Yellowjackets Look to Build Momentum Against Saints

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings Yellowjacket softball squad returns to Cenex Stadium on Friday and Saturday, April, 2-3, for a pair of doubleheaders against the Saint Martin’s Saints starting at 1 p.m. each day. The Yellowjackets are 12-15 (9-7) heading into the weekend while the Saints are 11-21 (7-13) entering the series.

MSUB returns to conference play this week after a week layoff to play in the Mizuno Tournament of Champions hosted by Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock, CA. The trip turned out to be less than what the Yellowjackets expected, going 1-5 overall in the tournament, dropping their final four games after defeating CSU East Bay on the first day of the tournament.

The Yellowjackets slipped to 12-15 overall on the season and heading into this weekend’s series against Saint Martin’s, sit four games behind conference leading Central Washington

As the tournament wore on, MSUB was unable to find a rhythm, both offensively and defensively, as the bats went cold and the defense committed 17 errors throughout the three day tournament. The Yellowjackets hit .244 during the tournament as a team, while opponents hit .330 against the MSUB pitching staff. After the initial win, MSUB dropped games to Notre Dame de Namur (5-1), No. 14 Sonoma State (3-2), UC San Diego (13-0), CSU Monterey Bay (8-3) and Humboldt State (7-6).

Amanda Goings had the best performance for the Yellowjackets at the tournament, batting .450 (9-for-20) with a pair of doubles, a triple, a homer and three RBI. Goings had a .800 slugging percentage with a .476 on base percentage to lead the team in most statistical categories.

On the season, MSUB is 12-5 overall and is 9-7 in league play after being tabbed as one of the conference favorites. Still with a long way to go, MSUB has eight straight home games before heading on the road for eight then finishing the season at home with eight more games.

The Yellowjackets are hitting .265 as a team and have hit 16 home runs and tallied 99 RBI this season Defensively, MSUB has a .951 fielding percentage and the pitching staff carries a 3.77 ERA as opponents are hitting .309 against the Jackets.

Saint Martin’s enters the weekend with an 11-21 mark on the season and are 7-13 in conference play. The Saints are currently led by Joslyn Eugenio who is batting .381 on the season with 43 hits, 14 runs, 11 doubles and 13 RBI. Eugenio is one of two Saints (Morgan Klemm) to play in all 32 games this season.

SMU is coming off a 3-4 performance at the Tournament of Champions. The Saints made it into the silver bracket before being eliminated by Western Oregon 11-3 on the final day. Eugenio was named to the All-Tournament team, her second of the season as she was named to the Desert Stinger team in Las Vegas.