Bison Softball Hosts Western Illinois in Three-Game Summit League Home Series April 6-7

Complete release attached

League-leading North Dakota State (8-1 Summit, 24-12) is scheduled to continue Summit League play  at home second-place Western Illinois (10-2 Summit, 20-15) ... The Bison will play the Leathernecks in a 2 p.m. doubleheader Friday, April 6, at the Ellig Sports Complex ... The teams will conclude the three-game league series with a single game at noon Saturday, April 7 ... Saturday is "Take a Kid to a Game" ... Kids 12 and under will receive admission for $1 ... Kids are also invited on the field after the game for an Easter egg hunt ... NDSU is 2-1 at home this season, while WIU is 8-5 on the road ... The Bison played their first 33 games on the road including five tournaments ... NDSU was ranked 7th in this week's Mid-Major Softball Poll ... The Bison will play teams from 20 different conferences ... There were 13 first-time opponents on the NDSU schedule.

Ticket Information
Tickets for North Dakota State softball games are $5 for adults and $3 for youth 17-and-under ... NDSU students with a valid college ID are admitted free ... Tickets are available at the Bison Sports Arena ticket office or at the Ellig Sports Complex on game day ... Gates at the Ellig Sports Complex will open 60 minutes prior to first pitch each day ... For more information, call 1-888-231-NDSU (6378).

The Series
North Dakota State leads the series with Western Illinois 11-5 including taking two of three games last season at Mary Ellen McKee Stadium in Macomb.

Menke Earns Fourth Straight Summit League Pitcher of Week Honor
North Dakota State right-hander Krista Menke garnered her fourth straight Summit League Pitcher of the Week award on April 2 ... Menke was named the College Sports Madness.com National Pitcher of the Week on March 19 ... The freshman posted a 2-0 record with two complete-games and a season-high 11 strikeouts ... The freshman pitcher opened the weekend with her seventh shutout of the season in a 3-0 win over IPFW, fanning 11 batters.  In the series finale, she recorded a 2-1 extra inning victory over the Mastodons striking out five.  On the week, Menke tallied 17 strikeouts, while yielding 10 hits, three walks and two earned runs in 16.1 innings of work for a 0.86 ERA ... The right-handed hurler remains undefeated (7-0) in league play and is tied for the third-most Pitcher of the Week honors in a single season ... Former Summit League Pitcher of the Year Allison Bakke won the award five times during the 2008 season for the Bison.

Quickly Around The Horn
Freshman infielder/catcher Amanda Grable tied a school single-game record with two home runs at IUPUI (3-16-12) in North Dakota State's 11-0 second-game win ... The record had been tied 13 times previously by eight different athletes, the last Melissa Chmielewski vs. Jackson State (2-13-09) ... Grable has a nine-game hitting streak ... Senior Taylor Mortensen's grand slam at IUPUI (3-16-12) was the program's first since Melissa Chmielewski vs. Drexel (2-25-10) ... Mortensen has 11 two-out RBI this season ... Senior Cristina Borek hit a grand slam in the fourth inning against Oakland (3-24-12) ... Freshman pitcher Krista Menke's no-hitter vs. Liberty (3-10-12) was the program's 21st overall and the first since Andi Padilla's five-inning effort vs. UMKC on March 21, 2009 ... Padilla had a seven-inning diamond gem vs. Creighton on March 18, 2009 ... Menke reached double-figure strikeouts for the first time in her career with 11 vs. IPFW (3-30-12) ... Menke has seven shutouts and six two-hitters this season ... Senior utility player Katie Tamayo had a pair of doubles in a game for the second time this season in the first game at Texas-Arlington (3-14-10) ... Tamayo was named College Sports Madness.com Summit League Player of the Week on March 26 ... Freshman Amanda Grable leads the team with 10 multi-hit and seven multi-RBI games ... North Dakota State is 16-0 when leading after four innings ...Outfielder Taylor Mortensen and pitcher Whitney Johnson were named to the Easton Bama Bash all-tournament team ... Mortensen hit .375 (6-16) with two home runs, a pair of doubles, three runs scored and five RBI ... Mortensen led off the Alabama (2-25-12) and East Carolina (2-26-12) games with a home run ... Johnson compiled a 1.57 ERA with one shutout, 26 strikeouts and 12 walks in 22.1 innings pitched at Alabama ... With the 2-1 eight-inning win over IPFW on March 31, the Bison are 3-2 this season and 35-24 in extra innings under head coach Darren Mueller since 2002 ... North Dakota State is 48-45 overall in extra innings overall ... Whitney Johnson recorded a career-high with 19 strikeouts in the 3-1 win over Toledo (2-9-12) ... Lindsey Graham set the previous record with 16 vs. Oklahoma City (3-8-03) ... Johnson has five double-figure strikeout games this season and 23 in her career ... Johnson has two shutouts this season and has 22 in her career ... Johnson has a pair of one-hitters this season and 15 in her career ... With 680 career strikeouts, Johnson is one of NDSU four pitchers to record over 600 ... Collectively, the Bison are hitting .262 with a 2.06 earned run average and is fielding at .969 ... NDSU opponents are hitting .190 with a 3.45 ERA and fielding at .967 ... The Bison are averaging 4.28 runs scored per game, while opponents are averaging 2.50 ... The big inning has been the third for North Dakota State with 32 runs scored ... The Bison are 14-4 at neutral sites this season.