NDSU Softball Release.pdf
NCAA Softball Interactive Bracket

North Dakota State (42-14) is scheduled to play host and No. 7-seed (#12/#8) Minnesota (41-12) at 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 17, at the NCAA Minneapolis Regional ... The game will be televised on ESPN3/Watch ESPN with Courtney Lyle and Amanda Scarborough on the call ... Radio coverage by Bison 1660 AM/92.7 FM with Keith Brake describing the action ... The Bison played at the 2014 NCAA Minneapolis Regional and also played Minnesota twice at the 2016 NCAA Seattle Regional ... The Gophers won all three meetings ... The first game Friday features No. 25/24 Drake (42-14) against No. 14/16 Georgia (40-17) ... The tournament schedule:
 
NCAA Minneapolis Regional
Jane Sage Cowles Stadium / Minneapolis, Minn.
Friday, May 17
G1 -- #25/#24 Drake (42-14) vs. #14/#16 Georgia (40-17), 6 p.m. / ESPN2
G2 -- #12/#8 (7) Minnesota (41-12) vs. North Dakota State (42-14)  8:30 p.m. / ESPN3
Saturday, May 18
G3 -- G1 Winner vs. G2 Winner, 3 p.m.
G4 -- G1 Loser vs. G2 Loser, 5:30 p.m.
G5 -- G3 Loser vs. G4 Winner, 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 19
G6 -- G3 Winner vs. G5 Winner, 3 p.m.
G7 -- (if needed), 5:30 p.m.
(Winner advances to face NCAA Baton Rouge Regoinal winner)
 
Bison and NCAA Tournament
North Dakota State is making its 10th trip to the NCAA tournament over the past 11 years ... The Bison are 10-18 in nine previous trips and 6-10 over the past five seasons ... NDSU won the 2009 NCAA Norman Regional and advanced to the Tempe Super Regional ... The 10 Bison tournament wins have come against Oklahoma (2 / 2009, 2017), Tulsa (2, 2009), Hawai'i (2012), Auburn (2014), Fresno State (2015), BYU (2015), Weber State (2016) and Mississippi State (2018) ... NDSU has played nine teams this season in the 2019 NCAA tournament field and have compiled a 3-8 record – No. 3-seed Washington (0-1), No. 16-seed Northwestern (0-1), Arkansas (0-1), Auburn (0-2), Chattanooga (1-0), Notre Dame (0-1), Seattle University (2-0), Southern Illinois (0-1), and Stanford (0-1) ... NDSU is making its 17th NCAA appearance (including Division II) overall and have a 34-33 record.
 
Quickly Around the Horn
North Dakota State freshman right-hander Paige Vargas was named Summit League Tournament MVP after throwing the final three games including 19.1 scoreless innings ... Vargas, 3-0 with a 0.33 ERA and two shutouts, became the third NDSU freshman to earn the honors joining Whitney Johnson (2011) and KK Leddy (2016) and fourth overall in tournament history ... NDSU righty KK Leddy was named the Summit League April Female Athlete of the Month ... Leddy notched career win No. 50 vs. Omaha (4-26-19) and reached 20 wins in a season for the first time vs. Omaha (4-27-19) ... Leddy fired her first career no-hitter in a 5-0 win over South Dakota State (G1 4-14-19) ... It is the 31st no-hitter in program history ... NDSU was No. 44 in the NCAA RPI this week ... The Bison reached 40 wins for the 10th time in program history and first since 2015 (45-11) ... NDSU had a 20-game winning streak, the program's longest at Division I ... The school record is 27, set in 2000 ... NDSU head coach Darren Mueller won career game No. 200 in Summit League play vs. South Dakota State (G2 4-14-19) ... The Bison are 3-0 in extra innings in 2019, last at South Dakota 2-0 in 8 innings (G1 4-19-19) ... NDSU is 52-32 in extra innings with head coach Darren Mueller ... The Bison are 65-52 in extra innings overall ... Center fielder Katie Shoultz (.395) leads the Bison with 19 multi-hit games ... Maddie Hansen (12 HR) and Vaness Anderson (11 HR) lead NDSU with 17 two-out RBI ... Six Bison have 10 or more two-out RBI ... Pitcher KK Leddy and catcher Maddie Hansen were named to the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge all-tournament team ... Collectively, the Bison are batting .310 with a 2.45 ERA and are fielding at .976 ... NDSU opponents are batting .225 with a 4.25 ERA and are fielding at .951 ... The Bison are averaging 5.34 runs scored per game, while opponents are at 2.64 ... NDSU is 38-4 when scoring 3 or more runs, 31-0 leading after six innings and 35-1 when scoring first.
 
