Softball Weekly Release - April 13, 2009

Complete Release

THIS WEEK:  Montana State Billings has six games on the docket this week.  On Wednesday, Apr. 15, the Yellowjackets hit the road to take on the University of Great Falls.  Then it’s back home to Cenex Stadium, Saturday-Sunday, Apr. 18-19, to play Western Washington.

MSUB currently leads the GNAC at 20-6 with WWU in third at 13-9.  All three days are scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.

UNIVERSITY OF GREAT FALLS:  The Argos are currently 3-11.  At the plate, Sam Schultz has two doubles, one triple and one home run, scored 13 runs, driven in nine and is batting .429.  Lindsay Cline has three home runs, scored seven runs, driven in 11 runs and is hitting .360.

WESTERN WASHINGTON:  The Vikings are 13-9 in the GNAC and 17-15 overall.  They are currently in third place in the league.  Offensively they are led by Michelle Wrigley and Samantha Rutherford.  Wrigley has six doubles, scored 29 runs, driven in 12 and is hitting .370.  Rutherford has three doubles and two home runs, scored 13 runs and driven in 11 while hitting .350.

On the mound Jessie Rosencrants is 37-5 with 75 strikeouts and a 3.10 ERA in 92 and two-third innings.

On Mar. 6-7, the two teams met in Bellingham with the Jackets winning three out of four.  The Vikings hit just .146 against the Yellowjackets.  Meghan Flem led the squad with five hits in 11 at bats for a .455 average.  Kelsey Anderson and Andrea Sherrill had two hits each.

Sarah McEnroe gave up three hits and two runs in a 6-2 win on Mar. 6.  After that, the Vikings could manage just seven hits and no runs.

For MSUB, Whitney Whittemore went 6-for-12 (.500 BA) and scored two runs, Terina Stacks was 6-for-13 (.462), scored two runs and drove in three runs while Steph Gosselin scored four runs.

On the mound, the Yellowjackets gave up 13 hits, six runs, one earned, walked 11 and struck out 18 batters for a 0.28 ERA in 25 innings.

TWO WEEKS AGO:  Montana State Billings had a strong week winning four of six games. On Mar. 18, MSUB swept the University of Mary, 8-2 and 8-2.  On Mar. 21-22, the Yellowjackets split a four game series with Central Washington to remain in first place in the GNAC.

       On the 21st, MSUB lost 3-2 in 11 innings and then bounced back to win 9-6.  On the 22nd they reveresed it winning the first 3-1 and losing the nightcap 3-2.

       For the week, Terina Stacks had two doubles, scored six runs, drove in one run and hit .500 while Steph Gosselin had two doubles, one home run, scored three runs and batted .474.  Kelly Parsons had a strong week with three home runs, scored six runs, drove in six runs and hit .412.

       On the mound, Lisa Moore was 2-0 and gave up 10 hits, three runs, walked eight and struck out 18 for a 1.17 ERA in 18 innings.  kasie Conder went 1-1 and gave up 11 hits, six runs, five of them earned, walked one and struck out 18 for a 2.62 ERA in 13 and 2/3rd innings.

RBI RECORD:  On March 18 against the University of Mary, the career RBI record was broken, tied and broken.  In the first game, Steph Gosselin drove in Terina Stacks in the first inning.  That was Gosselin’s 92nd career RBI breaking a three way tie.

In the second inning, Stacks doubles to drive in Kelly Parsons for her 92nd career RBI to tie Gosselin.  In the first innings of the second game, Gosselin drove in Stacks to take back the RBI mark with 93.

RECORD CHASERS:   The Yellowjackets are already hard at work rewriting the individual career record book.  Earlier this season, Terina Stacks became the all-time leader in hits (187) and total bases (274).  Stacks was the all-time leader in runs with 104 until Steph Gosselin passed her against Western Oregon.  Gosselin now has 106 runs.  Three other records are being challenged as well.

Gosselin is currently the all-time leader in RBI’s with 99 and Stacks is close behind at 95.

Stacks has 772 putouts to break the career record of 727 while Leslie Davis has accumulated 279 assists and needs 30 to break the record of 299.

WEST REGION POLL:   Montana State Billings is currently ranked seventh in the NCAA Division II West Region Poll as of Apr. 8.  In parentheses is where they are ranked nationally.

         1.        Humboldt State (6)
         2.        Hawaii Pacific (11)
         3.        Cal State Stanislaus
         4.        Dixie State (19)
         5.        UC San Diego
         6.        Sonoma State (39)
         7.        Montana State Billings
         8.        Cal State Dominguez Hills
         9.        San Francisco State
                10.          Grand Canyon

FIRST-FIRST:  Montana State Billings currently leads the GNAC with a mark of 15-5.  In addition 11 times this season, the Yellowjackets have scored at least one run  in the first inning of a GNAC game.  MSUB is 11-0 in those games.

GNAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:  They should start calling it the GNAC MSUB Player of the Week Award.  The Yellowjackets have had at least one player been named POW seven of the nine weeks it has been awarded.  The latest recipient is Steph Gosselin for the week of Apr. 13.

HOME COOKING:  They say there is no place like home.  That is definitely true for Montana State Billings.  Since Cenex Stadium was built in 2002, the Yellowjackets have won 89 games against just 20 defeats.  That equates to a winning percentage of .817.  In addition, MSUB has won its 13 of it’s last 14 games at Cenex.

GNAC POLL:  The bull’s-eye has been hung on the Montana State Billings’s softball team.  The Yellowjackets have been picked to win the GNAC according to the Preseason Softball Poll.  MSUB received 33 points to 32 points for defending champion, Western Oregon.

Both teams garnered three first places votes but MSUB got the edge with three second place votes to two seconds and one third for the Wolves.  Western Washington received 23 points to take third place.  Rounding out the poll was Central Washington (18), Saint Martin’s (13) and Northwest Nazarene (7).

After a slow start, MSUB caught fire, winning 21 of its last 27 games.  The Jackets finished 16-8, third in the GNAC and 28-21 overall.  The Yellowjackets returned 10 letterwinners including five all-conference selections.

“As far as being picked the preseason number one in the coaches poll, it’s no doubt a very high compliment,” Said head coach Anthony Stone.  “I have a tremendous amount of respect for the coaches in our conference, and I think it says something special not only for our team, but for the conference overall. The GNAC is highly competitive, and I think the rest of the coaches would agree with me that there are no “gimmes” here. You better come ready to play everyday, because the day you don’t is the day you can get beat by anyone. I think that’s what makes it so much fun, is that up and down the league, you have to play your best against everyone.”