Saturday, March 27
Macomb, Ill.
12 p.m.
North Dakota State
at
Western Illinois
Photo by: Kevin Snyder
Bison Open Summit League Play Saturday at Western Illinois
3/25/2021 12:35:00 PM | Softball
THIS WEEK: The North Dakota State softball team (5-15) opens its Summit League schedule this weekend at Western Illinois (9-13). The teams will play a doubleheader at noon Saturday, March 27, and another doubleheader Sunday, March 28, beginning at 11 a.m. at McKee Stadium in Macomb, Ill. Live stats for all four games this weekend will be available on GoLeathernecks.com.
THE SERIES: North Dakota State has a 33-9 lead in the series with Western Illinois dating back to 2008. The Bison have won seven straight since a 4-3 Western Illinois victory in NDSU's first game of the 2017 Summit League Championship in Fargo. NDSU swept a three-game series in its last trip to Western Illinois in 2019 winning 12-0, 10-7 and 5-4. North Dakota State is 15-5 all-time in Macomb, where the Bison won their first Summit League tournament title in 2009.
ABOUT WESTERN ILLINOIS: The Fighting Leathernecks are third in The Summit League in pitching with a 4.12 team ERA and third in hitting with a .268 team batting average. WIU 2B Piper Foote ranks fourth in the league with a .383 batting average and fourth with a .479 on-base percentage including a league-best 11 walks. The Leathernecks have two of the league's top five home run hitters this year in SS Sydney Hollings (5) and RHP/DP Savannah Rodriguez (3). LHP Abby Carlin is second in the league with 75 strikeouts in 68.2 innings, Rodriguez is sixth with 41 strikeouts in 34.2 innings, and RHP/1B Maddy Anderson is sixth in the league with a 3.76 ERA. Head coach Alisa Goler is in her first year at Western Illinois.
ABOUT THE BISON: North Dakota State is coming off a 1-4 weekend at the Kansas Jayhawk Invitational. NDSU beat South Dakota 9-1 in five innings before dropping two games to Kansas and two games to Tulsa. Bison OF Stephanie Soriano hit .467 with six RBIs while reaching base in all five games over the weekend. Soriano was 3-for-3 in the first game against Kansas and then homered and drove in four runs in the second meeting with Kansas. INF Skylar Padgett ended the weekend on a five-game hitting streak. RHP Paige Vargas earned her third win of the season tossing all five innings against South Dakota allowing one earned run on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
STATISTICAL LEADERS: CF Madyson Camacho leads the Bison in hitting through 20 games with a .295 batting average and team-best 18 hits and four stolen bases while occupying the top two spots in the NDSU lineup. INF Skylar Padgett is hitting .293 with a team-high 12 RBIs and .483 slugging percentage including two home runs. OF Stephanie Soriano is hitting .288 with and is tied for the team lead in doubles (4) with C Avery Wysong. DP/2B Ciara Jensen leads the Bison with a .355 on-base percentage and 10 runs scored.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: North Dakota State continues to play the The Summit League's toughest non-conference schedule in preparation for league play. NDSU's non-conference strength of schedule ranks 51st and is the only Top 100 schedule in The Summit League. Five of NDSU's first 12 opponents have a team ERA under 3.00 and seven are in the Top 100 of the first NCAA RPI rankings. NDSU will also host Iowa State in mid-April during the teams' bye week in Summit League and Big 12 Conference play. The Cyclones are 22-5 and 45th in the NCAA RPI.
FOUR-GAME SERIES: With reductions and cancellations in non-conference play this year, The Summit League has expanded its league schedule to four-game series with opponents playing two doubleheaders each weekend. The previous league format was a three-game series with one doubleheader and one single game. Since beginning Summit League play in 2008, NDSU has swept 39 three-game series including 26 away from Fargo. The Bison have been swept only twice in league play with both coming on the road against Purdue Fort Wayne (2010) and Kansas City (2011).
BISON PICKED TO WIN SUMMIT: North Dakota State was picked to win The Summit League in a preseason poll of the league's seven head coaches. The Bison have won the last two regular season crowns and six straight league tournament titles. NDSU had six first-place votes followed by South Dakota State, South Dakota, Omaha, Kansas City, North Dakota and Western Illinois.
PLAYERS TO WATCH: North Dakota State junior right-handed pitcher Paige Vargas and senior infielder Montana DeCamp were among the Summit League preseason players to watch. Vargas, the league's 2019 Freshman of the Year, made 17 appearances last season with a 3.94 ERA was second in the league with 74.2 innings. DeCamp, a two-time All-Summit League first team pick, started all 23 games last year hitting .286 with one home run, five RBIs and a team-high 14 runs scored.
WHO'S BACK: North Dakota State returns 17 of 18 players from last year's COVID-19 shortened season. The Bison lost their last five games of the season to finish 7-16 overall. The Bison had the top fielding team in The Summit League last year with a .965 fielding percentage, a league-low 23 errors and league-high 12 double plays. NDSU hit .257 as a team and had a 4.12 team ERA through 23 games. Designated player Cara Beatty was second in the league with a .393 batting average.
