THIS WEEK: North Dakota State (13-23, 8-7 Summit) is scheduled to host North Dakota (13-26, 5-9 Summit) for a four-game Summit League softball series this weekend at Tharaldson Park. The Bison and Fighting Hawks will play two doubleheaders starting at noon Saturday, May 1, and 11 a.m. Sunday, May 2. Live stats will be available on BisonStats.com. Live video will be available to NDSU All Access subscribers on GoBison.com and the NDSU Athletics mobile app. Bison 1660 and 92.7 FM will have live coverage of Saturday's first game.
 
TICKETS & PARKING: All seating is general admission and tickets may be purchased at the gate on game day. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for youth ages 3-17. Parking is available in NDSU parking lot NQ to the north of Tharaldson Park on 17th Avenue. Attendees are strongly encouraged to wear masks.
 
THE SERIES: NDSU has a 74-34 advantage in the all-time series with UND dating back to 1977. The Bison took two out of three games in Fargo during the 2019 season winning 3-0 and 14-0 before UND won the series finale 6-4.
 
ABOUT NORTH DAKOTA: The Fighting Hawks are 13-26 overall and 5-9 in The Summit League after dropping both ends of a doubleheader to South Dakota State on April 17. UND had the final two games of the SDSU series canceled due to weather and last weekend had a three-game non-conference series at Lipscomb canceled. UND is hitting .204 a team led by Madi Moore (.292) and Alexys Campos (.285). The Fighting Hawks are third in The Summit League with a 3.84 team ERA led by Jannay Jones (2.87), who has a 5-7 record in 12 starts with eight complete games and 41 strikeouts in 75.2 innings pitched. Head coach Jordan Stevens (Bowling Green, 2004) is in his seventh season with a 121-217 record at UND and a 252-316 record in his 11th season including four years as the head coach at Valparaiso from 2011-2014.
 
LAST WEEK: North Dakota State slipped to 13-23 overall and 8-7 in The Summit League after losing 2 of 3 at home to Omaha last weekend. The final game of Sunday's doubleheader was canceled due to inclement weather. Lainey Lyle threw a two-hitter with seven strikeouts in Saturday's 3-1 win, Nicole Licea bunted in one run, Molly Gates lifted a sacrifice fly and Madyson Camacho added an RBI single for the Bison. Sam Koehn homered in Game 2 before Omaha responded with five straight runs in an eventual 5-3 win. Omaha's Kamryn Meyer struck out nine in Sunday's 8-0 win over NDSU. She retired 11 straight before a walk to Montana DeCamp in the fourth and limited the Bison to a pair of singles in the fifth by Koehn and the sixth by DeCamp.
 
SENIOR DAY: This is the final home weekend in regular-season play for six seniors in the NDSU softball program. DP Cara Beatty, OF Madyson Camacho, SS Montana DeCamp, 3B Sam Koehn, P Kara O'Byrne and OF Stephanie Soriano will be recognized prior to Sunday's doubleheader. The senior class has been part of 125 victories, two Summit League regular-season championships, three NCAA regional teams since 2017.
 
IN THE SUMMIT LEAGUE STATS: North Dakota State is second in The Summit League with a .319 team batting average in league play. NDSU has four of the top six hitters in league play with Stephanie Soriano second (.460), Emilee Buringa third (.433), Madyson Camacho fourth (.432) and Montana DeCamp sixth (.420). Buringa is second in the league with a .485 on-base percentage and Soriano is third with a .482 OBP and third with 23 hits in league play.
 
STATISTICAL LEADERS: In the overall stats, Stephanie Soriano leads the Bison with a .368 batting average, 39 hits, eight doubles and is tied with Montana DeCamp for the team lead with 15 runs scored. Emilee Buringa is hitting .378 and Madyson Camacho is hitting .347 with a team-high seven stolen bases. Avery Wysong (.276) has a team-best .540 slugging percentage and five home runs. Lainey Lyle has won her last four appearances to improve to 5-4 and Paige Vargas leads the Bison pitching staff with seven wins, nine complete games in 13 starts, 70.1 innings and 48 strikeouts.