NDSU Softball Opens with Host South Carolina at Gamecock Invitational on Feb. 24

Friday, February 24

Columbia, S.C.

2 p.m.

North Dakota State

South Carolina

Photo by: Paul Dye

NDSU Softball Opens with Host South Carolina at Gamecock Invitational on Feb. 24

2/22/2017 2:13:00 PM | Softball

NDSU Softball Release.pdf

North Dakota State (3-7) is scheduled to play host South Carolina (8-1) at 2 p.m. Central Time on Friday, Feb. 24 in the opening game of the Gamecock Invitational at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field in Columbia, S.C. ... The Bison are scheduled to play four games, two against the College of Charleston (6-2) and a pair against South Carolina ... The NDSU-South Carolina games will be streamed on SEC Network+, available on the Watch ESPN app ... The tournament schedule:

U. of South Carolina Gamecock Invitational
(Carolina Softball Stadium/Beckham Field, Columbia, S.C.)
Friday, Feb. 24
BISON vs. South Carolina (8-1, plays Wednesday), 2 p.m. CT Watch Live | Live Stats
Saturday, Feb. 25
BISON vs. College of Charleston (6-2), 10 a.m. CT Live Stats
BISON at South Carolina, 12:30 p.m. CT Watch Live | Live Stats
Sunday, Feb. 26
BISON vs. College of Charleston, 9 a.m. CT Live Stats

The Series
This is the second meeting between North Dakota State and South Carolina, members of the SEC ... The Gamecocks defeated NDSU 7-1 on March 3, 2006, at the UNC Tar Heel Invitational ... This will be the third meeting between North Dakota State and the College of Charleston, members of the Colonial Athletic Association ... The Bison won 13-3 on March 8, 2008, at the Stanford Classic, and beat the Cougars 8-0 on Feb. 17, 2007, at the College of Charleston tourney.

Second Summit League Pitcher of the Week Honor for Sertic
North Dakota State junior right-hander Jacquelyn Sertic was named Summit League Pitcher of the Week for the second straight week on Feb. 20 ... It was Sertic's eighth career weekly honor ... Pitched her second shutout of season and 10th of career in 6-0 win over Ball State at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational ... Had 13 strikeouts in 1-0 loss to Boston College, her eighth game with double-figure strikeouts.

Quickly Around the Horn
North Dakota State junior right-hander Jacquelyn Sertic threw her third career one-hitter in the 1-0 win over Ole Miss on Feb. 11 ... Video highlight of NDSU catcher Tabby Heinz' throw to second followed by a diving grab by second baseman Lauren Reimers to nab the runner against Abilene Christian on Feb. 18 was nominated for #NCAATop10 and tweeted out by @NCAAsoftball ... In the NCAA statistics (Feb. 21), North Dakota State is 31st in earned run average (1.66 ERA) ... Individually, Jacquelyn Sertic is No. 3 in strikeouts, No. 9 in shutouts and 16th in saves, while sophomore first baseman Zoe Stavrou is 30th in home runs ... Stavrou leads the Bison with three multi-hit and two multi RBI games this season ... Freshman shortstop Montana DeCamp leads NDSU with four two-out RBI ... The Bison are 0-1 in extra innings and stand 43-31 in extra innings under head coach Darren Mueller since 2002 ... North Dakota State is 56-51 in extra innings overall ... Collectively, the Bison are batting .180 with a 1.66 earned run average and are fielding at .945 ... NDSU opponents are batting .211 with an 1.77 ERA and are fielded at .987 ... The Bison are averaging 1.80 runs scored per game, while opponents are averaging 2.20 ... The big inning is the fourth for NDSU with seven runs scored ... ... NDSU went 17-0 during the Summit League 2016 regular season, becoming the first team since DePaul in 1999 to go unbeaten in league play ... The Bison reached 30 wins for the 10th straight season in 2016 ... The Bison have won 27 straight Summit League regular season games and 33 in a row including the past two Summit League postseason tournaments ... Last Summit League loss was against South Dakota (G2, 4-3-15).

Reina, Sertic Take Aim at NDSU Career Charts
On the NDSU career charts, senior catcher Alyssa Reina is 5th in runners caught stealing (33), 6th in slugging (.584), 7th in home runs (29), fielding (.991), fielding chances (1159) and putouts (1069), and 9th in walks (77) ... Junior right-hander Jacquelyn Sertic is 6th in strikeouts/7 IP (6.97 avg.), 8th in strikeouts (355) and in opponent batting average (.225), and tied for 10th in complete games (40) and shutouts (10).

Bison Projected as Summit League Preseason Favorite
North Dakota State University was selected as The Summit League preseason softball favorites in a poll of the league's seven head coaches released Feb. 2 ... The Bison won their third consecutive league tournament title in 2016 ... NDSU collected six first-place votes for a total of 36 points ... Omaha was selected second with 27 points ... The Bison, who have won the last three Summit League tournament championships and five consecutive regular season crowns, return six all-league selections, including pitcher of the year Jacquelyn Sertic.

Former Bison Moreland to Play Professionally in Italy
Former North Dakota State University all-region shortstop Logan Moreland has signed to play professionally for Collecchio Softball of the Italian League ... Moreland (Woodland, Calif./Woodland H.S.) is the fourth NDSU softball player to compete professionally overseas, and joins former all-region pitchers and teammates Krista Menke (Italy/Netherlands) and Whitney Johnson (Netherlands), along with former All-American catcher Shelly Rhein (Italy) ... Menke won the Brewskeez Sports Cafe International Athlete of the Year Award last season.

The Mueller File
The North Dakota State head coach is Darren Mueller (16th season, 23rd overall) ... Mueller has compiled a 545-289 record (.653) including 164-34 (.828) vs. Summit League competition (including tournament) ... The Bison have had 10 straight 30-plus win season ... Mueller became the program's all-time winningest coach with the 4-1 victory at Western Illinois (4-16-11) ... North Dakota State has won seven Summit League tournament championships (2009-10-11-12, 2014-15-16) 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 six Summit League regular season crowns (2008, 2012-13-14-15-16) ... Rounding out the Bison staff are assistant coaches Gerice Olson and Beth Spoehr, along with graduate assistant manager Cheyenne Garcia and volunteer assistant Kendall Grimm ... 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, 2015 and 2016 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.