MSUB Softball Opens Home Conference Schedule Friday (4/5/06)

BILLINGS, MT – The Montana State-Billings softball team will get little rest between its longest road trip of the season and its Heartland Conference home opener.  The team returned Wednesday from a 12-game conference road swing and will open the home portion of the conference schedule Friday afternoon. 

The Yellowjackets, 8-28 overall and 1-11 in the Heartland Conference, host Oklahoma Panhandle State (4-33, 4-14) on Friday and Saturday at Cenex Stadium.  Friday’s doubleheader starts at 3:00 p.m. with Saturday’s double-dip beginning at 1:00.  MSU Billings will play its remaining 12 regular season games at home over the next three weeks.  The top five teams in the final regular season standings will advance to the Heartland Conference championship tournament in San Antonio at the end of April.

The Yellowjackets just finished playing 12 conference games in the span of seven days in New Mexico and Texas.  Eight of the 12 games were against opponents currently ranked in the NCAA South Central Region top 10.  MSUB went 1-11 on the trip with their only win coming Monday night at St. Mary’s University (ranked ninth in the region).  Despite the poor record, the MSU Billings offense seemed to find its stride in the final games of the trip.

Over the first seven games of the swing the Yellowjackets averaged just one run per game and were shut out three times.  In the final five games they scored a combined 19 runs, or 3.8 per game.  Even though that offensive improvement only resulted in one win, Yellowjacket coaches and players think that a recent batting slump is coming to an end.

Yellowjacket hitters and pitchers alike will be challenged by an upstart Panhandle State squad.  Even though the Aggies lost twice at Midwestern State this week, they won four of six games last week after starting the season with 30 consecutive losses.  In the four victories the Aggies averaged 9.5 runs per game, including a 15-0 pounding of Lincoln University.

Panhandle’s Jennifer Costeldia was named the Heartland Conference player of the week after going 12-for-18 at the plate with three home runs, two triples, a double, and 16 RBI.  The senior catcher is hitting .371 for the season with five home runs and 25 RBI.  Antonia Ramirez leads the Aggies with a .372 batting average and .433 on base percentage.  Pitcher Rachel Hughes is 2-12 with an 8.66 ERA, but she threw a no hitter against Lincoln last week.

In the midst of the Yellowjackets’ 12-game losing streak that ended with the upset of St. Mary’s last Monday night, head coach Sean McGary has experimented with numerous lineups.  One of the bright spots discovered in that lineup shuffle was freshman Stephanie Gosselin (Brentwood Bay, BC).  After seeing action in just five games early in the season, Gosselin batted .435 in nine games on the most recent road trip.  She also had a team-high .458 on base percentage.

Sophomore Jenna Haacke (Billings, MT) is hitting .311 for MSU Billings and leads the team with eight home runs.  She hit three of those home runs in the span of four days last week.  Junior Rachel Quarnburg (Billings, MT) returned from a back injury to bat .324 last week, raising her season average to .308.

Senior Christy Wankel (Great Falls, MT) is also batting .311 for the season with 16 RBI and four home runs.  Last week Wankel broke the school career record for games played with 170 and the career record for games started with 166.  Down the homestretch of the season she needs a dozen hits to tie the school career record of 156 hits.  She also needs six home runs and three RBI to tie those respective school career records.

Because of the graduation of the entire pitching staff from last year’s team, the Yellowjackets have had to win or lose with three freshmen this season.  Terina Stacks (Washougal, WA) is emerging as an effective starter and relief pitcher despite her 0-9 record.  Last week she had a 4.45 ERA in seven appearances and led the team with an average of one strikeout per inning pitched.

Lisa Moore (Bakersfield, CA) leads the team in pitching victories and ERA with a 4-12 record and a 4.51 ERA.  She has struck out 76 in a team-high 96 1/3 innings.  Rebekah Tsatsa (Eagle, ID) is 3-7 overall with a 5.38 ERA.