PREVIEWING SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 
•The Southwest Minnesota State University softball team (14-6, 5-1 NSIC) will come home for the first time in nearly two years to continue NSIC play with doubleheaders against Upper Iowa (6-15, 2-6 NSIC) on Saturday and Winona State (16-5, 5-3 NSIC) on Sunday. Saturday's games will begin at 1 p.m. with Sunday's doubleheader starting at noon. 
•Following the weekend doubleheaders at home, SMSU will be back on the road traveling to Sioux Falls, S.D., to take on Augustana in a rescheduled doubleheader from earlier this week due to inclement weather.  
 
                GAME COVERAGE
•Live video and stats for all four games will be available at SMSUmustangs.com. 
 
                ABOUT UPPER IOWA
•Upper Iowa, picked 13th in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' poll, is 6-15 this season going into Saturday's doubleheader. 
•The Peacocks were swept in a doubleheader on Tuesday against Concordia-St. Paul. UIU suffered a 5-4 defeat in game one and was bested in game two with a score of 8-1. 
•UIU is led by Payton Kastenschmidt, who is batting .409. 
•Katie Crogan is hitting .364 with a team high 24 hits, 16 RBIs, and eight doubles
•UIU is batting .266 and averaging 3.6 runs per game, while the pitching staff has a 4.68 ERA with 108 strikeouts in 130 innings. 
 
                  SERIES HISTORY VS. UPPER IOWA
•SMSU and UIU have meet 33 times since the 2005 season with UIU leading in a 17-16 all-time series.
•UIU leads the series 17-5 since the 2012 with SMSU snapping a three-game losing streak in the first round of the 2019 NSIC Tournament with a 9-7 victory. 
 
                    ABOUT WINONA STATE
•Winona State, picked second in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' poll, is 16-5 this season going into Saturday's doubleheader versus Sioux Falls.  
•Winona State was swept in a doubleheader on Tuesday against Minnesota State. The Warriors lost game one 3-1 and game two 11-2.
•WSU is led by Katie Kolb, who is batting .448 with a team-high 26 hits and leads the team in runs with 23.
•Libby Neaveau is hitting .352 with 25 hits and a team high 28 RBIs.
•WSU is batting .342 and averaging 7.8 runs per game, while the pitching staff has a 3.00 ERA with 150 strikeouts in 128 1/3 innings. 
 
                  SERIES HISTORY VS. WINONA STATE
•SMSU and WSU have met 123 times since the 1973 season with WSU leading the series 78-45. 
•WSU holds a 26-game win streak over SMSU dating back to the 2009 season.  
•The longest win streak held by SMSU came from 2006-08 winning eight games.
•SMSU was swept in a doubleheader earlier this season in a neutral site matchup in Rochester, Minn., where WSU won 5-1, and 6-2. 
 
 
                SMSU HEAD COACH
•Bailey Bouman is in her third season as head coach with an overall record of 42-39, including 18-18 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 keep its bats rolling after earning two sweeps this past weekend against Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston, earning a 6-5 and 3-1 win on Friday and a 11-2 and 10-4 win on Saturday. 
•SMSU would record double digit hits in three of the four games last weekend, in game one against BSU, SMSU recorded 14 hits totaling 20 in both games. SMSU would again record double digit hits in both games against UMC with 14 in game one and 13 in game two totaling 27 in the doubleheader. 
•Allison Christians spent the weekend earning two saves, one win, pitching eight total innings, and striking out 11 batters. 
•In the opener against Bemidji State, Kaylee Hentges recorded her first home run of the season to get the Mustangs on the board. In game two, Hentges would add another home run along with teammate Kali Tomlinson recording her sixth on the season. 
•In game one against UMC, four Mustangs doubled, Bailey Johnson twice, along with Jillian Noel, Tomlinson, and Grote. Tomlinson and Noel would also add a home run. 
•Tomlinson was able to record five RBIs in game one, getting three off of her homerun in the top of the fifth leading SMSU to run rule UMC. 
•In game two, Lileya Kebos and Noel would both earn three RBIs. 
 
                  SMSU SEASON NUMERS
•Overall, through 20 games, SMSU is averaging 5.7 runs per game, batting .329 with 36 doubles, seven triples and 14 home runs.
•The SMSU pitching staff has a 3.21 ERA in 128 2/3 innings with 110 strikeouts. 
•Emma Grote is batting a team-high .457 and leads the team in base-hits with 32. 
•Lileya Kebos is hitting .429 and leads the team in triples with four.
•Kali Tomlinson is batting .380 with seven home runs, a team-high 27 RBIs and is leading the team with nine doubles. 
•Bailey Johnson is hitting .386 with two home runs, 15 RBIs and five doubles while leading her team in runs scored with 21. She is one double away from tying the all-time doubles record held by Amanda Burkhart.
•Megan Cull has appeared in 12 games in the circle and is 8-1 with one save. She has a 2.33 ERA with a team-high 48 innings pitched and 50 strikeouts. 
•Shelby Bloemendaal is 3-2 in eight starts tossing 42 1/3 innings with a 4.46 ERA. 
•Allison Christians has appeared in 11 games with a 3-2 record and two saves. She has a 2.58 ERA while pitching 35 1/3 innings. 
 
                  MUSTANGS IN THE NCAA STATS
•In the latest NCAA statistics (April 6), SMSU ranks 32^nd nationally in triples, 35^th in batting average, 50^th in slugging percentage, 67^th in scoring, and 82^nd in total runs. 
•Lileya Kebos is 6^th in triples with four.  
•Kali Tomlinson is 23^rd in doubles with nine, 36^th in RBIs with 27, and 38^th in home runs.
•Emma Grote is 58^th in batting average and 68^th in hits.
 
                  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 Saturday, Bailey Johnson ranks first in team history in slugging pct. (.636) and on-base pct. (.476), second in batting average (.385) and second in doubles (41), tied for 10^th in home runs (12) and tied for 11^th in walks (54). 
•Johnson passed Leslie Oberaigner (1989-92) for second all-time in doubles and is one shy of Amanda Burkhart's (2006-09) record of 42. 
•Kali Tomlinson ranks third in slugging pct. (.608), fourth in home runs (25), fourth in doubles (38), fourth in RBIs (107), sixth in batting average (.357), and is fifth in total bases (278).
•Emma Grote is tied for eighth in runs scored (108), eighth in hits (178) and is tied for 12^th in stolen bases (27). 
•Megan Cull is second in games finished (38), tied for seventh in strikeouts (247), and ninth in appearances (83).
 
                  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 1,881 games compiling an all-time record of 974-906-1.
•SMSU has won 10 NSIC regular season championships, two NSIC Tournament titles and has played in four NCAA Tournaments.