NDSU Softball Travels to Summit League-Leading Western Illinois on April 22-23

Saturday, April 22

Macomb, Ill.

12 p.m.

North Dakota State

Western Illinois

Photo by: Carrie Snyder

NDSU Softball Travels to Summit League-Leading Western Illinois on April 22-23

4/19/2017 9:43:00 AM | Softball

NDSU Softball Release.pdf

Saturday, April 22
BISON at Western Illinois, 12 p.m. I Live Stats
BISON at Western Illinois, 2:30 p.m. I Live Stats

Sunday, April 23
BISON at Western Illinois, 11 a.m. I Live Stats

North Dakota State (5-4 SL, 18-25) is scheduled to travel to league-leading Western Illinois (9-3 SL, 18-24) for a three-game series on April 22-23 in Macomb, Ill. ... NDSU and Western Illinois play a noon doubleheader Saturday, April 22, at Mary Ellen McKee Stadium ... The teams close out the three-game set at 11 a.m. Sunday, April 23 ... The Bison are 7-9 on the road, the Leathernecks are 4-2 at home.

The Series
This will be the 32nd meeting between North Dakota State and Western Illinois ... The Bison lead the series 24-7.

Quickly Around the Horn
North Dakota State freshman left fielder Stephanie Soriano #Squints tied the NDSU single-game record when she was hit by pitch against South Dakota (4-15-17) ... The record has been tied 15 times by 12 different players ... Sophomore third baseman Julia #LuckiyLuciano has been hit by pitch six times this season ... Sophomore Vanessa Anderson #ThePunisher has hit nine home runs this season ... Her first career home run was a grand slam in the 7-3 win over the College of Charleston (2-26-17) ... NDSU defeated Georgia Tech (G1, 3-25-17) in 12 innings, matching the longest game in program history ... The Bison are 1-1 in extra innings this season and stand 44-31 in extra innings under head coach Darren Mueller since 2002 ... North Dakota State is 57-51 in extra innings overall ... NDSU head coach Darren Mueller reached career win No. 550 with the 3-1 victory at Stetson University (3-10-17) ... In NCAA statistics (April 10), individually, Jacquelyn Sertic #TheScientist is No.4 in strikeouts (243) and No. 33 in strikeouts per 7 innings (8.3 avg.) ... Freshman left fielder Stephanie Soriano #Squints leads the Bison with 12 multi-hit games ... Sophomore second baseman Zoe Stavrou #ZOWIE tops NDSU with eight multi-RBI games ... Stavrou leads NDSU with 10 two-out RBI, while junior right fielder Bre Beatty #FreeBird and Anderson are next with nine ... Collectively, the Bison are batting .232 with a 3.09 earned run average and are fielding at .963 ... NDSU opponents are batting .255 with an 2.52 ERA and are fielding at .962 ... The Bison are averaging 3.23 runs scored per game, while opponents are averaging 3.81.

The Scientist's Research Nets Shutouts, Double-Figure Ks
North Dakota State junior right-hander Jacquelyn Sertic #TheScientist collected a pair of shutouts at the Ragin' Cajun Invitational on March 3-5 ... Sertic has four shutouts this season and 12 in her career ... Sertic has reached double-figure strikeouts nine times this season and 15 times in her career, the last coming with 15 strikeouts at North Dakota (4-11-17) ... Sertic has compiled a 47-30 record with three saves over three seasons.

Zowie, The Punisher, Squints Tie Home Run Record
North Dakota State freshman left fielder Stephanie Soriano #Squints and sophomore first baseman Vanessa Anderson #ThePunisher both tied the school record with two home runs against IUPUI in game two April 8 ... Soriano became the 16th Bison player to tie the record ... The record has been achieved 28 times ... Anderson tied the record for the second time including the pair at Fort Wayne (4-2-17) ... Fellow sophomore Zoe Stavrou #ZOWIE hit two home runs in the 6-0 win against Ball State (2-18-17) ... Stavrou tied the record for the second time.

NDSU-Georgia Tech Marathon Produces Records
North Dakota State freshman left fielder Stephanie Soriano #Squints tied the single-game record with five base hits and seven at-bats at Georgia Tech (G1, 3-25-17) ... The Bison won 8-6 in 12 innings ... Soriano became the fifth NDSU player collect five hits, the first since Melissa Chmielewski did it vs. Saint Mary's, Calif. (3-5-08) ... Junior right-hander Jacquelyn Sertic #TheScientist struck out a career-high 19 at Georgia Tech (G1, 3-25-17) to match the single-game record set by Whitney Johnson in eight-inning win against Toledo (2-9-12) ... Sertic became the third pitcher to throw 12 innings in a game, the first since Amber Garrett at Colorado State (4-26-06) ... NDSU tied the school record for the longest game for the fifth time in program history, the last time came against UMKC (4-22-12) ... NDSU junior catcher Tabby Heinz #Toby tied the school record with 21 putouts at Georgia Tech (G1, 3-25-17), matching Janice Thompson's effort vs. South Dakota State (4-6-84)

Sertic, Luciano Take Aim at NDSU Career Charts
On the NDSU career charts, junior right-hander Jacquelyn Sertic is 6th in strikeouts/7 IP (7.36 avg.), strikeouts (536), and batters faced (2170), 7th in saves (3), 8th in
appearances (100) and innings pitched (510), 9th in wins (47), starts (75), complete games (58) and shutouts (12), and 10th in opponent batting avg. (.232) ... Junior third baseman Julia Luciano is tied for 6th in times hit by pitch (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 ... 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 Playing Professionally in Italy
Former North Dakota State all-region shortstop Logan Moreland began play professionally this month 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 560-307 record (.646) including 169-38 (.816) vs. Summit League competition (including tournament) ... Mueller reached career win No. 550 at Stetson (3-10-17) ... 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 the 2006 and 2007 Division I Independent Coach of the Year.