I’ve really just tried to stay inside of my swing, and really try not do too much during my at bats,” LaVaute said about her hitting and the team’s atmosphere. “This whole season has been different players stepping up huge in different times, which makes it even more fun.”

“A good portion is just being energetic, and loud. Keeping a high energy level for the whole team to feed off to build momentum,” said senior Chelsie Kakela, on the vibe the team feels when they’re ahead.

The Pioneers will try to keep a positive, upbeat mentality as they head into the weekend where they will honor their seniors and hope to not have this final series be the few last games of their roller-coaster season.