BILLINGS, Mont.  – The Montana State University Billings Softball team will open its home season this Saturday, Mar 22 and Sunday Mar. 23 against conference opponent Western Washington University.
 
MSU Billings (7-10, 2-6 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) has played all 17 of its games on the road so far and is looking forward to this weekend's opening games.
 
"Our team is very eager to play their first home games this season," Head Coach Lisa Allen said. "We had scheduled some games for late February and early March but those got snowed out and our team has wanted to have a home game ever since. Being on the road that much can be tiring, but it is part of playing in Montana. Even with knowing that the snow was coming this weekend, the girls took advantage of being outside for two days and worked hard this week to prepare for Western Washington."
 
Western Washington is coming into town (11-6, 3-3 GNAC) after splitting a pair of games against Saint Martin's University and having another pair of games against Western Oregon University postponed due to weather.
 
The Vikings are currently ranked seventh nationally with a .362 team batting average.  The team is being led by Alexie Levin who is ranked in the top 30 nationally in four different categories, including 17th in batting average (.519), 12th in RBIs (1.47), 23rd in on-base percentage (.574) and 30th in slugging (.889).  Levin also leads the GNAC in batting average with her .519.  Fellow teammate Autumn Isaacson is ranked second with a .444.
 
The GNAC is also being led by WWU pitcher Shayna Adelstein (1-2) with a 1.95 ERA.  Jenna DeRosier (5-2) is ranked fifth in the GNAC with a 2.75 ERA. 
 
Last weekend MSU Billings was in Ellensburg, Wash. for four games.  The Yellowjackets split the series with Central Washington University, going 2-2 on Saturday and Sunday.  Samantha Jo Everett and Katie Schermele both had game winning homeruns in the pair of wins for MSUB.
 
MSU Billings is hitting .298 as a team.  The Yellowjackets Aubrey Conceicao is ranked No. 4 in the conference with a .415 batting average.  Conceicao is also ranked No. 10 in hits with 22 and No. 2 in doubles with seven.
 
Brittney Sanders, who had a double and a homerun in the last game against Central Washington, is ranked No. 20 in the GNAC with a .320 batting average and is tied for No. 4 in homeruns with four on the season. 
 
Mary Grace Bywater (3-1) is ranked No. 6 in the GNAC with a 3.09 ERA.  Pitcher Jessyka MacDonald (3-2) is ranked No. 5 in the GNAC in strike-outs with 29. 
 
"Western Washington has a very sound defense and can get an offensively rally going anywhere in their lineup," Coach Allen said.  "We know that this is going to be a good battle.  We need to continue to focus on what we can do as a team at that given moment. The girls did a great job of executing against Central Washington last weekend and we hope to carry it through the season."
 
This weekend's games will have an early start time due to the weather.  Saturday's games will now start at 11 am, with the possibility of three games being played.  Sunday's game will also have an early start time TBD on Saturday based on the weather.
 
For live stats and up-to-date times for this weekend's games, please stay tuned to MSUBSports.com.