NDSU Softball Release (4-12-16).pdf

North Dakota State (24-12, 6-0 Summit League) is scheduled to host North Dakota (12-25, 1-6 Big Sky) in a single-game at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, at the Ellig Sports Complex ... NDSU has won six straight and 10 of its last 11 games ... The Fighting Hawks are 3-11 on the road this season ... NDSU is 3-0 at home this season and have compiled a 159-31 home record since 1999 ... North Dakota State and South Dakota State (14-24, 2-4 SL) play a doubleheader to open a Summit League series at noon Saturday April 16, in Brookings ... The teams close out the series with an 11 a.m. single-game Sunday, April 17 ... The Bison are 8-5 on the road ... The Jackrabbits are scheduled to host Kansas City in their home opener April 13.

Ticket Information
Tickets for North Dakota State softball games are $8 for adults and $5 for youth 17-and-under ... NDSU students with a valid college ID are admitted free ... Tickets are available 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).

The Series
This will be the 105th meeting between North Dakota  State and North Dakota ... NDSU leads the series 72-32 including a North Central Conference doubleheader sweep in Grand Forks during the 2004 season ... This will be the 108th meeting between North Dakota State and South Dakota State ... The Bison lead the series 63-44 including all four meetings last season.

Quickly Around the Horn
North Dakota State was 51st in the NCAA RPI rankings on April 11 ... NDSU senior second baseman Cheyenne Garcia ranks in the top 25 among NCAA active career leaders, 3rd in doubles (57), 12th in runs scored (177), 19th in total bases (371) and 23rd in at bats (635) ... NDSU has several players listed in the top 30 in the NCAA statistics (April 11) -- Cheyenne Garcia is 4th in doubles (0.44 avg.), Jacquelyn Sertic is 10th in wins (17) and 28th in shutouts (4), and Jackie Stifter is 11th in hit by pitch (0.39 avg.) ... Overall, the Bison are 24th in stolen bases (1.94 avg.) and 27th in fielding (.970) ... North Dakota State sophomore right-hander Jacquelyn Sertic threw her first career no-hitter in the five-inning 18-0 win over DePaul (3-6-16) ... Sertic faced 16 batters with four strikeouts and one walk ... It was the 30th no-hitter in program history ... Sertic struck out a career-high 14 batters in the 14-2 win at IUPUI (4-2-16) ... First baseman Jackie Stifter has been hit by pitch 12 times this season, which breaks the school's single-season record of 10 set by Jenina Ortega in 2014 ... Stifter is 2nd all-time at NDSU in times hit by pitch with 22 and trails Lynnae Foshag (24/2004-07) by two HBP ... The last grand slam for NDSU was hit by catcher Alyssa Reina, who connected in the 8-0 first game win vs. IPFW (4-9-16) ... It was the third grand slam this season for NDSU, as Maritza Lopez-Portillo has connected against Hawai'i (3-12-16) and Kent State (2-27-16) ... Shortstop Logan Moreland leads North Dakota State with a .405 batting average ... Moreland has 13 multi-hit games ... Moreland hit a home run in four straight games (Iowa State G2, IUPUI G1, IUPUI G2, IUPUI G3) and has six homers over the past seven games ... With two home runs vs. IPFW on April 10, Moreland tied the school single-game record for the third time in her career ... That record has been achieved 22 times by 13 athletes ... Moreland has eight multi-RBI games this season ... NDSU has 12 players with one or more RBI this season including Alyssa Reina with a team-high 30 ... Fourteen Bison have scored one or more runs this season led by Moreland with 34 ... The Bison are 1-2 in extra innings this season and 43-30 in extra innings under head coach Darren Mueller since 2002 ... North Dakota State is 56-50 in extra innings overall ...  Collectively, the Bison are batting .313 with a 2.99 earned run average and are fielding at .970 ... NDSU opponents are batting .241 with a 5.14 ERA and are fielding at .947 ... The Bison are averaging 6.0 runs scored per game, while opponents are averaging 3.36 ... The big inning is the second for North Dakota State with 42 runs scored.

Sertic espnW National Player of the Week on March 9
Memo to all future espnW national players of the week: The trip to Hawaii is not included ... Sorry ... The timing of North Dakota State pitcher Jacquelyn Sertic's ongoing stay in Honolulu is purely coincidental, her team long ago scheduled to travel this week to a tournament in Hawaii while making the most of spring break, but she certainly earned some kind of reward ... Sertic and the Bison travel across the Pacific Ocean to play six games this week, two each against Baylor, California and Hawaii ... They have their work cut out for them against teams like that, but events of the past week suggest those teams don't have it so easy, either ... A program that made a habit of playing beyond its weight class since moving to Division I a little more than a decade ago, North Dakota State was at it again as it followed the pitcher's lead in a tournament hosted by Alabama ... In her first start in Tuscaloosa, Sertic allowed four hits, one walk and two earned runs in eight innings to beat DePaul ... She topped that a day later when she allowed four hits and one earned run in a win over second-ranked Alabama on its field. She wasn't done. Sertic then threw a five-inning no-hitter as the Bison surged to an 18-0 win over DePaul to wrap up their stay ... That's an extra-inning complete game, the biggest upset of the season and her first career no-hitter ... Eight hits and three earned runs allowed in 20 innings across three starts ... All in barely 48 hours ... It adds up to the player of the week.

