PREVIEWING THIS WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State softball team (18-24 overall) prepares for its fifth straight conference tournament appearance. SMSU is seeded ninth and will face the eight-seeded Upper Iowa at 10 a.m. on Field A at the RYFSA Complex in Rochester, Minn. 
•The top 10 teams advanced to the conference tournament. 
•Full NSIC Tournament bracket located on page 18.

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

    NSIC TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
•The double-elimination tournament begins on Thursday, May 2, and continues to the championship on Saturday, May 4. 
•Winona State earned the one seed after winning the NSIC regular season going 3-0, the first undefeated team since the 2006 season. 
•Winona State will face the lowest seed remaining of the UIU/SMSU game and Minot/USF. Augustana, the second seed, will take on the remaining higher seed. 

    NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
•SMSU earned its fifth consecutive appearance in the conference tournament in 2019. 
•In the last five appearances, the Mustangs have gone 8-8 after a 3-2 outing last season. 
•The last time SMSU won the tournament was in 2007. 

    PREVIEWING THE MUSTANGS
•SMSU comes into the week at 18-24 overall and the ninth seed in the conference tournament. 
•SMSU concluded the regular season going 1-3 in a weekend road series splitting with Minnesota Duluth and getting swept by St. Cloud State. 
•Bailey Johnson leads the Mustangs at the plate batting .408 with team-high 49 hits. Johnson has 13 doubles, four triples, and four home runs. 
•Kali Tomlinson has hit a team-high six home runs and ties Johnson as the RBI leader with 26.
•Tomlinson is batting .354 with 45 hits including seven doubles. 
•SMSU has three players batting over .300. SMSU has hit 20 home runs.    

    IN THE CIRCLE
•Athena Golling leads the Mustangs with a 11-11 record in the circle and a 2.72 ERA with 23 appearances and 21 starts. 
•Megan Cull has a 5-9 record  and a 4.61 ERA with 18 game appearances and 13 starts. 
•Golling leads in strikeouts with 97 while Cull has 60.. 
•Shelby Crank has a 2-3 record in 13 appearances with seven starts and 25 strikeouts. 
 
    HEAD COACH BAILEY BOUMAN
•Bailey Bouman, is in her first season as head coach with a 18-24 overall record and 13-17 in the NSIC.
•Bouman is a 2014 graduate of Sioux Falls where she played basketball and softball. 

    PREVIEWING UPPER IOWA
•Upper Iowa is 23-22 overall and the eighth seed in the conference tournament. 
•UIU swept SMSU earlier this season. 
•UIU earned the victory in game two with a walk-off grand slam in extra innings. 
•UIU earned a sweep over UMary in the final day of regular season to snap a six-game losing streak.
•Katie Crogan leads the Peacocks in batting with a .397 batting average and leads the team in hits with 58. Crogan also has drove in a team-high 45 RBIs.
•UIU has six players batting over .300.
•The Peacocks have 28 team home runs. 
•Emily Kisch has a 11-9 record with 73 strikeouts this season. Kisch also holds a 3.44 ERA.
•Jaclyn Thompson has a 5-8 record with 48 strikeouts and a 4.82 ERA. 
•Head coach, Amanda Bradberry, is in her sixth season at UIU with a 114-101 overall record and 85-83 in the NSIC.
    
    UIU SERIES HISTORY
•Upper Iowa leads the all-time series between the teams with a 17-15 advantage after the Peacocks swept the Mustangs earlier this season.
•SMSU has a 2-1 advance in games played at neutral sites. 
•SMSU last faced UIU in the conference tournament on May 1, 2009, when SMSU hosted the conference tournament and earned a 7-0 shutout victory.

    NCAA STATISTICS
•NCAA stats as of April 28
•SMSU ranks 38th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.82) and 65th in triples per game (0.26).
•Bailey Johnson ranks 78th in batting average (.412) and 64th in triples (4). 
•Athena Golling ranks 45th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.41)
•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.