FIELD OF THE YEAR: Tharaldson Park, the on-campus home softball stadium for North Dakota State, was named the NCAA Division I winner of the 2020 Netting Professionals NFCA Field of the Year award, which recognizes the top fields/stadiums in the nation for their flawless grounds maintenance and exceptional playing surfaces. Tharaldson Park was dedicated in 2018 after a $2 million renovation including installation of a FieldTurf playing surface and seating for 735 spectators.
SUMMIT TOURNEY RETURNS TO FARGO: The Summit League Softball Championship presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare is slated to return to Fargo for the ninth time in program history. NDSU will host the league championship May 12-15 at Tharaldson Park. The winner of the six-team tournament will earn the league's automatic qualifier for an NCAA Division I regional.
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY: North Dakota State has advanced to NCAA regional play 10 of the past 11 seasons as the Summit League tournament champion. NDSU qualified for its first NCAA Division I tournament in 2009, the school's first year of Division I postseason eligibility, and the Bison swept through the Norman Regional that year to advance to Super Regional play at Arizona State. NDSU made seven NCAA Division II postseason appearances from 1998-2004 including a national championship in 2000.
NATIONALLY RANKED OPPONENTS: North Dakota State beat at least one nationally ranked opponent in seven straight seasons from 2012 to 2018 with the most recent Top 25 victory coming in 2018 over 10th-ranked LSU by a 1-0 score in nine innings. That is one of five Bison wins over Top 10 opponents including a 2-1 victory at No. 2 Alabama in 2016, the highest-ranked opponent NDSU has beaten. NDSU's first win over a nationally ranked Division I program came in 2009 with an 11-inning 1-0 victory at No. 9/10 Oklahoma en route to the NCAA regional championship.
EXTRA INNINGS: North Dakota State has played four extra-inning games this season with a 3-1 record in those contests. NDSU is 12-3 in extra innings since 2017 and the Bison have a 40-29 record since beginning Division I play in 2005 including three 12-inning games against Colorado State in 2006 (W, 3-2); Kansas City in 2012 (L, 4-6) and Georgia Tech in 2017 (W, 8-6).
NO-HITTERS: North Dakota State pitchers have thrown 30 no-hitters including 13 against Division I opponents with the last coming in 2019 when KK Leddy blanked South Dakota State 5-0. There have been eight perfect games by NDSU pitchers with the last one in 2015 by Krista Menke at Purdue Fort Wayne. There have been six no-hitters pitched against NDSU in Division I play since 2005. Illinois State's Morgan Day struck out 16 and walked one in the last no-hitter against North Dakota State in the championship game of the Middle Tennessee State University Invitational on March 14.
THE SERIES: North Dakota State has a 33-9 lead in the series with Western Illinois dating back to 2008. The Bison have won seven straight since a 4-3 Western Illinois victory in NDSU's first game of the 2017 Summit League Championship in Fargo. NDSU swept a three-game series in its last trip to Western Illinois in 2019 winning 12-0, 10-7 and 5-4. North Dakota State is 15-5 all-time in Macomb, where the Bison won their first Summit League tournament title in 2009.
ABOUT WESTERN ILLINOIS: The Fighting Leathernecks are third in The Summit League in pitching with a 4.12 team ERA and third in hitting with a .268 team batting average. WIU 2B Piper Foote ranks fourth in the league with a .383 batting average and fourth with a .479 on-base percentage including a league-best 11 walks. The Leathernecks have two of the league's top five home run hitters this year in SS Sydney Hollings (5) and RHP/DP Savannah Rodriguez (3). LHP Abby Carlin is second in the league with 75 strikeouts in 68.2 innings, Rodriguez is sixth with 41 strikeouts in 34.2 innings, and RHP/1B Maddy Anderson is sixth in the league with a 3.76 ERA. Head coach Alisa Goler is in her first year at Western Illinois.
ABOUT THE BISON: North Dakota State is coming off a 1-4 weekend at the Kansas Jayhawk Invitational. NDSU beat South Dakota 9-1 in five innings before dropping two games to Kansas and two games to Tulsa. Bison OF Stephanie Soriano hit .467 with six RBIs while reaching base in all five games over the weekend. Soriano was 3-for-3 in the first game against Kansas and then homered and drove in four runs in the second meeting with Kansas. INF Skylar Padgett ended the weekend on a five-game hitting streak. RHP Paige Vargas earned her third win of the season tossing all five innings against South Dakota allowing one earned run on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
STATISTICAL LEADERS: CF Madyson Camacho leads the Bison in hitting through 20 games with a .295 batting average and team-best 18 hits and four stolen bases while occupying the top two spots in the NDSU lineup. INF Skylar Padgett is hitting .293 with a team-high 12 RBIs and .483 slugging percentage including two home runs. OF Stephanie Soriano is hitting .288 with and is tied for the team lead in doubles (4) with C Avery Wysong. DP/2B Ciara Jensen leads the Bison with a .355 on-base percentage and 10 runs scored.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: North Dakota State continues to play the The Summit League's toughest non-conference schedule in preparation for league play. NDSU's non-conference strength of schedule ranks 51st and is the only Top 100 schedule in The Summit League. Five of NDSU's first 12 opponents have a team ERA under 3.00 and seven are in the Top 100 of the first NCAA RPI rankings. NDSU will also host Iowa State in mid-April during the teams' bye week in Summit League and Big 12 Conference play. The Cyclones are 22-5 and 45th in the NCAA RPI.
