PREVIEWING THIS WEEKEND
•The Southwest Minnesota State University softball team (4-0) continues non-conference play this Friday with a doubleheader versus No. 13 ranked Winona State (0-0) at the RCTC Dome in Rochester, Minn. First pitch is slated for 11 a.m.
•SMSU won four games last weekend at the St. Cloud State Invite and have now opened a season 4-0 for the third time in the last five years.
•WSU, which was selected to finish second in the preseason NSIC Coaches' Poll, was 13-6 in 2020 before the season was shutdown.
 
            GAME COVERAGE
•Live video for both games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com. No live stats will be available.
•Fans can also follow for updates on Twitter at @SMSUSoftball
 
            TICKET POLICY
•Winona State is not allowing fans for the doubleheader.
 
            ABOUT WINONA STATE
•Winona State was picked to finish second in the preseason NSIC Coaches' Poll and is ranked No. 13 in this week's NFCA Top 25.
•WSU was 13-6 in 2020 before the season was shutdown.
•WSU won the NSIC in 2019 with a perfect 30-0 record and finished the season with a record of 53-9.
 
            SERIES HISTORY VS. WINONA STATE
•SMSU and WSU meet for the 122^nd and 123^rd time on Friday with WSU leading 76-45 in a series that began in 1973.
•WSU has dominated the series in the last 12 years, having won 25 straight since April 25, 2009. SMSU's last victory came in game one of a doubleheader in Marshall on April 25, 2009.
•The two teams last met on April 5, 2019, in Winona, with the Warriors winning, 9-1 and 6-0.
 
            SMSU HEAD COACH
•Bailey Bouman is in her third season as head coach with an overall record of 32-33, including 13-17 in NSIC play.
•The 11th head coach in program history, Bouman was named to the position on Aug. 8, 2019.
•SMSU finished 19-26 during her first season in 2019 and qualified for the NSIC Tournament.
•Bouman was an assistant coach with the SMSU women's basketball program from 2015-17 and was also an assistant women's basketball coach at Dordt College (Iowa) before returning to SMSU.
•Bouman is a 2014 graduate of the University of Sioux Falls where she played both basketball and softball for the Cougars.
 
            ABOUT SMSU
•SMSU opened the season last weekend winning four games at the St. Cloud State Invite. The Mustangs defeated Northwestern (Iowa), 8-4, and Viterbo (Wis.), 15-1, on Saturday night, before sweeping Truman State (Mo.) on Sunday, 5-4 and 8-7.
•SMSU finished the four games batting .377 with 12 doubles, five triples and two home runs.
•Bailey Johnson had a strong four games for the Mustangs, batting .583 with four doubles, one home run and eight RBIs. Johnson's bases loaded single in the bottom of the seventh led SMSU to the game one win over Truman State.
•Lileya Kebos also had a big weekend, hitting .538 with three doubles, three triples and three RBIs. She led the squad with a 1.231 slugging percentage and 16 total bases.
•Emma Grote batted .438 with a triple and seven runs scored.
•Kali Tomlinson closed the weekend batting .429 with two doubles and a home run.
•The SMSU pitching staff was led by Megan Cull, who appeared in three games in relief and finished 2-0 with a save. She tossed 6 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits with five strikeouts.
•Shelby Bloemendaal started two games in the circle and went 1-0 with a 3.75 ERA in 9 1/3 innings.
•Allison Christians fired a team-high 10 1/3 innings and struck out six batters in earning a victory over Northwestern.
 
          MORE MUSTANG STATS
•For career statistics and game-highs for each Mustang player go to SMSUmustangs.com/softballcareer.
 
            JOHNSON AND TOMLINSON IN THE CAREER RECORD BOOK
•Bailey Johnson begins the weekend ranked first in team history in slugging pct. (.665) and on-base pct. (.493), third in both batting average (.393) and doubles (38) and tied for 10^th in walks (54). She is one double behind Leslie Oberaigner (1989-92) for second all-time and is four shy of Amanda Burkhart's (2006-09) record of 42.
•Kali Tomlinson ranks fourth in slugging pct. (.580), fifth in home runs (19), eighth in batting average (.355), eighth in doubles (31) and 10^th in RBIs (86) and total bases (232).
 
            GROTE EARNS 2020 ACADEMIC HONOR
•Senior Emma Grote was named CoSIDA Academic All-District for the second straight season following the 2020 season.
 
            SMSU PICKED 10^TH IN NSIC POLL
•Southwest Minnesota State University was picked to finish 10th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
•Mustang senior Megan Cull was named a "Pitcher to Watch", while junior outfielder Bailey Johnson was named a "Player to Watch" in the NSIC this spring.
 
             SEASON OPENERS
•Following last weekend's victory, SMSU is now 30-20 all-time in season openers and 9-3 in openers since the 2010 season.
 
            MUSTANG HISTORY
•Southwest Minnesota State is in its 50^th season of softball in 2021.
•SMSU has played 1,865 games compiling an all-time record of 964-900-1.
•SSMSU has won 10 NSIC regular season championships, two NSIC Tournament titles and has played in four NCAA Tournaments.