PREVIEWING THIS WEEKEND
•The Southwest Minnesota State University softball team (6-2) returns to the diamond this Sunday with a non-conference doubleheader versus Northern State University (6-4) at the Presentation College Dome in Aberdeen, S.D. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
•SMSU, which will be playing in its third different indoor facility this season, is coming off a pair of non-conference wins over Minot State last Friday night in St. Cloud.
•NSU will play UMary in two games on Saturday before taking on SMSU.
•NSU, which was selected to finish seventh in the preseason NSIC Coaches' Poll, was 15-4 in 2020 before the season was shut down in March.
•Following Sunday's games, SMSU will return to the field on March 12 with a non-conference doubleheader at St. Cloud State inside the Husky Dome.
 
            GAME COVERAGE
•Live video and stats for both games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com.
 
            ABOUT NORTHERN STATE
•Northern State is 6-4 heading into its two games on Saturday versus UMary.
•NSU finished 3-3 during a three-day tournament in Joplin, Mo., last weekend.
•Elyse Cuttic leads the Wolves batting .419 with two home runs and nine RBIs. She also is 2-2 in the circle with a 2.15 ERA in 29 1/3 innings with 35 strikeouts. Cuttic is a transfer from Division I Rider University.
 
            SERIES HISTORY VS. NORTHERN STATE
•SMSU and NSU have meet 85 times since the 1986 season with SMSU holding a 64-21 all-time series advantage.
•NSU has dominated in recently, winning the last six meetings and 11 of the last 13 overall since April 26, 2014.
•SMSU's last victory in the series came on Feb. 11, 2017, inside the Presentation Dome.
 
SMSU HEAD COACH
•Bailey Bouman is in her third season as head coach with an overall record of 34-35, 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 swept a non-conference doubleheader versus Minot State last Friday by scores of 5-1 and 7-6.
•In the opener, Megan Cull fired a four-hit complete game with two strikeouts.
•The SMSU offense was led by Madison Krog, Emma Grote and Lileya Kebos, who each collected two hits.
•Bailey Johnson and Molly Bull both finished game one with two RBIs.
•In the nightcap, Kebos smacked a walk-off three-run double in the bottom of the seventh to rally the Mustangs to the victory. It was SMSU's second walk-off victory of the season.
 
            SMSU SEASON NUMERS
•Overall, through eight games, SMSU is averaging 6.3 runs per game, batting .348 with 18 doubles, six triples and three home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has a 3.96 ERA in 53 innings with 33 strikeouts.
•Lileya Kebos is batting a team-high .538 with six doubles and three triples.
•Bailey Johnson is hitting .429 and leads the club with two home runs, while driving in a team-high 11 runs.
•Emma Grote is hitting .467 and is tied with Kebos for the team lead with 14 base hits.
•Megan Cull has appeared in six games in the circle and is 4-0 with one save. She has a 1.91 ERA in 18 1/3 innings with 13 strikeouts.
 
            MUSTANGS IN THE NCAA STATS
•In the latest NCAA statistics (March 3), SMSU ranks second in triples (6), 17^th in doubles (18), 24^th in batting average (.348) and 32^nd in scoring (6.3).
 
          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 Sunday, Bailey Johnson ranks first in team history in slugging pct. (.663) and on-base pct. (.486), third in both batting average (.389) and doubles (38), tied for ninth in home runs (12) and tied for 10^th in walks (54).
•Johnson 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 fifth in slugging pct. (.569), fifth in home runs (19), sixth in doubles (32), eighth in batting average (.349) and 10^th in both RBIs (88) and total bases (236).
•Emma Grote is tied for 11^th in runs scored (97), 12^th in hits (160) and 12^th in stolen bases (27).
•Megan Cull ranks eighth in strikeouts (210) and ninth in appearances (77).
 
            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 6-8 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 1,869 games compiling an all-time record of 966-902-1.
•SMSU has won 10 NSIC regular season championships, two NSIC Tournament titles and has played in four NCAA Tournaments.