Softball Heads To Sioux Falls For NSIC Softball Tournament This Week

NSIC Tournament Bracket

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The St. Cloud State softball team (31-21, 15-11 NSIC) is off to the annual NSIC Softball Tournament this week in Sioux Falls, S.D. The program starts tournament play as the fifth seed and takes on the fourth-seeded Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (34-18, 18-10 NSIC) on Thursday, May 4, at noon at Bowden Field. The Huskies are one of 10 teams in the conference to advance to the softball tournament joining {(1) Minnesota State, (2) Winona State, (3) Augustana, (4) Minnesota Duluth, (6) Bemidji State, (7) Sioux Falls, (8) Southwest Minnesota State, (9) Minot State, (10) Northern State}. The double-elimination tournament is being held May 4-6 at Bowden Field & Sherman Park in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Notables

The NSIC will be have both live stats / live video for the contest on Thursday afternoon.
Click here for the NSIC Softball Tournament Central page
The Huskies are 38 -58 against Minnesota Duluth in a series that began in 1969
The team lost to the Bulldogs by close scores of 7-6 and 6-4 on March 28 to open league play.
The 7-6 loss saw SCSU and UMD tied at six all in the fifth inning before the Bulldogs got a solo home run in the bottom of the frame take the lead in the eventual victory.
Senior Megan Hedstrom started in the contest for SCSU and struck out six while allowing five walks and six runs.
Sophomore Morgan Emmans had a pair of hits including a home run to drive in four runs in the first game.
The Huskies were down 6-0 in the second game but rallied with four runs in the sixth inning, including a two-run double from senior Alyssa Coletto, to make the final score 6-4.
Sophomore Kate Kopeck allowed six runs on nine hits in 5.1 innings worked.
UMD lost three of the team's four games over the weekend to Augustana and Bemidji State.
The Bulldogs are 23-11 away from home this season.
Natalie Wright leads the team with her .373 batting average and 66 hits.
Wright also has 31 RBIs, 18 doubles (second in NSIC) and five triples (first in the NSIC).
Becky Smith is hitting .349 with 39 runs, 58 hits, 12 doubles, six home runs and 41 RBIs plus 18 walks.
Hannah Schmoll sports a .331 batting average, 44 runs, 56 hits, three triples and 35 stolen bases.
Lauren Oberle is hitting .297, 30 runs, 46 hits, 11 doubles, nine home runs and 40 RBIs.
Sam Hartmann is 12-9 with a 2.16 ERA plus 15 complete games and 73 strikeouts in 129.2 innings worked.
Valerie Hohol has won 13 games with a 2.74 ERA in 104.2 innings thrown.

SCSU Notables

This is the third time that SCSU has made the softball tournament since rejoining the conference and the first time since 2015.
The program also made the NSIC Softball Tournament in 2013.
The program is 2-4 all-time in the NSIC Tournament.
Due to rain and cold weather, St. Cloud State's softball team was only able to get a Saturday doubleheader against Wayne State College in last week.
The program went 2-0 in the weekend games with a team batting average of .410, 25 hits, four doubles and 12 RBIs.
The pitching staff allowed just a pair of runs in each game with 11 strikeouts and nine hits allowed in 14 innings.
Senior Rebecca Harps had a pair of three-hit games on the week.
Harps also had three-RBI performance in the first game and drove in a total of four runs during the doubleheader.
Fellow senior Jessica Goerger knocked in five runs on her four hits against the Wildcats.
Senior Alyssa Coletto totaled four hits against WSC.
Senior Abby Bunnell had three hits, including two doubles plus three runs scored in the two games.
Senior Megan Hedstrom limited Wayne State to two runs on just two hits in her complete game.
Sophomore Kate Kopeck struck out seven in a complete game against the Wildcats.
Coletto leads the team with her .364 batting average, on-base percentage of .442, slugging percentage .536 and 12 doubles this season.
She is tied with Goerger for the team lead with 81 total bases.
Coletto is 10th in the NSIC in on-base percentage.
Goerger is hitting .350 with 55 hits, nine doubles, five home runs, 47 RBIs.
She is fifth in the league in RBIs.
Bunnell is hitting .356 with 40 runs, 64 hits, three triples, 17 RBIs, 72 total bases and 32 stolen bases.
She is fourth in the league in stolen bases, sixth in triple and hits plus 10th in runs scored.
Freshman Maya Keating is hitting .346 with 29 runs, 55 hits, 19 walks and 18 stolen bases.
She is ninth in the league in walks and stolen bases.
Sophomore Jaiden Lund is hitting .307 with 28 runs, 46 hits, 10 doubles, six home runs, 24 RBIs, 74 total bases and 15 walks.
Sophomore Morgan Emmans is hitting .283 with eight doubles, two triples, five home runs, 31 RBIs, 68 total bases and 20 walks.
Emmans is fifth in the league in walks.
Hedstrom has a 3.18 ERA with 15 wins, 14 complete games, three shutouts, four saves and 97 strikeouts in 160.2 innings thrown.
Hedstrom is third in the conference and 20th nationally in saves.
She is third in the NSIC innings pitched and fifth in appearances (33) plus eighth in wins and ninth in strikeouts.
Kopeck is 14-9 with 107 strikeouts in her 149.0 innings thrown.
She is seventh in the league in strikeouts and shutouts (4) plus ninth in innings pitched and wins.
The Huskies rank in the top half of the conference in batting average (.306 – 6th), fielding percentage (.967 – 4th), on-base percentage (.380 – 5th), scoring (4.81 – 5th), stolen bases per game (1.56 – 4th) and win/loss percentage (.596 –5th)

Career Watch/Record Book

Jessica Goerger is currently first in hit by pitches (29), third in slugging percentage (.560) and putouts (1262), fourth in defensive chances (1301), fifth in home runs (25), sixth in RBIs (128), seventh in on-base percentage (.419) and 10th in total bases (299).
Abby Bunnell is currently first in stolen bases (101), fifth in runs scored (135), seventh in at-bats (684) and sacrifice hits (20) plus eighth in hits (217).
Alyssa Coletto ranks third in defensive chances (1311), fourth in putouts (1133), ninth in doubles (33) and is tied for 10th in home runs (17).
Megan Hedstrom is second in saves (4) and games finished (33), eighth in opponent's batting average against (.261) and appearances (93), ninth in wins (33) plus 10th in games started (55), strikeouts (229) and innings pitched (374.0).
Libby Bingham is ninth in career assists (264)

Up Next

If the Huskies win the NSIC Softball Tournament, the program will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament. The 42-team central region is made up of teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and the Great American Conference (GAC). Automatic bids are awarded to the tournament champions from each conference with the final five spots awarded on an at-large basis. In all, eight teams will advance to the NCAA Regional Tournament on May 11-13, with the top two seeds in the region hosting.
The NCAA softball selections will be announced on www.NCAA.com on Monday, May 8 at 9 a.m. (CT). The NCAA Championships are set for May 25-29 at Moyer Sports Complex, Salem, Virginia; City of Salem and Mountain East Conference, hosts.