Fort Hays State Softball heads north to St. Cloud, Minn., this weekend for the Kelly Laas Memorial MIAA/NSIC Crossover Softball Invite, taking on five regional opponents from the NSIC over three days (Feb. 20-22). Games will be held at the Husky Dome on the campus of St. Cloud State.
The Tigers will take on Concordia-St. Paul on Friday (Feb. 20) at 12:30 p.m., then face St. Cloud State (5 p.m.) and Minnesota State-Mankato (7 p.m.) on Saturday (Feb. 21). The weekend ends two games on Sunday (Feb. 22) against Wayne State College (8 a.m.) and Augustana College (10 a.m.).
FHSU (1-3) opened its season last weekend at the 8-State Classic in Bentonville, Ark., defeating Truman for FHSU head coach
Adrian Mohr's first collegiate win while dropping narrow decisions to Minnesota-Duluth, then-No. 13 Missouri-St. Louis and Arkansas-Monticello. Despite the three losses, FHSU had several bright spots on the weekend, putting runners in scoring position in the final inning of each loss, taking a lead into the final inning against UMSL.
Individually,
Tori Beltz had a breakout weekend at the plate, leading the team with a .500 average, a double and a home run while freshman
Veronica Knittig had two home runs and a .444 average to go with five RBI in her first weekend as a Tiger. Also above the .400 mark was
Samantha Villarreal, who finished the weekend 5-for-11 (.455) at the plate. As a team, FHSU hit .316 and saw five Tigers finish above .300 in the first weekend.
From the circle,
Kelsey Kimminau (1-1) had two complete games while compiling a 1.75 ERA in 12 innings pitched with eight strikeouts.
Paxton Duran (0-2) threw 11 innings on the weekend, striking out 14 while holding batters to a .286 average. Combined, the Tigers' pitching staff posted a 3.11 ERA on the weekend as batters hit just .267 against them.
Preview capsules of this weekend's opponents are below…
Concordia-St. Paul (0-0): Picked to finish seventh in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll … Top offensive returner is Teona Zepeda, who hit .399 with a .421 on-base percentage last season, scoring a team-high 40 runs with a 24-for-25 performance in stolen bases … Top pitcher returning is Stephanie Kappes, who had 40 appearances (33 starts) with 159 strikeouts in 223.1 innings pitched.
St. Cloud State (2-3): Opened the season last weekend at the Desert Stinger in Las Vegas … Jessica Goerger leading the team with a .538 average in five starts, hitting two doubles … Abby Bunnell hitting .385 and has gone 4-for-4 on stolen bases this season … In the circle, Megan Hedstrom is 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA, 10 innings pitched and five strikeouts … As a team, SCSU is hitting .240 and has a 7.54 combined ERA.
Minnesota State-Mankato (0-4): Dropped all four games at the 8-State Classic last weekend … Ashley Thell leads the team offensively with a .417 average, four RBI, one double and one home run … As a team, the Mavericks are hitting just .204 while holding an 11.60 ERA … The team's leading pitcher, Coley Ries, has struck out 18 in 13.2 innings pitched.
Wayne State (0-0): Picked fourth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll … Sara Scheffert returns as an All-NSIC First Team pick from last year, finishing 2014 with an 18-13 record and a 2.74 ERA, throwing 19 complete games … Kaiti Williams was First Team All-NSIC as well, hitting .440 with 10 home runs and 45 RBI … WSC finished last season 35-18 overall and return eight position starters and its entire pitching staff.
Augustana (3-2): Opened the season at the Desert Stinger in Las Vegas last week … Hitting .288 as a team with a 4.47 ERA … An All-American selection last year, Jenelle Trautmann leads the team with a .571 average through the first five games, hitting three home runs in the first weekend of the season … Trautmann is 2-0 from the circle as well, second on the team with a 3.67 ERA in 21.0 innings pitched (16 strikeouts) … Team's leader in ERA is Karlee Koopman (3.00), who is 1-0 with one complete game on the year.
