NDSU Softball Heads North to Face North Dakota

Friday, April 24

Grand Forks, N.D.

6 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

North Dakota

Photo by: Zachary Lucy

NDSU Softball Heads North to Face North Dakota

4/23/2026 5:00:00 PM | Softball

NDSU Notes

FARGO, N.D. - North Dakota State softball will wrap up the road schedule for the regular season, traveling north on I-29 to face in-state rival North Dakota in a three-game Summit League series.

The Bison will open up the series with the Fighting Hawks on Friday night, with first pitch set for 6 p.m. from Albrecht Field. On Saturday, the North Dakota State and North Dakota are set to get underway at 1 p.m. and then the two programs will also close the series out on Sunday, again at 1 p.m.

Game Coverage
All three games of the series between the Bison and North Dakota will be streamed live on The Summit League Network. A subscription to the Summit League Network, which can be accessed on the Midco Sports Plus App, is needed to view all games.

All games will also include live statistics. Game coverage links are available on the softball schedule page on gobison.com.

Series History
North Dakota State and North Dakota have met 128 times in the history of the series, which is the second-most played series all time for the Bison. The Bison lead the all-time series with the Fighting Hawks, holding a commanding 83-44-1 record, including a 30-game win streak for the Bison from 1997 to 2004 when the series stopped with NDSU moving up to Division I.

In the Darren Mueller era, the Bison still control the series, leading 19-12. NDSU has also been dominant in Grand Forks during the history of the series, as the Bison have won nearly two-thirds of the games at UND with a 27-14-1 lead in the series.

Bison Seeing Double
The Bison have 68 doubles this season, already more than 50 percent over last year when NDSU totaled just 44 doubles. All 13 Bison to record a hit this season have at least one double.

Bella Dean leads the way for the Bison with 15, which is 31st nationally and first in the Summit League. Lileigh Nieto is also in double figures with 11 doubles.

Dean Slashes Way to Second Weekly Honor
Bella Dean picked up her second Summit League Peak Performer of the Week accolade of the season earlier this week, following a dominant two series at the plate against St. Thomas and Kansas City.

Over six games, Dean hit .706 (12-for-17) with a 1.000 slugging percentage and four walks, posting a .762 on-base percentage and a 1.762 ops. She finished with a total of 12 RBI and also had three runs scored. Dean reached safely at least twice in every game, with at least two hits or a hit and a walk in each game. Dean also recorded her first career four-hit game and first career five-RBI game in the series vs. Kansas City.

She has won the honor five times in her career.

In the Career Charts
After last week's performances that included a grand slam and 12 RBIs, Bella Dean moved up the top 10 in career home runs and into the top 10 in career RBIs for the Bison.

Dean hit her 29th home run, which saw her pass Logan Moreland (28) and move into a tie with Alyssa Reina (29) for eighth all time. Cheyenne Garcia is the next to reach on the list at 30 in seventh place.

Dean also moved into a tie for ninth in career RBI with 142, surpassing Jess Christensen (135) and tying Kelly Cantrell. Sarah Schmitz (145) and Nikki Almquist (153) are the next for Dean to reach.

Amai Hanta also ranks in the top 10 for the Bison in career triples with eight, including four already this season. The sophomore sits in a tie for 10th with Sarah Schmitz and Mindy Zorn. Hanta is just one triple shy of tying the NDSU Division I era record of nine, held by Cheyenne Garcia.

Swiping Bags
The Bison sit atop the Summit League this season in stolen bases (58) and stolen bases per game (1.35). NDSU also leads the league in Summit League play with 20 stolen bases in 21 attempts. They have seven more stolen bases than St. Thomas in second in league play. The Bison have successfully stolen 35 of the last 37 overall and are 58 of 66 (.879) overall this season.

Cortez Matches Outfield Assists Record
Star Cortez tied the NDSU single season outfield assist record against Kansas City, recording her eighth of the season to match Erin Troup from 2007.

Cortez also moved into third on the career list for outfield assists with 13. Troup owns the Division I era record with 16.

With eight from Cortez, along with three from Lileigh Nieto and two from Ella Claus, the Bison have 13 outfield assists this season, which is one shy of the single season team record of 14 set in 2007 and matched last year in 2025.

Turning Two
Once again, the Bison sit at the top of the league in double plays turned on the season. Defensively, the Bison have turned 19 doubles plays this season, which is currently first in the league. The .44 per game average also ranks atop the league and is 50th nationally. NDSU finished second in the Summit League last season with 25 double plays turned.

Rounding the Bases
With two weeks remaining in the season, the Bison have 25 home runs, after hitting just 13 home runs in all of 2025. Bella Dean leads NDSU with seven home runs, including a walk off grand slam last week against Kansas City.

Mya Boos also added her fifth home run of the year in the St. Thomas series earlier in the week. Jessica Delatorre, Amai Hanta and Zoe King also having multiple home runs.

Five Bison have hit their first career home runs this season, including Boos, Star Cortez, Macy Fry, Lileigh Nieto and Morgan Zimmerman. In total, 11 of the 13 Bison to record a hit this season have also hit a home run on the year.

Bison Streaks
Senior Bella Dean enters the series with North Dakota on a nine-game hit streak and Amai Hanta sits one game behind her with a career-best eight-game hit streak.

Dean and junior Taylinn Warren saw hit streaks reach double digits earlier this season with Dean reaching a career high 10 games, and a few days later, Warren reaching a career high 11 games. They were the 34th and 35th times a Bison reached double digit hitting steaks.

Star Cortez also had a 22-game reached base streak this season, the longest for NDSU since 2016 when Alyssa Reina (29), Logan Moreland (26) and Jackie Stifter (22) all reached 22.

Last Week
The Bison won four of six games in the homestand that included a pair of series in Summit League play.

NDSU had a makeup series to open up the home schedule on Tuesday and Wednesday, taking one of three from the defending co-Summit League champions of St. Thomas. NDSU opened the series with the Tommies by winning 10-2 in six innings. St. Thomas then won 10-2 and 8-3 in a doubleheader to take the series.

The Bison then closed out the week with a sweep of Kansas City to move into third in the Summit League standings. NDSU won 2-1 and then 11-1 in a doubleheader on Sunday, before closing out the series sweep on Monday with a 5-3 win.

Next Up
The Bison will wrap up the regular season and home schedules, as NDSU welcomes in South Dakota State for a three-game series April 30 - May 2.

NDSU opens up the series with the Jackrabbits on Thursday afternoon with first pitch set for 4 p.m. from Tharaldson Park. On Friday, the Bison and SDSU are set to get underway at 3 p.m. and then the two programs will close out the series out on Saturday at 1 p.m.