NDSU Softball Release (4-23-15).pdf

Friday, April 24, 6 p.m.        Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)
Saturday, April 25, 2 p.m.    Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)
Sunday, April 19, 4 p.m.      Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)

NDSUSoftball on Twitter | #NDSUBison | #SummitSB | #d1softball

This Weekend
North Dakota State University (36-8, 13-2 Summit League) is scheduled to play a three-game series at No. 21-ranked University of South Alabama (32-8, 14-3 Sun Belt) on Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25, at Jaguar Field in Mobile, Ala. ... NDSU and USA will play a 6 p.m. single-game Friday and 2 p.m. doubleheader Saturday ... The Bison split at No. 12 Minnesota on Wednesday, dropping the first game 8-0 but came back to win the second 5-4 ... The Jaguars had an 11-game winning streak snapped with a 1-0 loss at Southern Miss on Wednesday ... The Bison are 17-5 on the road and South Alabama is 16-4 at home.

The Series
This will be the first meeting between North Dakota State and the University of South Alabama, members of the Sun Belt Conference ... The Bison are 3-0 against current members of the Sun Belt Conference (3-0 vs. Texas Arlington).

Bison Reach 30 Wins for Ninth Straight Season
With the 8-4 victory over South Dakota State on April 11, North Dakota State softball reached 30 wins for the ninth straight season ... NDSU is off to its best start in the Division I era ...Here's a look:
2015--36-8
2014--36-18
2013--33-16
2012--38-22
2011--30-27
2010--33-25
2009--38-20
2008--37-17
2007--34-23

Quickly Around The Horn
North Dakota State received 10 votes toward the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 poll released April 21 ... It's the fifth straight week NDSU has received votes toward this poll ... The Bison had also received a vote toward the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 for the third time this season ... North Dakota State has won seven of its last 18 meetings with nationally-ranked opponents, last win 5-4 at #10/12 Minnesota ... NDSU is 2-2 this season against nationally-ranked opponents and 8-49 overall against ... North Dakota State was 51st in the fifth NCAA Softball RPI ranking released April 20 ... Krista Menke recorded her first career perfect game, third no-hitter of the season and four career no-hitter with the five-inning 18-0 win at Fort Wayne (4-11-15) ... She struck out 12 of 15 batters faced ... Menke also notched a no-hitter -- a  3-0 eight inning win over Purdue University (3-7-15) at the Tennessee Classic ... Menke opened the season with a five-inning gem against Green Bay (2-6-15) ... Her other career no-hitter came against Liberty in March 2013 ... North Dakota State has 28 no-hitters, including 11 at 7-plus innings, in the program's history ... NDSU has had eight perfect games ... Menke has 10 shutouts this season and 31 in her career ... Menke also has nine one-hitters and 17 two-hitters in her career ... Menke has reached double-figure strikeouts 20 times this season and 27 times in her career, including a career-high 16 vs. Bowling Green (3-14-15) and Montana (3-1-15) ... Redshirt sophomore catcher Alyssa Reina hit a grand slam home run at Fort Wayne (4-11-15) ... It was NDSU's first since Jenina Ortega's at South Dakota (5-2-14) ... Reina tied the school single-game record with two home runs against South Dakota State (4-12-15)... Earlier this season junior second baseman Cheyenne Garcia also tied the record with a pair of homers vs. Iowa (2-7-15) ... That record has been achieved 20 times by 13 athletes including current players Logan Moreland (2), Amanda Grable (2), Maritza Lopez-Portillo (1) and Garcia (1) ... Junior shortstop Logan Moreland is currently leading the team with .456 batting average, one of three players over .400 -- Amanda Grable (.427) and Cheyenne Garcia (.409) ... Garcia has 22 multi-hit and 13 multi-RBI games ... Grable had a season and career-high 17-game hitting streak ... NDSU has 13 players with one or more RBI this season including Garcia with team-high 46 ... Twelve Bison have scored one or more runs this season led by Garcia's 54 ... The Bison are 2-0 this season and 42-27 in extra innings under head coach Darren Mueller since 2002 ... North Dakota State is 55-47 in extra innings overall ... Collectively, the Bison are hitting .333 with a 2.42 earned run average and are fielding at .970 ... NDSU opponents are hitting .190 with a 5.71 ERA and fielding at .945 ... The Bison are averaging 6.27 runs scored per game, while opponents are averaging 2.73 ... The big inning has been the fifth for North Dakota State with 64 runs scored including an 11-run fifth against South Dakota State (4-11-15).

Menke, Grable, Garcia, Reina Take Aim at Career Charts
On the NDSU career charts, senior pitcher Krista Menke is tied for 1st in saves (7), 2nd in appearances (145), game started (120) and batters faced (3,357); 3rd in innings pitched (796), wins (89) and strikeouts (851); 4th in complete games (99), lowest opponent batting average (.196), shutouts (31) and strikeouts per 7 IP (7.48 avg.), and 10th in lowest ERA (2.32) ... Senior third baseman Amanda Grable is tied for 3rd in sacrifice flies (8), 4th in home runs (33) and walks (90); 6th in RBI (151), 8th in double plays turned (21), 9th in fielding assists (309), and 10th in slugging percentage (.538), and total bases (326) ... Junior second baseman Cheyenne Garcia is 7th in slugging percentage (.566), tied for 9th in sacrifice flies (5), home runs (23), and in double plays turned (18), and 10th in runs scored (134) ... Junior left fielder Maritza Lopez-Portillo is tied for 4th in hit by pitch (11) and tied for 5th sacrifice flies (6) ... Sophomore catcher Alyssa Reina is 6th in slugging percentage (.580), 7th in fielding percentage (.990) and 8th in putouts (624) ... Junior first baseman Jackie Stifter is tied for 9th in sacrifice flies (5) ... Junior shortstop Logan Moreland is 8th in batting average (.366) and 9th in on-base percentage (.428).

Bison and the RPI
The fifth NCAA RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) was released April 20 ... The Bison come in at No. 51 ... The Summit League ranks 21st among Division I conferences ... IUPUI follows at No. 129, South Dakota is No. 157, Western Illinois at No. 172, Omaha is No. 182, South Dakota State at No. 222, and Fort Wayne is No. 266 ... The highest final NCAA RPI rankings for NDSU softball are No. 41 in 2014, No. 62 in 2013 and No. 65 in 2009.

Bison In NCAA Statistics, Active NCAA Career Leaders
In the NCAA statistics released April 20, North Dakota State University is 4th in stolen bases per game (2.52 avg), 5th in doubles per game (.1.88 avg), 11th in won-loss percentage (.833), 22nd in batting average (.337), 23rd in earned run average (2.29) and 30th in scoring (6.45 avg) ... Individually, Krista Menke is leading the nation with 301 strikeouts, 2nd in shutouts (10), 3rd in strikeouts per 7 IP (11.1 avg), 5th in hits allowed (3.34 avg) and victories (25), and 29th in saves (3) ... Second baseman Cheyenne Garcia is 12th in runs per game (1.24 avg.) ... Shortstop Logan Moreland is 26th in batting average (.454) ... Krista Menke also ranks in the top 25 among active career Division I leaders in eight different categories including six top 10 -- 3rd in complete games and shutouts, 4th in innings pitched, 5th in innings pitched, 6th in games started, 7th in victories, 8th in strikeouts, 15th in appearances and 20th in strikeouts per 7 IP ... Amanda Grable is 36th in RBI and 50th in walks.