St. Cloud State
Bemidji State University
Softball heads to Bemidji for final midweek doubleheader
4/26/2022 11:32:00 AM | Softball
ST. CLOUD, MINN. - It's down to the final stretch for the St. Cloud State University softball team. The Huskies enter the final week of the 2022 regular season, where they will play three road doubleheaders over the course of five days. First up, St. Cloud State will travel to Bemidji, Minnesota for a midweek Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) doubleheader against the Beavers.Â
First pitch for Wednesday's doubleheader is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at Chet Anderson Stadium with game two to follow. Live stats and video will be available for both games, and score updates will be made on the team's official Twitter account (@SCSUHUSKIES_SB).
Here are the five things to know before the Huskies busy week:
51 - St. Cloud State's offense had no issues scoring this past weekend, scoring a combined 29 runs against SMSU and Sioux Falls. A key part to the Huskies success was the long ball. St. Cloud State hit five home runs over the course of two doubleheaders, tying the program record for single-season home runs (51). The Huskies have a chance to break that record against the Beavers on Wednesday, which has stood since the 2003 season.Â
200 - Along with the team, one individual reached a personal milestone in St. Cloud State's 10-1 win over the Mustangs on Sunday. Fifth year senior Kylie Thomsen (Elk Grove Village, Ill. / Elk Grove Village) needed three strikeouts to reach the 200 career milestone, and she did just that. Thomsen struck out exactly three SMSU batters in the game, earning her 30th career win and 200th career strikeout at the same time.Â
17 - The Huskies and Bemidji State met earlier this season at the Kelly Laas Invite. In fact, St. Cloud State opened the season with a resounding 4-0 win over the Beavers behind a phenomenal performance by Trinity Junker (Lindstrom, Minn. / Chisago Lakes). The junior ace tallied a career-high 17 strikeouts in the victory, pitching seven complete, shutout innings to secure her first "W" of the season. Junker enters the weekend with a 15-6 record, 1.75 ERA and 152 strikeouts in 136.0 innings pitched.Â
.317 - Just one Bemidji State hitter is batting over .300 this season. Mariah Stevenson has tallied 39 hits in 123 at bats to lead with Beavers with a .317 batting average. The first year infielder struggled against the Huskies in that first meeting, going 0-3 at the plate with three strikeouts against Junker. Since then, Stevenson has been the catalyst of Bemidji State's offense, leading the team in nearly every offensive category including batting average, slugging, on-base percentage, RBI, doubles and home runs.Â
4 - This doubleheader could have major implications in the NSIC standings. A sweep by the Huskies could help them secure a top-4 seed in the NSIC tournament, while the Beavers could jump into the top-10 in the conference standings with a win Wednesday afternoon. Entering the doubleheader, Bemidji State is currently on the outside looking in, as the Beavers sit in 11th place in the NSIC standings.
