Saturday, April 19
Fargo, N.D.
6 p.m.
North Dakota State
vs
Fort Wayne
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Bison Softball Series With Fort Wayne Moved to Gate City Bank Field in the Fargodome Saturday & Sunday
4/18/2014 4:30:00 PM | Softball
UPDATED April 18, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 19
Game 1, 6 p.m. - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video (PPV)
Game 2, 8 p.m. - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video (PPV)
Sunday, April 20
1 p.m. - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video (PPV)
Social Media - @NDSUsoftball | @NDSUAthletics
NDSU Softball Notes (.pdf)
This Week
UPDATED (April 18, 4:30 p.m.): North Dakota State (24-13, 7-1 Summit) is scheduled to host Fort Wayne (29-12, 8-3 Summit) at Gate City Bank Field in the Fargodome on April 19-20 ... NDSU and the Mastodons will play a doubleheader starting at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 19 ... The series concludes with a single-game at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 20 ... The Bison are currently in first place and the Mastodons are in second entering this weekend ... NDSU was 8-3 at home last season and has won 137 of 164 games in Fargo since 1999 ... The Bison are 16-2 at Gate City Bank Field in the Fargodome including a series sweep against South Dakota State last season.
Ticket Information
Admission to this weekend's games is free ... The doors will open 30 minutes prior to first pitch -- at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
Media Coverage
The three-game series against Fort Wayne on Saturday and Sunday will air live on KNDSradio.com ... Jonathan Lee providing play-by-play and Joe Kerlin handling color commentary on Saturday, while Lee will team up with Chase Muhonen to describe Sunday's game ... . A live, pay-per-view video webcast will also be available for all three games at GoBison.com/allaccess ... Live statistics courtesy of NDSU Athletics and StatBroadcast will be available for each contest.
The Series
North Dakota State leads the series with Fort Wayne 20-10 ... The Bison won four of six games including a three-game series in Fort Wayne ... The Mastodons won two of three games at The Summit League tournament played at the Ellig Sports Complex and took home the league championship.
Quickly Around The Horn
In the NCAA statistics released April 14, North Dakota State junior righthander Krista Menke ranked 17th in victories (18), 38th in shutouts (5) and 40th in hits allowed per 7 IP (4.75 avg.) ... Junior center fielder Alex Sobrero is 37th in doubles per game (0.34 avg.); sophomore Cheyenne Garcia is 28th in RBI per game (1.11 avg.), and sophomore left fielder Martiza Lopez-Portillo is 43rd in sacrifice flies (3) ... Team-wise, NDSU is 23rd in fielding pct. (.973), 31st in doubles per game (1.51 avg.), 33rd in batting average (.311), 44th in stolen bases per game (1.49 avg.) and 47th in runs scored (5.57 avg.) ... Sophomore shortstop Logan Moreland tied a school single-game record with two home runs at South Dakota State (Game one, 4-11-14) ... That record has been achieved 17 times by 11 athletes including Amanda Grable (2) and Maritza Lopez-Portillo vs. Nicholls State (2-22-14) ... Senior catcher Jenina Ortega set the school single-season record for hit by pitch at eight at Omaha (4-5-14) ... Ortega was plunked at South Dakota State (4-11-12) and HBP total is currently at nine ... The old record was seven and set three times previously by Lynnae Foshag (2005, 2006, 2007) ... Foshag is also the Bison all-time Queen of Pain with 24 career HBP ... NDSU has hit a pair of grand slam home runs this season, Logan Moreland vs. Columbia (2-21-14) and Cheyenne Garcia vs. Ball State (3-21-14) ... Sophomore DP Jackie Stifter is currently leading the team with a .417 batting average to go with eight doubles, a home run and 15 RBI ... Ten (10) of Stifter's 28 career hits have been for extra-bases (9 doubles, 1 home run) ... Junior third baseman Amanda Grable has a team-high 12 two-out RBI, while Cheyenne Garcia is next with 10 ... NDSU has eight players with 10 or more RBI this season led by Garcia's 41 ... Junior centerfielder Alex Sobrero has 15 multi-hit games this season and is hitting .486 with runners in scoring position ... Senior third baseman Amanda Grable reached base safely in 14 consecutive games during one stretch this season ... Sophomore shortstop Logan Moreland had a season best 11-game hitting streak this spring ... NDSU tied several team records vs. Nicholls State (2-22-14) -- total bases in a game (32) and runs scored in an inning (12) ... Nine Bison have scored 10 or more runs this season led by Garcia's 30 ... NDSU has 10 players with at least one home run led by Garcia with five ... Eight Bison have 10 or more RBI this season led by Garcia's 41 ... Menke has five shutouts this season and 17 in her career ... Menke tossed a one-hitter at South Dakota State (4-12-14) and Southeast Missouri State (3-18-14), and has three in her career ... Menke has three two-hitters this season and 12 in her career ... With the nine-inning 2-1 win at IUPUI on April 20, the Bison are 1-0 this season and 39-27 in extra innings under head coach Darren Mueller since 2002 ... North Dakota State is 52-47 in extra innings overall ... Collectively, the Bison are hitting .311 with a 3.05 earned run average and is fielding at .973 ... NDSU opponents are hitting .235 with a 5.09 ERA and fielding at .958 ... The Bison are averaging 5.57 runs scored per game, while opponents are averaging 3.22 ... The big inning has been the third for North Dakota State with 45 runs scored ... The Bison are 17-1 when leading or tied after six innings ... NDSU is 22-5 when scoring three (3) or more runs and 20-5 when scoring first.
