BILLINGS, Mont. – After going 6-4 in the first 10 games of the season, the Montana State University Billings softball team is back on the road for four games this weekend in Denver, Colorado. Friday, the Yellowjackets play a doubleheader against Metropolitan State University of Denver at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Then on Saturday, MSUB is scheduled to face Colorado School of Mines in a doubleheader at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. All four games will be held at Regency Athletic Complex, which was renovated in 2015 for various Metro State Roadrunner athletic teams.
 
"We are coming off a good week of road games in Utah," said head coach Jessica Rayman. "We also had the opportunity to play Metro last week, so we know what to expect. Our pitchers are going to need to make sure they come out hitting their spots and making their pitches move and our defense will need to continue to grow and make the plays behind our pitchers."
 
The young Yellowjacket softball team is off to a good start with a young squad in 2019. MSUB has received solid pitching from its veterans and several freshmen and newcomers have stepped up to deliver big hits in the first two weeks of the season. Freshman shortstop Rylan Austin is hitting .375 with a .432 on-base percentage. Sophomore left fielder Allie Hughes has a team leading nine runs batted in and is hitting .310 for the 'Jackets with one double and three home runs. Hughes had two home runs against University of Mary on opening day in the Desert Stinger Tournament.
 
Many question marks existed coming into 2019 regarding how MSU Billings would be able to replace the consistent hitting of Heather Tracy and Cameron Cassinelli after both graduated last year but so far the team has been equal to the task. MSUB is hitting .298 as a team. Austin and Cailee Morgan lead the conference in hits per game (1.20 and 1.10 respectively), and Sydney Pollard and Morgan are tied for first in runs scored with 10 apiece. While it is still too early to make predictions about how the season will ultimately turn out, the 'Jackets have shown they are capable of competing against competent opponents.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Last weekend, MSUB went 2-3 in the Courtyard Classic Tournament in St. George, Utah. The Yellowjackets lost to Hawai'i at Hilo 7-6, then bounced back to win 8-7 against Fort Lewis College in eight innings. Friday, they suffered a 6-4 loss to Western New Mexico but pushed No. 17 Dixie State to the limit later in the afternoon, losing 2-1 in eight innings. MSUB wrapped up the tournament with a 10-5, five inning win over Metropolitan State Denver. They will need one win this weekend over the Roadrunners to clinch the season series.
 
TOP OF THE ORDER: Aside from their obvious ability to hit a softball, the three players at the top of coach Rayman's batting order share a striking similarity to one another. They are all freshmen. Morgan hits lead-off and is batting .344 with four RBI's and a .545 on-base percentage. She also has 18 assists in the field without surrendering an error.
 
Austin plays shortstop and holds a .375 average. She also has five runs driven in and two doubles. Austin has refused to strikeout in 32 at-bats. Pollard is hitting .375 and has three doubles, one triple, and seven runs batted in this season in eight games played. She is tied for first in the GNAC with 11 runs scored.
 
POSITION PLAYERS: With so many new faces this season, the Yellowjacket coaching staff knew most infield and outfield positions would be up for grabs in the early part of the season. MSUB has 10 games played and the depth chart is starting to fill in. Brittanee Fisher has started every game at first base and Payton Reynolds has been a mainstay at third base as well.
 
The middle infield has been locked down at second base by Morgan with Austin playing a majority of time at shortstop. In the outfield, there has been some shifting but the backbone includes Hughes in left, Benning and House in center, and Hailey Gregerson in right. Behind the plate Madison Kelly has seven starts while Shayla Felix received the nod for three. Austin, Morgan Quimby, and Skyler Jenkins have seen time at designated player and Kelsee Bushell has made appearances at shortstop.
 
PITCHING TRIO: All three Yellowjackets pitchers have done well enough this season to give the team chances to win. Maddy Lincoln has five starts and holds a 3.41 ERA. Lincoln is 3-2 but pitched arguably her best game of the year in an extra inning loss to No. 17 Dixie State University, where she allowed just one earned run over eight innings. Alyssa Etheridge has four starts and a 4.33 ERA over 21.0 innings of work. Etheridge is 2-1 and opponents are hitting .235 against her. Haley Couch has the lowest earned run average of the trio (2.33) and has thrown 9.0 innings, mostly in relief. Couch is 1-1.
 
