PREVIEWING FRIDAY AND SATURDAY 
•The Southwest Minnesota State University softball team (10-6, 1-1 NSIC) will be back on the road in back-to-back doubleheaders playing Bemidji State (5-11, 1-1 NSIC) Friday and Minnesota Crookston (5-11, 1-1 NSIC) Saturday. Friday's opening pitch is slated for 1 p.m., while Saturday's doubleheader begins at 12 p.m. 
•Following Saturday's games, SMSU will play Augustana at Bowden Field in Sioux Falls, S.D., on 
April 7. 
 
                GAME COVERAGE
•Live video and stats for all four games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com. 
 
                ABOUT BEMIDJI STATE
•Bemidji State, picked 12th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' poll, is 5-11 this season going into Friday's doubleheader. 
•Bemidji State split in a doubleheader on Monday against Minnesota Crookston. BSU won game one 8-4, but suffered a 4-3 defeat in eight innings in game two. 
•BSU is led by Lisa Kossan, who is batting .364 with a team-high 16 hits and 11 runs.
•Emmarie Yeager is hitting .326 with 14 hits and seven RBI's.
•BSU is batting .248 and averaging 4 runs per game, while the pitching staff has a 4.43 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 104 1/3 innings. 
 
                  SERIES HISTORY VS. BEMIDJI STATE
•SMSU and BSU have meet 87 times since the 1981 season with SMSU leading in a 65-22 all-time series.
•SMSU leads the series 6-4 since the 2016 season with SMSU winning the previous three games. 
•The longest win streak held by SMSU was 17 straight from 2002-09.
•SMSU swept a doubleheader in the last meeting during the 2019 season. 
 
                ABOUT MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
•Minnesota Crookston, picked 14^th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' poll, is 5-11 this season going into Friday's doubleheader versus Sioux Falls.  
•Minnesota Crookston split in a doubleheader on Monday against Bemidji State. UMC lost game one 8-4 but then rallied back and earned a 4-3 victory in eight innings.
•UMC is led by Dana Zarn, who is batting .354 with a team-high 17 hits and is tied with Cassie Querry for a team-high seven RBI's.
•Hannah Macias is hitting .296 with eight hits and six RBI's.
•UMC is batting .240 and averaging 4.4 runs per game, while the pitching staff has a 3.77 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 102 innings. 
 
                  SERIES HISTORY VS. MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
•SMSU and UMC have meet 43 times since the 2000 season with SMSU leading in a 41-2 all-time series.
•SMSU leads the series 9-1 since the 2016 season winning the previous seven matchups. 
•The longest win streak held by SMSU came from 2000-09 winning the first 22 games in the series. •UMC's two victories have come on April 25, 2010, and April 18, 2016. 
•SMSU swept a doubleheader in the last meeting during the 2019 season. 
 
                SMSU HEAD COACH
•Bailey Bouman is in her third season as head coach with an overall record of 38-39, including 14-18 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. 
 
                SMSU DIAMOND NOTES
•SMSU looks to bounce back after splitting its doubleheader Monday against Sioux Falls winning game one 3-1 and losing game two 5-3.
•Megan Cull again pitched a complete game, her fourth this season, to start the doubleheader, she recorded nine strikeouts with only allowing five hits. 
•SMSU earned 17 hits in the twinbill with 10in the first game and seven in the second. 
•In the opener, Bailey Johnson had a two-run single to left field putting SMSU up 3-0, and finished the game with two hits. 
•Jillian Noel had an RBI single with Emma Grote and Kaylee Hentges each earning two hits. 
•In game two, Bailey Johnson had three of the team's seven hits, with Kali Tomlinson, Lileya Kebos, and Megan Bull all earning one RBI.   
•Allison Christians suffered the loss in game two, recording five strikeouts and allowing four hits through five-plus innings.
 
                  SMSU SEASON NUMERS
•Overall, through 16 games, SMSU is averaging 5.3 runs per game, batting .320 with 26 doubles, six triples and nine home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has a 3.20 ERA in 102 2/3 innings with 83 strikeouts. 
•Lileya Kebos is batting a team-high .438 with a team-high three triples.
•Emma Grote is hitting .436 and leads the team in base-hits with 24.
•Kali Tomlinson is batting .351 with five home runs a team-high 20 RBIs and is tied with Kebos for team high doubles at seven each. 
•Bailey Johnson is hitting .407 with two home runs 14 RBIs and five doubles.
•Megan Cull has appeared in eight games in the circle and is 6-1 with one save. She has a 1.58 ERA with a team-high 40 innings pitched and 41 strikeouts. 
•Shelby Bloemendaal is 2-2 in six starts tossing 32 1/3 innings with a 4.98 ERA. 
 
                  MUSTANGS IN THE NCAA STATS
•In the latest NCAA statistics (March 30), SMSU ranks 19th nationally in double plays per game, 54^th in batting average and 116^th in scoring. 
•Lileya Kebos is 27^th in triples with three.  
•Kali Tomlinson is 45^th in RBIs per game at 1.25.
 
                  MORE MUSTANG STATS
•For career statistics and game-highs for each Mustang player go to SMSUmustangs.com/softballcareer.
 
                 MUSTANGS IN THE CAREER RECORD BOOK
•Entering play on Friday, Bailey Johnson ranks first in team history in slugging pct. (.645) and on-base pct. (.481), third in batting average (.389) and tied for second in doubles (39), tied for ninth in home runs (12) and tied for 10^th in walks (54). 
•Johnson tied Leslie Oberaigner (1989-92) for second all-time and is three shy of Amanda Burkhart's (2006-09) record of 42. 
•Kali Tomlinson ranks fourth in slugging pct. (.594), fourth in home runs (23), fourth in doubles (36), sixth in RBIs (100), eighth in batting average (.352), and is sixth in total bases (263). 
•Emma Grote is eighth in runs scored (103), eighth in hits (170) and 12^th in stolen bases (27). 
•Megan Cull ranks ninth in strikeouts (238) and eighth in appearances (81).
 
                  GROTE EARNS 2020 ACADEMIC HONOR
•Senior Emma Grote was named CoSIDA Academic All-District for the second straight season following the 2020 season.
 
                  NSIC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO ROCHESTER
•The 2021 NSIC Tournament will be held in May 13-15 in Rochester, Minn., at the RYFSA Complex. 
•The top 10 teams in the final regular season standings will qualify for the tournament with the champion earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 
 
                  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. 
 
                MUSTANG HISTORY
•Southwest Minnesota State is in its 50^th season of softball in 2021.
•SMSU has played 1,877 games compiling an all-time record of 970-906-1.
•SMSU has won 10 NSIC regular season championships, two NSIC Tournament titles and has played in four NCAA Tournaments.