BILLINGS, Mont.  – The Montana State University Billings Softball team will play their first conference games of the 2014 season this week in Monmouth, Ore. playing a pair of double-headers against Western Oregon University.
 
After having the past few weeks off from play, the MSUB softball team resumes their season with four Great Northwest Athletic Conference games this Friday and Saturday Mar. 7 and 8.
 
The MSU Billings (5-4) team opened this season with a long road trip down to the Desert Stinger tournament in Las Vegas.  MSUB stopped at Dixie State for a pair of games, going 1-1 for their first two games of their trip.  The team then faced the University of Hawai'i at Hilo for a pair of games two days before the start of the Stinger.  MSU Billings won both of those to send the team into their first big tournament of the year at 3-1.
 
At the Fifth Annual Desert Stinger, MSUB went 2-3 to finish off their week of games with a winning record to start their season at 5-4 overall.
 
Weather has played a major role in the last two weekends of scheduled play for the Yellowjackets.  MSU Billings had games scheduled against Dickinson State University and Minot State University, but were unable to host the games due to some heavy winter storms that have plagued the Billings area for the last several weeks.
 
Head Coach Lisa Allen has had her student-athletes practicing in the lower gym for the last several weeks and is excited to start her conference season this weekend.  The Yellowjackets have not played a game since Feb. 9 in Las Vegas.
 
Western Oregon University is 7-10 on the season.  This weekend will also be the start of the Wolves GNAC schedule.  WOU was a participant in the Desert Stinger this year.  The Wolves went 2-3 in Las Vegas.  Since the tournament, Western Oregon has played at the Rattler Tournament in San Antonio where the Wolves went 4-2.  This past Tuesday, WOU spilt a pair of games against Concordia (Ore.).
 
Western Oregon is hitting .285 on the year.  Melanie Pfeiffer for the Wolves is hitting .400 and is currently ranked No. 10 in the GNAC.  Kelli Demianew is No. 8 in the conference for WOU in pitching.  In six games and five starts, she has a combined ERA of 3.40 with a 3-3 record.
 
Montana State University Billings' Aubrey Conceicao and Samantha Jo Everett are ranked No. 6 and No. 7 in the conference in individual batting average respectively.  Conceicao has a batting average of .448 with 13 hits on the season while Everett is at .444 and is ranked No. 5 in the conference in on base percentage at .500.
 
MSUB pitcher Mary Grace Bywater leads the conference with an ERA of 1.62.  She is also No. 3 in the conference in wins with a 3-0 record.
 
On Friday, Mar. 7, Montana State University Billings will play the first game of their double-header with Western Oregon University at 1 PM Pacific Time.  Then on Saturday, the Yellowjackets will play their first game starting at 12 PM Pacific Time.  Live stats will be available at MSUBSports.com