Bison Softball Hosts Western Illinois on April 25-26 in Summit League Play

Friday, April 25

Fargo, N.D.

5 p.m.

North Dakota State

Western Illinois

Photo by: NDSU Athletics

Bison Softball Hosts Western Illinois on April 25-26 in Summit League Play

4/23/2014 2:43:00 PM | Softball

Friday, April 25
Game 1, 3 p.m. - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video (PPV)
Game 2, 5 p.m. - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video (PPV)

Saturday, April 26
12 p.m. - Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video (PPV)

Social Media - @NDSUsoftball | @NDSUAthletics

NDSU Softball Notes (.pdf)

This Weekend
North Dakota State (25-15, 8-3 Summit) is scheduled to host Western Illinois (18-21-1, 4-8 Summit) at the Ellig Sports Complex in a Summit League three-game series on April 25-26 ... NDSU and the Fighting Leathernecks will play a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. Friday, April 25 ... The series concludes with a single-game at noon Saturday, April 26 ... NDSU will recognize seniors Brandi Enriquez and Jenina Ortega prior to Saturday's game ... The Bison are currently in first place in the league standings, while Western Illinois is sixth entering this weekend's action ... NDSU is 1-2 at home this season and has won 138 of 167 games at home since 1999.

Ticket Information
Tickets for North Dakota State softball games are $5 for adults and $3 for youth 17-and-under ... NDSU students with a valid college ID are admitted free ... Tickets are available at the Bison Sports Arena ticket office or at the Ellig Sports Complex on game day ... Gates at the Ellig Sports Complex will open 60 minutes prior to first pitch each day ... For more information, call 1-888-231-NDSU (6378).

Media Coverage
The three-game series against Western Illinois on Friday and Saturday will air live on KNDSradio.com ... Jonathan Lee will call the play-by-play and Taylor Kurth will handle the color commentary ... 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 Western Illinois 15-7... The Bison won all three meetings by the scores of 9-5, 7-4 and 13-1 in the Summit League series played at Macomb last season.

Quickly Around The Horn
In the NCAA statistics released April 21, North Dakota State junior righthander Krista Menke ranked 20th in hits allowed per 7 IP (4.40 avg.), 21st in victories (19) and 29th in shutouts (6) ... Team-wise, NDSU is 30th in fielding pct. (.971) ... Krista Menke has six shutouts this season and 18 in her career ... Menke has tossed one-hitters vs. Fort Wayne (4-19-14), at South Dakota State (4-12-14) and Southeast Missouri State (3-18-14) this season, and has four in her career ... Menke has three two-hitters this season and 12 in her career ... Menke has reached double-figure strikeouts three times this season including a career-high 14 vs. Fort Wayne (4-19-14) and five times in her career ... 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 .373 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 ... Garcia has 10 multi-RBI games this season ... NDSU has eight players with 10 or more RBI this season led by Garcia's 42 ... Junior centerfielder Alex Sobrero has 15 multi-hit games this season and is hitting .440 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 and has 15 multi-hit games 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 Sobrero and Garcia, each with 30 ... NDSU has 10 players with at least one home run led by Garcia and Moreland each with five ... With the 11-inning 1-0 win vs. Fort Wayne on April 19, the Bison are 2-0 this season in extra innings and 40-27 under head coach Darren Mueller since 2002 ... North Dakota State is 53-47 in extra innings overall ... Collectively, the Bison are hitting .303 with a 2.94 earned run average and is fielding at .971 ... NDSU opponents are hitting .228 with a 4.69 ERA and fielding at .959 ... The Bison are averaging 5.30 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 18-1 when leading or tied after six innings ... NDSU is 22-6 when scoring three (3) or more runs and 21-5 when scoring first.

Menke, Ortega, Enriquez Take Aim at Career Charts
On the NDSU career charts, junior Krista Menke is 5th in strikeouts (451), opponent batting average (.207) and batters faced (2,161); 6th in strikeouts per 7 IP (6.23 avg) and saves (3); 7th in wins (53) , appearances (96), innings pitched (507) and shutouts (18), and 8th games started (76) and complete games (61) ... Senior catcher Jenina Ortega is 2nd with 53 base runners thrown out and hit by pitch (13); 6th in putouts (1,020), fielding chances (1,165); 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 (5.12 avg) ... Sophomore second baseman Cheyenne Garcia is 10th in slugging percentage (.500).

Bison in The Summit League Statistics
North Dakota State leads The Summit League (league games only) in pitching (1.59 ERA) and fielding pct. (.977), and is second in batting average (.295) ... Junior righthander Krista Menke leads the league in earned average (1.10), wins (7-2), complete games (7) and opponent batting average (.095); 2nd in strikeouts (9.52 avg.), shutouts (2), innings pitched (57.1 IP); 3rd in games started (7), and 4th in appearances (9) ... Junior center fielder Alex Sobrero is 5th in batting avg. (.395) and 7th in hits (15) ... Sophomore designated player Jackie Stifter is 7th in on-base pct. (.455) and 10th in batting avg. (.357) ... Sophomore shortstop Logan Moreland is tied for 1st in triples (1) and 9th in runs scored (10) ... Sophomore second baseman Cheyenne Garcia is 2nd in RBI (13) and doubles (4).

Menke, Grable Earn Summit League Weekly Honors
North Dakota State junior right-hander Krista Menke has earned Summit League Pitcher of the Week honors five times during the season on Feb. 24, March 3, April 7, April 14 and April 21 ... Menke has earned the honor 10 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
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 ... NDSU will host The Summit League Championship tournament May 7-10 at the Ellig Sports Complex.

Bison and The RPI
The fourth NCAA RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) was released April 21 ... The Summit League ranks 14th among Division I conferences ... The Bison come in at No. 65 and are one of five league teams in the top 125. Fort Wayne follows on the list at 68 while Omaha (75), South Dakota (104) and Western Illinois (125) 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 ... With the dramatic 1-0 win in 11 innings over 9th/10th-ranked Oklahoma at the 2009 NCAA Norman Regional, North Dakota State softball recorded its first win over a nationally-ranked team in 16 tries since beginning the transition to Division I in 2005.