BILLINGS, Mont. -- The Montana State Billings softball team has faced its share of adversity this season and this week will be no different as the Yellowjackets go on the road to play seven games in four days at three different venues.
Wednesday afternoon the Jackets will step onto the field and take on Saint Martin's University, a team they were originally scheduled to play back in late February, but had the doubleheader rained/snowed out on consecutive days.
Thursday and Friday the Yellowjackets will take on Western Washington in Bellingham, playing their scheduled doubleheader on Thursday, and then making up the fourth game from this past weekend's series in Billings.
The final two games of the road trip will take place north of the border on Saturday when the Jackets play their return games with Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C.
The Yellowjackets (17-18, 12-11 GNAC) are coming off a big weekend at home, which saw the Jackets take two of three games in a tripleheader with No.19 Western Washington. With the wins, MSUB pulled back to within five games of WWU and have now won 12 of their last 19 games since a 5-11 start, and have posted an 8-3 conference record.
Nicole Colpron helped lead the Yellowjackets as she hit .667 on 6-of-9 hitting with three runs, three RBI and a pair of home runs. Her performance landed her Co-GNAC Player of the Week honors.
Fellow Yellowjacket
Kaycee Hoffman also paced MSUB with a .667, hitting one home run and batting in three runners. The senior was 4-of-6 with a double and also walked three times during the day. With three more home runs, Hoffman would tie the MSUB single-season record for home runs (15) set in 2005 Theresa Campbell.
The Jackets enter the week as one of the top offensive teams in the conference, leading the GNAC in home runs per game (1.4 5th nationally) and slugging percentage (0.506). MSUB is also second in the league in four other categories, including batting average (.292), scoring (5.54), triples (0.17) and stolen bases (0.74).
Senior
Kelly Parsons leads the team this season with a .405 average, recording 32 hits with 11 home runs and 29 RBI. She ranks 15
th nationally in home runs per game (0.35) and ranks 10
th in slugging percentage (0.886), leading the conference in both categories.
Looking at the Saints, MSUB has dominated the series since beginning play in 2003. MSUB is 26-6 all-time with SMU and took three of four from the Saints earlier in the year in Billings. After dropping the first game 6-5, MSUB rallied for the final three victories in the series, 11-6, 10-1 and 10-7. The games at SMU are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
After last weekend's results, MSUB is 22-13 all-time against the Vikings. The Yellowjackets have never lost a season series to the Vikings, splitting a series only once in 2008.
Thursday's games are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., while Friday's game will begin at 3 p.m. Live stats will be available for both days and can be found through the WWU website or by going to the MSUB schedule page and using the live stats link.
In the series with Simon Fraser, MSUB and the Clan met for the first time earlier this season in Billings with the Jackets taking three of four. MSUB did not lose until the final game, suffering a 7-6 setback. The doubleheader with the Clan has a 1 p.m. first pitch on Saturday. Live stats will also be available for the games and can be found on the softball schedule page.
