NDSU Opens with Northern Colorado at PV College Challenge on Feb. 14

Thursday, February 14

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

12:30 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Darren Gibbins

NDSU Opens with Northern Colorado at PV College Challenge on Feb. 14

2/13/2019 3:58:00 PM | Softball

NDSU Softball Release.pdf

North Dakota State (3-1) is scheduled to open play at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge against Northern Colorado (1-4) at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14 ... All games will be available at FloSoftball.com ... Tournament Central www.pvcollegechallenge.com/tournament-central.html ... The schedule:

Puerto Vallarta College Challenge
Nancy Almaraz Field / Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Thursday, Feb. 14
BISON (3-1) vs. Northern Colorado (1-4), 12:30 p.m.
BISON vs. #12/11 Arkansas (5-0), 3 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 15
BISON vs. #5/5 Washington (4-1), 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 16
BISON vs. Southern Illinois (3-2), 8:30 p.m.

The Series
This will be the 13th meeting between North Dakota State and Northern Colorado, members of the Big Sky Conference ... The Bison lead the series 8-4 ... This will be the seventh meeting between North Dakota State and Arkansas, members of the Southeastern Conference ... The series is tied 3-3 ... This will be the third meeting between North Dakota State and Washington, members of the Pac 12 Conference ... The Huskies were the NCAA runner-up last season ... The series is tied 1-1 ... This will be the first meeting between North Dakota State and Southern Illinois, members of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Quickly Around the Horn
North Dakota State is 1-0 in extra innings this season, beating Texas State 4-3 in 10 innings on Feb. 10 ... NDSU stands 50-32 in extra innings under head coach Darren Mueller since 2002 ... The Bison are 63-52 in extra innings overall ... Collectively, the Bison are batting .234 with a 4.75 earned run average and are fielding at .960 ... NDSU opponents are batting .250 with a 4.05 ERA and are fielding at .972 ... The Bison are averaging 4.25 runs scored per game, while opponents are averaging 4.75.

Quartet Takes Aim at NDSU Career Charts
On the NDSU career charts, third baseman Julia Luciano is tied for No. 4 in times hit by pitch (14) ... Outfielder Katie Shoultz is No. 6 in fielding (.992), and No. 9 in stolen bases (58) and stolen base attempts (69) ... Second baseman Zoe Stavrou is tied for No. 7 in sacrifice flies (6) ... Pitcher KK Leddy is No. 9 in batters faced (1,820) and No. 10 in strikeouts (267)... Catcher Maddie Hansen is No. 4 in fielding percentage (.996)

Special K Notches Shutouts, Double-Figure Ks
North Dakota State right-hander KK #SpecialK Leddy recorded her second career double-figure strikeout game with 13 against UTSA (2-9-19), matching her career-high of 13 vs. Southern Utah (2-9-18) ... Leddy notched four shutouts last season and has seven in her career ... Leddy has compiled a 33-25 record.

Bison #SummitSB Preseason Favorite
For the seventh consecutive year, North Dakota State was named The Summit League preseason softball favorite in a poll of the league's head coaches ... The Bison won their ninth tournament title in 2018 ... NDSU earned four of a possible seven first-place votes for a total of 34 points ... The Bison return three all-Summit League selections including first team second baseman Zoe Stavrou, and second team pitcher KK Leddy and first baseman Vanessa Anderson ... In addition, Stavrou and Anderson were named to the Summit League all-tournament team... Anderson was selected as a "Player to Watch" this season.

Ten NDSU Players Easton/NFCA Scholar Athletes
Eight North Dakota State softball players were recognized as National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Scholar Athletes for the 2017-18 academic year:first baseman Vanessa Anderson, shortstop Montana DeCamp, catcher Maddie Hansen, pitcher KK Leddy, third baseman Julia Luciano, pitcher Kara O'Byrne, pitcher/outfielder Morgan Olson, utility player Lauren Reimers, pitcher Jacquelyn Sertic and second baseman Zoe Stavrou ... Anderson and DeCamp had 4.0 GPAs ... Collectively, NDSU compiled a 3.471 grade point average.

Bison Announce 2019 Recruiting Class
North Dakota State head softball coach Darren Mueller announced shortstop Skylar Padgett (Grants Pass, Ore. / Grants Pass H.S.), pitcher Lainey Lyle (Middleton, Idaho / Middleton H.S.), catcher Kaylee Moore (Cave Creek, Ariz. / Ayala H.S. Calif.) outfielder Dez Cardenas (Hufffman, Texas / Hargrave H.S.) and shortstop Kara Diaz (Indio, Calif. / Shadow Hills H.S.) have all signed National Letters of Intent to attend NDSU and play softball beginning in the fall of 2019.