FOUR-GAME SERIES: With reductions and cancellations in non-conference play this year, The Summit League has expanded its league schedule to four-game series with opponents playing two doubleheaders each weekend. The previous league format was a three-game series with one doubleheader and one single game. Since beginning Summit League play in 2008, NDSU has swept 39 three-game series including 26 away from Fargo. The Bison have been swept only twice in league play with both coming on the road against Purdue Fort Wayne (2010) and Kansas City (2011).
BISON PICKED TO WIN SUMMIT: North Dakota State was picked to win The Summit League in a preseason poll of the league's seven head coaches. The Bison have won the last two regular season crowns and six straight league tournament titles. NDSU had six first-place votes followed by South Dakota State, South Dakota, Omaha, Kansas City, North Dakota and Western Illinois.
PLAYERS TO WATCH: North Dakota State junior right-handed pitcher Paige Vargas and senior infielder Montana DeCamp were among the Summit League preseason players to watch. Vargas, the league's 2019 Freshman of the Year, made 17 appearances last season with a 3.94 ERA was second in the league with 74.2 innings. DeCamp, a two-time All-Summit League first team pick, started all 23 games last year hitting .286 with one home run, five RBIs and a team-high 14 runs scored.
WHO'S BACK: North Dakota State returns 17 of 18 players from last year's COVID-19 shortened season. The Bison lost their last five games of the season to finish 7-16 overall. The Bison had the top fielding team in The Summit League last year with a .965 fielding percentage, a league-low 23 errors and league-high 12 double plays. NDSU hit .257 as a team and had a 4.12 team ERA through 23 games. Designated player Cara Beatty was second in the league with a .393 batting average.
FIELD OF THE YEAR: Tharaldson Park, the on-campus home softball stadium for North Dakota State, was named the NCAA Division I winner of the 2020 Netting Professionals NFCA Field of the Year award, which recognizes the top fields/stadiums in the nation for their flawless grounds maintenance and exceptional playing surfaces. Tharaldson Park was dedicated in 2018 after a $2 million renovation including installation of a FieldTurf playing surface and seating for 735 spectators.
SUMMIT TOURNEY RETURNS TO FARGO: The Summit League Softball Championship presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare is slated to return to Fargo for the ninth time in program history. NDSU will host the league championship May 12-15 at Tharaldson Park. The winner of the six-team tournament will earn the league's automatic qualifier for an NCAA Division I regional.
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY: North Dakota State has advanced to NCAA regional play 10 of the past 11 seasons as the Summit League tournament champion. NDSU qualified for its first NCAA Division I tournament in 2009, the school's first year of Division I postseason eligibility, and the Bison swept through the Norman Regional that year to advance to Super Regional play at Arizona State. NDSU made seven NCAA Division II postseason appearances from 1998-2004 including a national championship in 2000.
NATIONALLY RANKED OPPONENTS: North Dakota State beat at least one nationally ranked opponent in seven straight seasons from 2012 to 2018 with the most recent Top 25 victory coming in 2018 over 10th-ranked LSU by a 1-0 score in nine innings. That is one of five Bison wins over Top 10 opponents including a 2-1 victory at No. 2 Alabama in 2016, the highest-ranked opponent NDSU has beaten. NDSU's first win over a nationally ranked Division I program came in 2009 with an 11-inning 1-0 victory at No. 9/10 Oklahoma en route to the NCAA regional championship.
EXTRA INNINGS: North Dakota State has played four extra-inning games this season with a 3-1 record in those contests. NDSU is 12-3 in extra innings since 2017 and the Bison have a 40-29 record since beginning Division I play in 2005 including three 12-inning games against Colorado State in 2006 (W, 3-2); Kansas City in 2012 (L, 4-6) and Georgia Tech in 2017 (W, 8-6).
NO-HITTERS: North Dakota State pitchers have thrown 30 no-hitters including 13 against Division I opponents with the last coming in 2019 when KK Leddy blanked South Dakota State 5-0. There have been eight perfect games by NDSU pitchers with the last one in 2015 by Krista Menke at Purdue Fort Wayne. There have been six no-hitters pitched against NDSU in Division I play since 2005. Illinois State's Morgan Day struck out 16 and walked one in the last no-hitter against North Dakota State in the championship game of the Middle Tennessee State University Invitational on March 14.
Players Mentioned
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