PREVIEWING THIS WEEKEND
•The Southwest Minnesota State softball team (17-21, 12-14  NSIC) travels to Minnesota Duluth (28-17, 19-7 NSIC) on Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m. and St. Cloud State (36-14, 18-8 NSIC) on Sunday at 12 and 2 p.m. 
•UMD ranks seventh and SCSU ranks ninth in the latest region ranking released on Wednesday, April 17. 
•SMSU is tied with UMary in the 10 spot in the conference rankings. 
•UMD ranks third and SCSU ranks fourth in the conference.
•The top 10 teams in the conference will advance to the NSIC Tournament May 2-4 in Rochester, Minn. 

    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 week at 17-21 overall and 12-14 in the conference. 
•SMSU is tied with UMary in the 10 spot in the conference rankings.  
•SMSU heads on the road after getting swept by Concordia-St. Paul on Wednesday to conclude home play.
•Bailey Johnson leads the Mustangs at the plate batting .430 with a team-high 46 hits. 
•Johnson is the RBI leader with 26 and a .500 on base percentage.
•Johnson and Kali Tomlinson are tied for the team with four home runs. 
•Grote is batting .365 and is 12-of-13 for stolen bases.                                                                                                                                                                
•SMSU has three players batting over .300. SMSU has hit 18 home runs.    

    IN THE CIRCLE
•Athena Golling leads the Mustangs with a 10-10 record in the circle and a 2.55 ERA with 22 appearances and 19 starts. 
•Megan Cull has a 5-7 record  and a 4.77 ERA with 16 game appearances and 12 starts. 
•Golling leads in strikeouts with 91 while Cull has 55. 
•Shelby Crank has a 2-3 record in 12 appearances with six starts and 22 strikeouts. 
 
    HEAD COACH BAILEY BOUMAN
•Bailey Bouman, is in her first season as head coach with a 17-21 overall record and 12-14 in the NSIC.
•Bouman is a 2014 graduate of Sioux Falls where she played basketball and softball. 

    PREVIEWING MINNESOTA DULUTH
•Minnesota Duluth is 28-17 overall and 19-7 in the NSIC with a four-game winning streak.  
•UMD ranks third in the conference and seventh in the latest regional rankings. 
•Jordyn Thomas leads the Bulldogs in batting with a .326 batting average and leads the team in hits with 44.
•Lauren Oberle has drove in a team-high 33 RBIs.
•UMD has 44 team home runs. 
•Sam Pederson has a 15-6 record with 67 strikeouts this season. Pederson also holds a 2.82 ERA.
•Breanna Swint has a 13-10 record with 97 strikeouts and a 2.86 ERA. 
•Head coach, Jen Walter, is in her fourth season at UMD after spending 16 season at St. Scholastica. Walter holds a 142-70 overall and 78-60 record in the conference.
    
    UMD SERIES HISTORY
•Minnesota Duluth leads the all-time series 71-37 dating back to 1977.
•UMD has won the last five games to go 4-1. SMSU picked up a 4-2 victory last outing o April 23, 2018, with a 4-2 victory in Marshall. 
•UMD leads the series 21-6 in games played in Duluth. 

    PREVIEWING ST.CLOUD STATE
•St. Cloud State is 36-14 overall and 18-8 in the NSIC with a two-game winning streak.  
•SCSU ranks fourth in the conference and ninth in the latest regional rankings. 
•Jasmin Estrada leads the Huskies in batting with a .417 batting average and leads the team in hits with 65.
•Estrada has drove in a team-high 52 RBIs.
•SCSU has 45 team home runs. 
•Kate Kopeck has a 15-6 record with 131 strikeouts this season. Kopeck also holds a 2.21ERA.
•Sydney Lapoint has a 10-5 record with 66 strikeouts and a 3.02 ERA. 
•Head coach, Paula U'Ren, is in her 22nd season at SCSU.  U'Ren holds a 718-481 overall record.
    
    SCSU SERIES HISTORY
•St. Cloud State leads the all-time series 50-46-1 dating back to 1973.
•SMSU snapped a three-game losing streak with a 8-4 victory in the conference tournament last season in Sioux Falls, S.D. 
•SMSU leads the series 20-17 in games played in St. Cloud. 

    NSIC RANKINGS
•Bailey Johnson ranks fourth in batting average (.434), third in slugging percentage (.726), and third in on base percentage (.508). 
•Athena Golling ranks 10th in strikeouts (91) and ninth in earned run averag (2.55).

    NCAA STATISTICS
•NCAA stats as of April 23
•SMSU ranks 34st in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.86) and 57th in triples per game (0.28).
•Bailey Johnson ranks 56th in batting average (.424) and 56th in triples (4). 
•Athena Golling ranks 32nd in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.12)
•Full NCAA rankings on page 17.

    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. 
•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
•First Year of Softball: 1972
•All-Time Record: 949-888-1
•All-Time Conf. Record: 373-247-1 
•NCAA Tournament Appearances: 4

     SMSU ALL-TIME CAREER RECORDS
•Athena Golling ranks second in most games finished (29) and eighth in most strikeouts (238). 
•Bailey Johnson leads in highest slugging pct. (.630), highest on base pct. (.477), and second in highest batting average (.383).
•Kali Tomlinson is tied in ninth for most home runs (12).