PREVIEWING THIS WEEK
•Southwest Minnesota State returns home to host Sioux Falls in the home opener on Tuesday at the Schwan Regional Event Center starting at 2 and 4 p.m.
•Tuesday's doubleheader starts a four-game homestretch of conference games. 

    GAME COVERAGE
•Live stats will be available for fans at smsumustangs.com.
•Updates can also be found by following @SMSUSoftball on Twitter. 

    PREVIEWING THE MUSTANGS
•SMSU comes into the twinbill at 5-7 in nonconference play. 
•SMSU opened the season 4-0 at the Beaver/Dragon battle in the West St. Paul dome. 
•SMSU traveled to play away games against four teams in Florida, led by No. 10 Florida Tech. 
•SMSU went 1-7 on the Florida trip picking up a win on the last day against Eckerd. 
•Emma Grote leads the Mustang offense with a .429 batting average with a team-high 15 hits including one double and one homerun. 
•Grote is also 3-of-3 for stolen bases and leads the team in runs scored with 10. 
•Bailey Johnson follows close behind Grote with a .406 average at the plate with 13 hits, including three doubles and one homerun. 
•Johnson is the RBI leader with six. 

    STRIKEOUT DUO
•SMSU'S two starting pitchers Athena Golling and Megan Cull each have struck out 27 batters this season. 
•Golling has a 3-3 record with a 1.49 ERA while Cull has a 2-2 record and a 5.60 ERA. 

    HEAD COACH BAILEY BOUMAN
•Head coach, Bailey Bouman, enters her first season as head coach. 
•Bouman is a 2014 graduate of Sioux Falls where she played basketball and softball. 

    SERIES HISTORY
•Sioux Falls leads the all-time series 9-5 and holds a 5-1 advantage with games played in Marshall. 
•SMSU dropped the last double header played in Sioux Falls. 
•The last Mustang victory was on March 28, 2017, with a 3-1 victory in Marshall. 

    PREVIEWING SIOUX FALLS
•USF enters the weekend at 10-11 and a four-game losing streak after a weekend appearance at the Emporia State Softball Classic. 
•Leftfielder Lexie Swift has started all games this season and leads the team with a .466 batting average with a team-high 27 hits. She has five doubles, two triples, and two doubles. 
•Swift has a season-high four hits in a game versus Truman State. 
•USF has five players in batting over .300. 
•Swift and Emily Hove tie for seven multiple hit games. 
•Hove also leads with five multiple RBI games and a seven game hitting streak and drove in a team-high five RBIs against Charleston (3/14/19). 
•Emmie Uitts has caught all games behind the plate
•Courtney Matthews leads the team in the circle with a 2.31 ERA and a 5-4 record. She has appeared in 13 games with five complete games. 

    

    NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
•Sophomore outfielder Bailey Johnson earned NSIC Player of the Week, announced on Feb. 19. 
•This is Johnson's first time receiving the conference honor. 
•Johnson hit .700 with seven hits in 10 at bats with two doubles and a home run. She leads the team in batting average (.700), slugging percentage (1.200), on base percentage (.636), hits (7), doubles (2), and total bases (12). She played in the outfield and served as the designated hitter during the four games. 
•In the season opener versus MSU Moorhead, Johnson finished 3 for 3 with two runs scored, a stolen base and one RBI to help SMSU earn a 7-2 victory. She also had a two-run double in SMSU's win over BSU. She closed the week with two hits, including a home run, a double, two runs scored and an RBI, in a 9-1 victory over MSU Moorhead. 

    NSIC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
•Senior pitcher Athena Golling earned NSIC Pitcher of the Week, announced on Feb. 19. 
•This was Golling's first time receiving the conference honor. 
•Golling threw two complete games to go 2-0 with 15 strikeouts and allowing one earned run in 12 innings. Golling struck out 11 batters to tie her career-high against Bemidji State.

    SMSU SOFTBALL HISTORY
•2018 Record: 18-26, 10-14 NSIC
•First Year of Softball: 1972
•All-Time Record: 897-832-1 
•All-Time Conf. Record: 341-203-1 
•NCAA Tournament Appearances: 4

      NEXT UP 
•SMSU hosts Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State for weekend play starting at 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday versus Minnesota Crookston and 12 and 2 p.m. versus Bemidji State.