PREVIEWING THIS WEEK
•The Southwest Minnesota State softball team (11-13, 6-6 NSIC) will face Minnesota State (20-14, 5-7 NSIC) on Tuesday at 2 and 4 p.m. at Mustang Field on the campus of Southwest Minnesota State.

    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 11-13 overall and 6-6 in the conference. 
•SMSU ranks sixth in the conference. 
•SMSU returns home after going 0-4 in a weekend road series at No. 21 Winona State and Upper Iowa. 
•SMSU fell to nationally-ranked No. 21 Winona State on Friday with a 9-1 final in five innings and a 6-0 shutout in game two. 
•On Saturday against Upper Iowa, SMSU fell 9-1 in five innings before a 13-9 loss in eight innings in game two. 
•Emma Grote leads the Mustang offense with a .443 batting average with a team-high 31 hits including one double, two triples, and one home run. 
•Grote is also 10-of-10 for stolen bases and leads the team in runs scored with 22. 
•Grote missed game two against Upper Iowa due to an injury.
•Bailey Johnson comes in second with a .385  batting average with 25 hits including seven doubles, four triples, and ties for a team-high three home runs with Abbie Decker.
•Johnson is the RBI leader with 17.
•SMSU has five players all batting over .300 with a team total 11 home runs.    

    IN THE CIRCLE
•Athena Golling leads the Mustangs with a 7-6 record in the circle and a 3.14 ERA with 14 appearances and 12 starts. 
•Megan Cull has a 4-5 record  and a 5.13 ERA with 11 game appearances an seven starts. 
•Golling leads in strikeouts with 58 while Cull has 44. 
•Shelby Crank has a 0-1 record in six apperances with four starts and eight strikeouts. 
 
    HEAD COACH BAILEY BOUMAN
•Head coach, Bailey Bouman, is in her first season as head coach. 
•Bouman is a 2014 graduate of Sioux Falls where she played basketball and softball. 

    PREVIEWING MINNESOTA STATE
•Minnesota State is 20-14 overall and 5-7 in the NSIC after sweeping Wayne State on Sunday with a 6-1 and 3-1 final which snapped a four-game losing streak.
•Kayla Moky leads the Mavericks in batting with a .400 batting average.
•Cori Kennedy is the team leader in hits with 39 and a .382 batting average. 
•Emma Schifferle has drove in a team-high 25 RBIs.
•Mackenzie Ward has a 10-9 record with 135 strikeouts this season. Ward also holds a team-low 2.68 ERA.
•Head coach, Lori Meyer, is in this 34th season, has an overall career record of 1,193-668-3.
    
    MSU SERIES HISTORY
•Minnesota State leads the all-time series 65-24 dating back to 1975. 
•SMSU trails 17-11 in games played in Marshall. 
•SMSU snapped an 11-game losing streak on May 3, 2018, in the conference tournament with a 4-3 victory. 

    LAST TIME OUT
•The last met a season ago in the conference tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D. 
•SMSU broke an 11-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory. 
•Megan Cull pitched seven innings for the victory with six strikeouts. 
•Kali Tomlinson led the team going 2-of-2 with one RBI and two walks. 
•SMSU had eight hits and no errors while MSU drove in nine hits and committed one error. 

    NSIC RANKINGS
•Emma Grote ranks in the top-10 in the conference in batting average with .457, runs scored (12), stolen bases (7)
•Bailey Johnson also ranks in the conference in slugging percentage at fourth (.909) and doubles (4). Johnson leads the conference in triples with four. 
•Kaylee Hentges ranks fourth in walks with seven. 
•Athena Golling ranks seventh with 36 innings pitched. 


    NCAA STATISTICS
•NCAA stats as of April 4
•SMSU ranks fourth in triples per game (0.50). 
•Bailey Johnson ranks third in triples per game (0.20). 
•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: 943-880-1
•All-Time Conf. Record: 367-239-1 
•NCAA Tournament Appearances: 4

      SMSU ALL-TIME CAREER RECORDS
•Athena Golling ranks second in most games finished (29) and eighth in most strikeouts (205). 
•Bailey Johnson leads in highest slugging pct. (.622) and second in highest on base pct. (.454). 

      NEXT UP 
•SMSU hosts Northern State on Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m. before hosting MSU Moorhead on Sunday at 12 and 2 p.m. at Mustang Field in Marshall, Minn.