Top Seed Bison Open With Host UMKC at Summit League Softball Tournament

Complete release attached

This Week
Regular season champion and No. 1-seed North Dakota State (18-6 Summit, 34-19) is scheduled to play host and No. 4-seed UMKC (13-11 Summit, 26-28) in the first-round of the Summit League Tournament at 1 p.m. Thursday, May 10, at the UMKC Softball Complex in Kansas City ... No. 2-seed IPFW (17-7 Summit, 42-12) is scheduled to play No. 3-seed Southern Utah (15-9 Summit, 29-23) at 4 p.m. Thursday in the second first-round game ... Here's the tournament schedule:

Summit League Softball Championship
(UMKC Softball Complex, Kansas City, Mo.)
Thursday, May 10
Game 1--No. 4 UMKC vs. No. 1 North Dakota State, 1 p.m.
Game 2--No. 3 Southern Utah vs. No. 2 IPFW, 4 p.m.
Friday, May 11
Game 3--Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, Noon
Game 4--Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 3 p.m.
Game 5--Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 12
Game 6--Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 1 p.m.
*Game 7--Loser Game 6 vs. Winner Game 6, 3:40 p.m.
*If needed
Winner receives league's automatic bid to NCAA Tournament

North Dakota State is making its fourth straight appearance in The Summit League Softball tournament ... NDSU has won the last three tournament championships ... The Bison are 9-1 in league tournament play ... NDSU is 13-10 in road games and 14-4 at neutral sites ... UMKC is 10-8 at home ... IPFW is 19-8 in road games and 8-1 at neutral sites ... Southern Utah is 9-14 in road games and 4-2 at neutral sites ... The Bison are 16th in this week's Mid-Major Softball Poll, down three spots from last week ... North Dakota State reached 30 wins for the sixth straight season and for the 15th time since 1996 ... The Bison have played teams from 20 different conferences ... There were 13 first-time opponents on the NDSU schedule ... The Bison played their first 33 games on the road including five tournaments ... Live stats and webstreaming will be available at UMKCKangaroos.com

Spectator Information
Parking: Parking will be available in the North Parking Lot of the facility this is the main entrance to the complex ... Ticket Prices: Adults - Single Day $8 | Tournament Pass $15;  Students with ID - Single Day $5 | Tournament Pass $10; Children under 13 - Single Day $5 | Tournament Pass $10 ... Any questions regarding tickets should be directed to Kelli Coffman, Ticket Manager at 816-235-2752.

The Series
North Dakota State leads the series 18-5 with UMKC ... The Bison won two of three games against the Kangaroos in Fargo ... Through 54 games, UMKC is hitting  .242 with a 2.91 earned run average and .964 fielding percentage ... The Kangaroos are averaging 3.59 runs per game and allowing 3.56 ... North Dakota State leads the series 14-7 with IPFW ... The Bison won two of three games against the Mastodons in Fargo ... Through 54 games, IPFW is hitting .292 with a 1.65 earned run average ... The Mastodons are averaging 5.09 runs per game and allowing 2.22 ... North Dakota State leads the series 11-5 with Southern Utah ... ... Through 52 games, Thunderbirds are hitting .308 with a 3.78 earned run average and .944 fielding percentage ... SUU is averaging 5.19 runs per game and allowing 4.75.

Quickly Around The Horn
In the NCAA statistics released May 7, Krista Menke is 20th in shutouts (9), and Taylor Mortensen is 25th in triples (4) ... Junior righthander Whitney Johnson tossed the first no-hitter of her career vs. UMKC on April 21 ... Johnson struck out 10 and walked two ... It was NDSU's second no-hitter of the season and the 22nd in the program's history ... 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 had a team-high 10-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 leads the team hitting .379 with runners in scoring position and 15 two-out RBI ... Senior Cristina Borek hit a grand slam in the fourth inning against Oakland (3-24-12) ... 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 seven double-figure strikeout games this season and 25 in her career ... Johnson has four shutouts this season and has 24 in her career ... Johnson has three one-hitters this season and 16 in her career ... With 723 career strikeouts, Johnson is one of NDSU three pitchers to record over 700 ... 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 nine shutouts and eight 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 ... 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 6-4 12-inning loss to UMKC on April 22, the Bison are 3-3 this season and 35-25 in extra innings under head coach Darren Mueller since 2002 ... The 12-inning game was the longest played at the Ellig Sports Complex and tied the program's record for the longest game, set three times previously ... North Dakota State is 48-46 overall in extra innings overall ... Collectively, the Bison are hitting .257 with a 2.22 earned run average and is fielding at .966 ... NDSU opponents are hitting .191 with a 3.38 ERA and fielding at .966 ... The Bison are averaging 4.13 runs scored per game, while opponents are averaging 2.79 ... The big inning has been the third for North Dakota State with 45 runs scored ... The Bison are 28-1 when leading after six innings this.

In The Summit League Statistics
North Dakota State can be found often in The Summit League statistics (based on league games only) released this week ... Individually (top 10), Krista Menke is 1st in pitching (1.51 ERA), wins (14), strikeouts (115) and shutouts (7), and 2nd in opponent batting average (.175); Whitney Johnson is 3rd in opponent batting average (.178), tied for 5th in shutouts (2) and 6th in strikeouts (56);  Jamie Gay is tied for 6th in hits (27) and 8th in batting (.375); Katie Tamayo is tied for 6th in hits (27) and doubles (6); Taylor Mortensen is tied for 1st in home runs (6), tied for 3rd in triples (2), 6th in slugging percentage (.645) and tied for 6th in runs scored (18); Amanda Grable is tied for 3rd in home runs (5) and tied for 4th in walks (12); Cristina Borek is tied for 3rd in home runs (5) and tied for 5th in RBI (20); Alex Sobrero is tied for 7th in stolen bases (7);  ... Team-wise, the Bison are 1st in pitching (1.76 ERA), 3rd in fielding (.965), and 4th in batting average (.270).