Cal State San Bernardino's softball team begins the 2010 season at home Tuesday and the Coyotes will find out real quick if they have the combination of hitting, pitching and defense to be a contender in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
        Tuesday's opponent is Cal Baptist, the 2009 NAIA national champion. Game times are 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. at Coyote Softball Park.
         The Coyotes return a handful of starters from the 2009 team that finished 23-35 overall (13-19 CCAA) and did not advance to the postseason, hoping to reverse last year's trend of losing close games. CSUSB was on the short end of 14 one-run contests and some injuries also factored into the team's disappointing finish.
         Head Coach Tacy Duncan has recruited some freshmen who were outstanding performers for their high school teams in hopes of making a run for the postseason. CCAA coaches picked the Coyotes for fifth place in their annual poll but only the top four teams advance to the CCAA tournament.
         CSUSB will be depending on two veterans to sustain their offense -- senior firstbaseman Ashley Collinwood and junior outfielder Priscilla Curiel.
         Collinwood has a career batting average of .300 in her first three years at CSUSB with 15 home runs, 41 doubles and 92 runs batted in during that time. She was an all-CCAA second team selection last season while hitting a career best .310 and she is a solid defender at first.
         Curiel has a career batting average of .275 in her first two seasons with 18 home runs, 68 runs scored and 62 RBI.
         Duncan returns pitchers Courtney Wilhelms, Carly Land, Cassidy Lee and Brianne Godfredson and welcomes freshman Erica Prentice, an all-CIF Southern Section right-hander from Rim of the World High School. Other newcomers include freshman outfielder Jamie Leffingwell from Cajon High School in San Bernardino and freshman infielder Britney Butler from Riverside Poly HS.
         After Tuesday's doubleheader with Cal Baptist, the Coyotes will play four games in the Mizuno Best of the West Tournament at Cal State  Stanislaus in Turlock. CSUSB opens CCAA play at home on Feb. 19-20 against three-time regular season champion Humboldt State, ranked No. 11 in the nation by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association in their pre-season poll.
         CCAA pre-season coaches poll:
         1. Humboldt State; 2. Cal State Monterey Bay; 3. San Francisco State; 4. UC San Diego; 5. COYOTES; 6. Cal State Dominguez Hills; 7. Sonoma State; 8. Cal State Stanislaus; 9. Chico State; 10. Cal State East Bay.
         When asked who would prevail in the season-ending CCAA conference tournament, four coaches picked Monterey Bay while HSU and UCSD each got two votes.