Sertic, Stifter, Moreland Receive Summit League Honors
North Dakota State senior shortstop Logan Moreland was named Summit League and College Sports Madness.com SL Player of the Week on April 11 ... First baseman Jackie Stifter was named Summit League Player of the Week on Feb. 29 ... It was the first weekly SL honor for Stifter, Moreland has been named twice, while Jacquelyn Sertic has earned her five SL awards this season ... Sertic has been named College Sports Madness.com SL Player of the Week twice.

Garcia, Lopez-Portillo, Moreland, Reina, Stifter Take Aim at NDSU Career Charts
On the NDSU career charts, senior second baseman Cheyenne Garcia is 4th in doubles (57); 6th in slugging percentage (.584), home runs (27), sacrifice flies (7), stolen bases (63) and RBI (153); 7th in runs scored (177), total bases (371) and triples (9), and 8th in  double plays turned (23) ... Senior left fielder Maritza Lopez-Portillo is 3rd in hit by pitch (15) and 4th in sacrifice flies (8) ... Senior shortstop Logan Moreland is 7th in stolen bases (61), 8th in batting average (.368), 9th in on-base percentage (.428) and runs scored (154), and 10th in slugging percentage (.533) and double plays turned (19) ... Junior catcher Alyssa Reina is 6th in fielding (.991); 7th in slugging percentage (572), home runs (26) and putouts (906), and 9th in fielding chances (979) ... Senior first baseman Jackie Stifter is 2nd in hit by pitch (22) and 7th in sacrifice flies (6).

NDSU Preseason Favorite in Summit League Coaches Poll
The North Dakota State softball team has been selected 2016's preseason favorite in The Summit League among a vote of the league's head coaches. The Bison received five-of-seven first-place votes for 35 points in the poll ... NDSU has won the past four regular season league titles along with claiming six of the past seven tournament championships.

Garcia Candidate for Senior CLASS Award
North Dakota State second baseman Cheyenne Garcia was one of 30 softball candidates for the 2016 Senior CLASS Award ... Garcia, a senior from Vista, Calif. (Rancho Buena Vista H.S.), was named the 2015 Summit League Player of the Year ... She has taken an active role in her hometown and campus community including volunteering at Rosewood on Broadway Nursing Home and Special Olympic Hockey locally, and Adopt A Child program at Christmas with her family.

Seven Bison Named to College Sports Madness.com Preseason All-Summit League Softball Teams
North Dakota State placed seven players on the College Sports Madness.com Preseason All-Summit League team led by Player of the Year choice in second baseman Cheyenne Garcia, shortstop Logan Moreland, catcher Alyssa Reina and left fielder Maritza Lopez-Portillo ... Second team selections were pitcher Jacquelyn Sertic and first baseman Jackie Stifter, while pitcher KK Leddy was selected Freshman of the Year ... The Bison were also ranked No. 44 in the College Sports Madness.com Preseason Softball Rankings.

The Mueller/Trachsel File
Head coaches for North Dakota State are Darren Mueller (15th season, 22nd overall) and Jamie Trachsel (6th season, 14th overall) ... Mueller has compiled a 527-279 record (.654) including 150-34 (.815) vs. Summit League competition (including tournament) ... Trachsel has compiled a 206-106 record (.660) including a 104-23 (.819) vs. Summit League competition including tournament ... Mueller recorded win No. 500 vs. IUPUI (5-9-15) in the Summit League tournament ... Trachsel earned win No. 200 at Iowa State (3-26-16) ... The Bison have had nine straight 30-plus win seasons and reached 40 wins for the first time since 2004 last season ... North Dakota State has won six Summit League tournament championships (2009-10-11-12, 2014-15) to advance to NCAA regional play ... The Bison won the NCAA Norman Regional in 2009 and advanced to the NCAA Super Regional at Arizona State ... NDSU has won five Summit League regular season crowns (2008, 2012-13-14-15) ... Rounding out the Bison staff are pitching coach Brynne Dordel and graduate assistant manager Kendall Grimm ... Mueller became the program's all-time winningest coach with the 4-1 victory at Western Illinois (4-16-11) ... The NDSU coaching staff earned the 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 Summit League Coaching Staff of the Year honors ... The NDSU staff earned 2009 and 2015 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Midwest Coaching Staff of the Year award ... Mueller was named the 2006 and 2007 Division I Independent Coach of the Year.