NDSU Claims 10th Summit League Tournament Title
North Dakota State came through the loser's bracket to win its sixth straight and 10th overall Summit League Tournament championship by defeating South Dakota 6-0 and 3-1 on May 11 ... Freshman right-hander Paige Vargas pitched final 21 innings, and compiled a 3-0 record with a 0.33 ERA and two shutouts to take MVP honors ... Joining Vargas on the all-tournament team were left fielder Madyson Camacho, catcher Maddie Hansen, center fielder Katie Shoultz, and first baseman Vanessa Anderson ... Vargas became the eighth Bison player to earn MVP honors and the fifth pitcher joining Andi Padilla (2009), Whitney Johnson (2010, 2011), Krista Menke (2014, 2015), KK Leddy (2016) and Jacquelyn Sertic (2018) ... NDSU stats from tournament on page 11.
 
Anderson Named to Academic All-District® 6 Team
North Dakota State University first baseman Vanessa Anderson was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District® 6 Division I Softball Team announced May 9, and selected by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) ... Anderson, a senior first baseman from Rochester, Minn., was named for the first time. First team Academic All-District® honorees advance to the Academic All-America® Team ballot with teams announced June 6.
 
NDSU, Leddy & Shoultz Listed in NCAA Stats
In the NCAA statistics (5-13-19), North Dakota State is No. 6 in shutouts (20), No. 12 in fielding percentage (.976) and No. 25 in batting average (.309) ... Individually, pitcher KK Leddy is No. 12 with 10 shutouts and No. 28 with 22 wins ... Paige Vargas is No. 22 with 8 shutouts ... On the NCAA active career leader list, Katie Shoultz is No. 20 in stolen bases (84-101) and Leddy is No. 24 in complete games (58) and No. 30 in shutouts (17) ... Last season Shoultz matched the stolen base record of five achieved twice by Bison Athletic HoF/All-America shortstop Nikki Flynn Gregg.
 
NDSU Sweeps Summit League Awards
North Dakota State senior KK Leddy was selected as the Pitcher of the Year, while senior Katie Shoultz was selected as the Player of the Year. North Dakota State rookie Paige Vargas won the Freshman of the Year award with Darren Mueller earning Coach of the Year honors ... Leddy becomes the fifth NDSU pitcher to earn Pitcher of the Year, joining Allison Bakke (2008), Krista Menke (2012, 2015), Whitney Johnson (2013) and Jacquelyn Sertic (2016, 2018) ... Shoultz is the fifth Bison to earn Player of the Year, joining current assistant Melissa Chmielewski (2008, 2010), Kelly Cantrell (2009), Cheyenne Garcia (2015) and Logan Moreland (2016) ... Vargas is fourth NDSU player to earn Freshman of the Year, joining Elisa Victa (2008), Whitney Johnson (2010) and Krista Menke (2012) ... Mueller and the NDSU coaching staff earned the honor for the sixth time ... Leddy and Shoultz were named first-team All-Summit League performers and were joined on the 14 member squad by teammates, Maddie Hansen, Vanessa Anderson, Montana DeCamp, Madyson Camacho and Cara Beatty ... Vargas was named to the second-team.
 
Bison Reach 40 Wins For First Time Since 2015
With the 5-0 win over South Dakota State on May 10, North Dakota State softball reached 40 wins for the 10th time in program history and the first time since 2015 (45-11)... With the 1-0 victory over South Dakota State on April 14, NDSU softball reached 30-plus wins for the 12th time over the past 13 seasons season ... Here's a look:
2019--42-14
2015--45-11
2004--40-11
2003--43-11
2002--44-10
2001--53-6
2000--68-10
1999--53-12
1998--64-17
1997--45-19