Menke, Ortega, Enriquez Take Aim at Career Charts
On the NDSU career charts, junior Krista Menke is 5th in strikeouts (428) and batters faced (2,095); 6th in strikeouts per 7 IP (6.13 avg) and saves (3); 7th in opponent batting average (.212), appearances (94), complete games (59) and shutouts (17), and 8th in wins (52), innings pitched (489), and games started (74) ... Senior catcher Jenina Ortega is 2nd with 52 baserunners thrown out and hit by pitch (13); 6th in putouts (993), fielding chances (1,106); 7th in sacrifice flies (5) and 10th with 16 home runs ... Senior first baseman Brandi Enriquez is 4th in double plays turned (32) ... Junior third baseman Amanda Grable is T7th in sacrifice flies (5), T8th with 23 home runs and T9th with 17 double plays turned ... Sophomore pitcher Tabby Bayers is 8th in strikeouts per 7 IP (5.16 avg) ... Sophomore second baseman Cheyenne Garcia is 10th in slugging percentage (.504).
Bison in The Summit League Statistics
North Dakota State leads The Summit League (league games only) in pitching (1.43 ERA) and fielding pct. (.985), and is second in batting average (.330) ... Junior Krista Menke (1.25) and sophomore Tabby Bayers (1.66) are one-two in earned average ... Menke is 1st in wins (6-1), complete games (5) and opponent batting average (.109); 2nd in strikeouts (55) and shutouts (1); 3rd in innings pitched (39.1 IP) and games started (5), and 4th in appearances (7) ... Bayers is 8th in strikeouts ... Junior center fielder Alex Sobrero is 2nd in batting avg. (.481), 4th in on-base pct. (.517), 5th in hits (13) and 6th in slugging pct. (.704) ... Sophomore designated player Jackie Stifter is 1st in on-base pct. (.542) and 4th in batting avg. (.476) ... Sophomore shortstop Logan Moreland is tied for 1st in triples (1) and 4th in runs scored (9) ... Sophomore second baseman Cheyenne Garcia is tops in RBI (12).
Menke, Grable Earn Summit League Weekly Honors
North Dakota State junior right-hander Krista Menke has earned Summit League co-Pitcher of the Week honors four times during the season on Feb. 24, March 3, April 7 and April 14 ... Menke has earned the honor nine times in her career ... North Dakota State junior third baseman Amanda Grable was named Summit League co-Player of the Week on March 3 ... It was Grable's second career weekly honor.
Bison First in Preseason 2014 Summit League Poll
Two-time defending regular season champion, North Dakota State was tabbed as the favorite to win the 2014 Summit League Softball Championship in a poll of the league's seven head coaches ... The Bison tallied 33 total points and four first-place votes after winning their second-consecutive regular season title and third in the last six years ... NDSU returns 13 players from last season's team that went 33-16 and 17-1 in league play, including first team all-league honoree Jenina Ortega and second team selections Brandi Enriquez, Amanda Grable and Cheyenne Garcia ... Omaha was picked second and received one first-place vote ... Fort Wayne, the 2013 Summit League Tournament champion, was tabbed third and collected two first-place votes ... South Dakota and Western Illinois tied for fourth while IUPUI and South Dakota State rounded out the poll at sixth and seventh ... NDSU will host The Summit League Championship tournament May 7-10 at the Ellig Sports Complex.
Bison and The RPI
The third NCAA RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) was released April 14 ... The Summit League ranks 14th among Division I conferences ... The Bison come in at No. 67 and are one of four league teams in the top 100. Fort Wayne is highest on the list at 65 while Omaha (68) and South Dakota (90) round out the list.
Against The Nationally-Ranked
North Dakota State has won four of its last 13 meetings with nationally-ranked opponents, starting with the 9-7 win over Hawai'i at the 2012 NCAA Tucson Regional ... The Bison won at No. 23 Georgia 3-0 and at No. 20 Nebraska 13-0 in 2013 ... NDSU won at No. 22 Stanford on March 7 this season.
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