 
INNINGS ALLOTMENT: Of the 10 games played, only five have been the standard seven inning length. In extra innings, the Yellowjackets are 1-1 with extra frames played against Dixie State and Fort Lewis College. MSUB has been run-ruled once in a 10-1, six inning loss to San Francisco State but have prevailed against Hawai'i Pacific (6 innings) and Metro State Denver (5 innings). MSU Billings is tied with Northwest Nazarene University for most games played among GNAC schools. Western Oregon remains undefeated at 3-0 and MSUB is also behind Saint Martin's (2-1) and Central Washington (5-3).
 
Scouting Metro State University of Denver
Game Day: Friday, February 15 – 12 p.m. & 2 p.m.
2018-19 Record: 2-8, 1-4 home, 0-0 away, 1-4 neutral
Head Coach: Annie Van Wetzinga (fifth season)
2017-18 Record: 34-23, 28-12 RMAC, 21-3 home, 7-11 away, 6-9 neutral
 
The Yellowjackets will be looking for more of the same against Metro State Denver this weekend after MSUB defeated the Roadrunners 10-2 on February 9 in five innings. Lincoln got the start for the 'Jackets and allowed two runs on seven hits, walked two, and struck out three. Fisher had a home run and four runs batted in to lead MSUB. The Roadrunners had seven hits but left eight runners on base in the game. Rebecca Gonzales, JJ Sheppard, and Celyn Whitt all had multiple hit games for Metro State.
 
Camarillo, Calif. native Darby McGhee is hitting .448 with a .724 slugging percentage. The junior has two doubles, two home runs, five runs scored, and six runs batted in through 10 games. Gonzales is second on the team with a .400 batting average. She also has six runs batted in and four doubles this spring.
 
Four pitchers have started at least two games for the Roadrunners but McGhee's six appearances leads the team. In four starts, McGhee holds a 3.85 earned run average and has held opponents to .237 at the plate. Freshman Julia Heitz has four appearances and two starts. She has a 3.85 ERA with 11 strikeouts.
 
Senior Kylee Burnside (4.20 ERA) and Destinee Lopez (25.20 ERA) also could potentially see time in the circle in the doubleheader Friday.
 
The Roadrunners have posted winning seasons every year since 2013. The Yellowjackets are 2-1 all-time against Metro State Denver.
 
Scouting Colorado School of Mines
Game Day: Saturday, February 16 – 10 a.m. & 12 p.m.
2018-19 Record: 0-7, 0-0 home, 0-1 away, 0-6 neutral
Head Coach: Leah Glasgow (sixth season)
2017-18 Record: 28-26, 22-18 RMAC, 16-6 home, 8-14 away, 4-6 neutral
 
The Orediggers have rebuilt into a strong competitor in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference over the last five years and competed in their third straight conference post-season tournament last season. Though Colorado School of Mines is winless in 2019, they have played four ranked opponents already. With three of five scheduled games rained out last week, School of Mines will be fresh heading into the weekend series.
 
Clara Larson was picked by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference coaches as preseason player of the year. The junior infielder is hitting .182 with a .308 on-base percentage. Freshman outfielder Kendall Murphy leads the Orediggers with a .364 average including eight hits and two runs driven in. Senior infielder Katie Leiker hits .318 and has one double on the season.
 
Extra base hits have been hard to muster so far and the Orediggers have zero home runs or triples and just two doubles in seven games this season. Mines is slugging .210 as a team.
 
The Orediggers returned four of five starting pitchers from a year ago including top-3 ERA leaders Claire Stringfellow, Maddie Rogers, and Sydney Marchando. Stringfellow was a 2018 all-conference honorable mention and developed into the staff ace as a sophomore, going 14-7 with a 2.59 ERA. She recorded 68 strikeouts in 124.1 innings of work. Rogers went 4-4 in eight starts and 17 appearances for Mines, notching a 3.64 ERA in 50.0 innings. Marchando finished her rookie year with a 4.27 ERA and 1-3 record in 41 innings in the circle.
 
Colorado School of Mines brings experience to every fielding position except two: centerfield and third base. Larson hit .425 last season to lead the core group, which includes catcher/1B/DP Kara Jones (.388), catcher Megan Dickson (.333), and Katie Leiker (.299).
 
"With Mines, we can expect them to have a little of everything offensively, so we will need to be ready defensively, especially with our bunt defense," Rayman said. "Offensively as a team, I want to continue to see us step up with runners in scoring position and execute when we need to throughout the weekend." 
 
The Yellowjackets are 1-1 all-time against the Orediggers but have not played one another since 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada.