BILLINGS, Mont. – The bats are hot, the arms are strong and that has the Montana State University Billings softball team in the midst of an 11-game winning streak. The Yellowjackets (20-5, 17-3 GNAC) are hitting the road once again this weekend as they travel to Turlock, Calif. to participate in the Tournament of Champions hosted by Cal State University Stanislaus.
 
Last weekend, MSUB completed their second four-game sweep of the season as they downed the Wolves of Western Oregon University Saturday, March 24 and Sunday March 25 by a combined score of 43-21.
 
Following the sweep over the Wolves, MSUB is now three games ahead of Simon Fraser University in the conference race. Saint Martin's University is 4.5 games back with the 'Jackets, Clan and Saints the only three teams in the conference currently with a winning record both overall and in the league race.
 
The Yellowjackets' strong start to the season has gained them attention, both in the nation and the conference, and the season is not even at the half-way point, yet.
 
Following their second weekend-sweep in a row, MSUB received votes in the national poll and their biggest threat at the plate, senior Meg Harasymczuk, was named the Louisville Slugger Division II National Player-of-the-Week by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
 
As for the conference recognition, MSUB nabbed another pair of weekly award from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference as Harasymczuk earned her third GNAC Player-of-the-Week nod of the season and freshman hurler Jessyka MacDonald was tabbed the league's Pitcher-of-the-Week.
 
Harasymczuk recorded five hits last weekend, four home runs and a double, in seven official at-bats. The 5-9 leftfielder from Spring Creek, Nev. drove in 11 runs to lead the Yellowjackets to the four-game sweep over Western Oregon. The Wolves intentionally walked her 10 times, but the damage was done as Harasymczuk still produced a 2.571 slugging percentage over the four games.
 
Realizing the threat that Harasymczuk poses to pitchers, WOU's head coach had her pitchers intentionally walk the GNAC's leading home run producer 10 times over the series but she was still able to produce a 2.571 slugging percentage.
 
MacDonald struck out 14 batters, just one shy of the MSUB single-game record set twice by hall of famer Joey Ehnes in 2005, in her lone game against WOU and gave up just five hits and a single run to lead MSUB to a 7-1 win in Sunday's first game. At one point she acquired five consecutive strikeouts and recorded the game's final seven outs with K's.
 
Sunday's outing was the third time this season the Billings West High School product recorded double-digit strikeouts. She fanned 11 batters in a 2-3 loss to Western Washington University on March 6 and also struck out 10 Crusaders from Northwest Nazarene University in just five innings of work as the Yellowjackets downed NNU 12-4 during last weekend's home-opener.
 
The Yellowjackets will now dip out of their Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule this weekend with at least five games as part of the 2012 Tournament of Champions held in Turlock, Calif. But it will be a weekend well-spent as MSUB will take on opponents from the West Region that will go a long way towards their strength of schedule as well as their regional ranking.
 
MSUB is currently the second-highest scoring team in the nation as they average 8.16 runs scored per game. They are also tied for third with 1.4 home runs per game and 10^th in the nation with a team slugging percentage of .540.
 
The 'Jackets are scheduled to kick-off their time in Turlock with a 10 a.m. game against the Silverswords of Chaminade University (8-16) Friday morning before turning around quickly for a 12:15 p.m. bout against Cal State University San Bernardino (13-20). The Yellowjackets will be out for revenge against the Coyotes as CSUSB edged out a 4-3 win over MSUB in their season-opening tournament down in Las Vegas, Nev.
 
Saturday will start with MSUB taking on their only opponent boasting a winning record in the 11th-ranked Wildcats of Chico State University at 11 a.m. The second game of the day will be against their third Cal State team, tournament host CSU Stanislaus (12-27) at 3:30 p.m. before the Yellowjackets finish Saturday with a 5:45 p.m. game against Dominican University.
 
Depending on how the Yellowjackets handle the adversity of such quick turnarounds, Sunday's schedule could be better with a new bracket being constructed Saturday night based on Friday and Saturday's performances to determine road to the tournament championship.
 
The Yellowjackets have faced this kind of adversity before as they started the 2012 season on a 17-game road-swing. Their first five games were in the span of three days at their own Desert Stinger Partnered with Rip-It, so if there is any team that is well-prepared for the strains of this tournament, it is MSUB.