Montana State Billings Softball Weekly Release - April 22, 2009

Complete Release

THIS WEEK:  Montana State Billings has six games on the docket this week.  On Thursday, Apr. 23, the Yellowjackets will take on Saint Martin’s in Spokane at Noon.  Then on Fri.-Sat., Apr. 24-25, MSUB will play Northwest Nazarene in Nampa.  The games are scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. and noon, respectively.

NORTHWEST NAZARENE:  The Crusaders are 5-25 in the GNAC and 8-35 overall.  Haley Hevern has five doubles and seven home runs, scored 20 runs, driven in 16 and is batting .306.  Arielle Chao has four home runs, scored 15 runs, driven in 18 runs and is hitting .304.

SAINT MARTIN’S:  The Saints are 7-22 in the GNAC and 9-34 overall.  Morgan Klemm has five doubles and four home runs, scored 16 runs, driven in 15 runs and is hitting .322.  Holly Morris has eight doubles and nine home runs, scored 21 runs and driven in 22 runs.

NFCA NCAA DIVISION II NATIONAL POLL
April 22, 2009
           TEAM                                          W-L          PTS
    1    Alabama-Huntsville (4)             41-4           390
    2    North Georgia                              43-3           382
    3    Lock Haven                                 39-5           365
    4    Southeastern Oklahoma            48-9           351
    5    Angelo State (12)                        38-8           314
    6    Ferris State                                    30-6           306
    7    Valdosta State                             42-6           298
    8    Humboldt State                        33-14           282
    9    Winona State                               34-9           275
  10    Kutztown                                  41-8-1           268
  11    Metro State                                  32-8           230
  12    Abilene Christian                      39-11           194
  13    Dixie State                                    30-9           169
  14    C.W. Post                                    29-12           167
  15    USC Aiken                                 34-14           152
  16    Hawaii Pacific                           36-10           143
  17    Florida Southern                       34-10           135
  18    Bloomsburg                                  29-7           128
  19    Wayne State (Mich.)                31-11           125
  20    Minnesota State Mankato      31-10             77
  21    Nebraska-Omaha                     35-10             71
  22    Lenoir Rhyne                               34-9             69
  23    LeMoyne                                      28-9             62
  24    California (PA)                            32-6             61
  25    Saginaw Valley State                 31-9             51
Others Receiving Votes: West Florida - 25, Georgian Court - 21, Missouri St. Louis, Central Missouri - 20, Caldwell  - 16, Ashland - 7, Francis Marion - 5, Midwestern State, Montana State Billings, New Haven, Nova Southeastern - 4, NYIT - 3, Tampa, West Texas A&M - 1

LAST WEEK:  Montana State Billings kept its lead in the GNAC as they swept Western Washington, Apr. 18-19.  The Yellowjackets won 3-0 and 5-1 on the 18th and completed the sweep on the 19th, winning 10-2 and 10-8.

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 (193) and total bases (283).  Stacks was the all-time leader in runs with 107 until Steph Gosselin passed her against Western Oregon.  Gosselin now has 111 runs. 

Gosselin is currently the all-time leader in RBI’s with 105 and home runs with 24 and has tied Stacks in total bases.

Stacks has 794 putouts to break the career record of 737 while Leslie Davis has accumulated 289 assists and needs 11 to break the record of 299.  Stacks is also chasing the at-bat record as she has 513 and needs 12 more.

HOME RUN RECORD:   Steph Gosselin is chasing both the school and GNAC single season record for home runs.  She currently has 13 with the GNAC being 14 by Brandi Harrison (Humboldt State) and Mallory Holtman (Central Washington), both in 2006.  The school record is 15 by Theresa Campbell in 2004.

WEST REGION POLL:   Montana State Billings is currently ranked fourth in the NCAA Division II West Region Poll as of Apr.22.  In parentheses is where they are ranked nationally.

      1.      Dixie State (13)
      2.      Humboldt State (8)
      3.      Hawaii Pacific (16)
      4.      Montana State Billings (33)
      5.      Sonoma State
      6.      Cal State Stanislaus
      7.      Cal State Dominguez Hills
      8.      UC San Diego
      9.      Cal State Monterey Bay
    10.      San Francisco State

FIRST-FIRST:  Montana State Billings currently leads the GNAC with a mark of 24-6.  In addition 16 times this season, the Yellowjackets have scored at least one run  in the first inning of a GNAC game.  MSUB is 16-0 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 eight of the 10 weeks it has been awarded.  The latest recipient is Steph Gosselin for the week of Apr. 20.

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 93 games against just 20 defeats.  That equates to a winning percentage of .825.  In addition, MSUB has won its 17 of it’s last 18 games at Cenex.

GNAC POLL:  The bull’s-eye has been hung on the Montana State Billings’ 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.”