BILLINGS, Mont. – Newly named Great Northwest Athletic Conference Team of the Week, the MSUB softball team is headed for a four-game series against conference opponent Northwest Nazarene this week.
 
Down to three more weeks left in conference regular-season play, four GNAC teams are in a virtual tie for second-place in the standings. Four teams advance to the conference tournament at the end of the month, and MSUB has two more series left in the season. This week MSU Billings is at Northwest Nazarene for four games, and on Apr. 24-25, the Yellowjackets host a four game series against Western Oregon.
 
Last weekend, the Montana State University Billings softball team rebounded from a 9-1 deficit in Game 2 to sweep Day 1, and eventually win its series over CWU 3-1 earning the Yellowjackets GNAC/Red Lion Hotels Team of the Week honors. MSUB outhit the Wildcats 56-52 with a dozen home runs. The team picked up wins over CWU by scores of 7-1, 12-10, and 12-8.
 
The Yellowjackets are putting up some impressive numbers at the plate. MSU Billings finished the weekend batting .400 with a .693 slugging percentage, scoring 42 runs on 56 hits, smashing 12 home runs and five doubles with five stolen bases, 87 putouts by the defense, and a pitching staff that produced 22 strikeouts.
 
Six Yellowjackets are batting north of .350, with MSUB's Aubrey Conceicao leading the team at .389 and sitting at seventh in the conference. Two Yellowjackets are in the top-10 in slugging percentage with Emily Osborn sitting atop the conference standings at .759 and Taylor Hoke right behind her tied for second at .653. Sophomore Bella Rovens' on base percentage leads the team and is second in the league at .470. Rovens is also fourth in runs scored with 32, second in walks with 20, and second in stolen bases with 10.

 
A DOZEN LAND OVER THE FENCE: In the home run derby against CWU last weekend, seven Yellowjackets sent hits over the fence. Osborn and Hoke cleared three apiece, sophomore Kelsey Devlin had two in one game, and Conceicao, Rovens, and freshmen Heather Tracy and Cameron Cassinelli each contributed one.
 
OUTSTANDING OSBORN: In the series against CWU, Osborn had six hits with three of them going the distance for home runs. She had eight RBI's and four runs. Osborn has 12 home runs on the season and 28 career, putting her into third place all-time at MSUB.  The first baseman is also now fourth for career at bats with 518, is third in career doubles with 29, is third in career hits with 171,  and is just three RBI's short of the all-time leader Kelly Parsons who holds the record with 130. Osborn is nationally ranked 13th in NCAA Division II with home runs and is No. 22^nd in home runs per game at .34. In the conference career list, she needs one more to jump from 13th into a tie for ninth along with Western Oregon's Amanda Evola.
 

CONCEICAO's CAREER CHARTS: Last week Conceicao had four hits against Central Washington. She is batting .389 on the season, No. 7 in the GNAC, and has amassed 145 career hits, placing her on the MSUB all-time chart at No. 10. With 44 hits on the season, Conceicao is ninth in the GNAC, and with 28 RIB's is sixth in the league. The senior also has 391 at bats and 87 RBI's in her career, tying her for sixth place all-time at MSUB with Meg Harasymczuk (2011-12) and Theresa Campbell (2002-05). On the season, Conceicao has made four sacrifice flies, ranking her No. 8 in NCAA Division II.
 
HOKE HOOKS THREE: Hoke had eight hits including three home runs against CWU. She is batting .380 on the season, No. 10 in the conference, with eight home runs, placing her at second in the GNAC behind Osborn. She also has 46 hits on the season, the most for a Yellowjacket and seventh in the conference. The senior has 36 RBI's this season, placing her at No. 2 in the GNAC, while Osborn is fifth with 31, and Conceicao sixth with 28. The senior shortstop has 431 career at bats for MSUB, just tipping her onto the top-10 list, and she has 146 career hits placing her just above Conceicao on the MSUB all-time list.
 
MAC WITH A DOZEN: Senior pitcher Jessyka MacDonald earned three wins against CWU. In Game 3 of the series MacDonald tossed a complete game, facing 42 batters, throwing 170 pitches across the plate. The Billings native made appearances in all four games, striking out 15 at the plate. On the season, MacDonald has 87 strikeouts in 116 innings pitched, No. 2 in the GNAC. MacDonald has 312 career strikeouts placing her at fourth all-time at MSUB and has 30 career wins which is fifth. She also has two saves this year, ranking her at No. 30 amongst NCAA Division II pitchers.
 
ROVENS REACHES HITTING HIGH: Sophomore Bella Rovens had eight hits in 17 at bats in the four-game series with CWU, including a game-ending three-run home run in a 12-10 Friday win as MSUB overcame a mercy-rule 9-1 situation in the fifth. The walk-off home run was Rovens' first of the season and lifted the Yellowjackets to 21 hits during the game, tying the single game record MSUB had against the University of Great Falls from Apr. 22, 2007. Rovens was named the GNAC co-Player of the Week, the first of her career, and was the first guest featured on this week's GNAC Insider, the weekly conference radio show. Along with her at bats, Rovens had three stolen bases during the series taking her season total to 10, which ties her for tenth in a season and with 20 career stolen bases is tied for seventh all-time at MSUB with Whitney Whittemore (2009-10).
 
Roven's conference honor was the fourth for MSUB this season. Osborn had been named Player of the Week, and MacDonald Pitcher of the Week twice in the GNAC. The Team of the Week accolade was the first for MSUB softball this season.

 
Friday, April 10 – 2 p.m. – Halle Softball Field – Doubleheader
Saturday, April 11 – 12 p.m. – Halle Softball Field – Doubleheader
Northwest Nazarene University Crusaders
Live stats available at msubsports.com
 
Northwest Nazarene is 7-29 and 2-14 on the year. The Crusaders are seventh in pitching and team batting in the GNAC. NNU is batting .267 as a team and their pitching staff has a combined ERA of 6.18. The Crusaders had just one win in the GNAC conference prior to taking a game from Simon Fraser last weekend in Burnaby. Northwest Nazarene went 1-3 against the Clan, but did run-rule SFU 11-3 during Game 3 of the four-game series.
 
Gatalina Schuster and Whitney Carlton combined for 13 hits in 30 at bats in NNU's four-game series at Simon Fraser.  Both Schuster (7-of-15) and Carlton (6-of-15) had two doubles, one home run and three RBI's in their 15 official at bats.  Ashley Pesek also homered and drove in a team-high five runs.
 
Carlton is leading NNU in the batter's box with a .379 average. Pesek has six home runs on the season, including one that scored three runs against SFU. The sophomore is also the team's top pitcher. Pesek (7-19) has all seven of the team's wins this season. She holds a 4.90 ERA, has made 32 appearances and pitched 14 complete games. She is second in the GNAC in total innings pitched with 144 1/3 innings, and has the most strikeouts in the conference with 112, 25 more than No. 2, MSUB's MacDonald.
 
The Crusaders are fast on the bases, NNU has three players in the top-10 in the GNAC. Lily Paschal has nine stolen bases this season and is tied for fourth in the conference while Kiahna Brown has eight and Lisa Sylvester seven.
 
Last time out: During the 2014 series with NNU, MSUB went 3-1 at home. The Yellowjacket lost the first game 6-4, before coming back with 8-0 (5 innings), 7-1, and 6-4 wins. Prior to last season's loss, the 'Jackets had won 13 in a row and are now 16-1 in the last 17 meetings. MSU Billings holds a 45-10 career record against the Crusaders with a 20-6 record on the road.