BILLINGS, Mont. – Yellowjacket softball is off to Nampa, Idaho for a four game series against Northwest Nazarene University in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The games will be played as doubleheaders, beginning at 2 p.m. local time Friday, April 19 and 12 p.m. Saturday, April 20 at Halle softball field.
 
Montana State University Billings (11-27, 4-16 GNAC) remains well outside the hunt for a spot in the conference tournament but will have the chance to play spoiler against the Nighthawks (21-20, 10-10) who are two games behind Concordia for the final playoff position. MSUB will be hoping to ride the confidence gained from a win Sunday over conference leading Central Washington University.
 
The 5-1 victory broke up a six game winning streak by the Wildcats and the Yellowjackets scored 21 runs over four games against the one of the top teams in the west region.
 
MSUB enters final stretch of the season having hosted just four games at Avitus Group Stadium. The remaining 34 games have been on the road or at neutral sites due in part to hostile March weather in Billings. After four games this weekend at Northwest Nazarene, MSUB will end the regular season at home with a four game set against Simon Fraser University Friday April 26-27.
 
Montana State Billings hosts the GNAC softball championships at Avitus Group Stadium May 2-4, where the top four teams in the conference qualify for the tournament.
 
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Yellowjackets lost three of four games against Central Washington in their home opening series last weekend. Saturday, the 'Jackets fell 8-5 and 9-6. Sunday, MSU Billings lost 11-5 before rebounding for a 5-1 win in the closing game. Allie Hughes went 7-for-14 at the plate in the series with two doubles, five runs batted in, and two home runs. Alyssa Etheridge through a complete game Sunday and picked up her sixth win after allowing one earned run on eight hits, walking two.
 
"Beating Central Washington last week should give us a lot of confidence going into this weekend," Rayman said. "To see Alyssa throw the way she did against Central was really encouraging and I think the rest of our team will be able to build off of that."
 
AT THE PLATE: Hughes big weekend lifted her batting average to a team leading .306, up 29 points from the previous week. Hughes shares a team leading 19 runs batted in with Brittanee Fisher and has five home runs, one triple, and seven doubles.
 
 
Madison Kelly caught all four games against Central Washington and has 31 starts at catcher this spring. The senior is hitting .291 with 12 runs batted, three home runs, and seven doubles.
 
Second baseman Cailee Morgan continues to have productive plate appearances and is hitting .274 in 37 starts. Morgan and Austin share a team low seven strikeouts and Morgan has four doubles and three triples on the year.
 
"Cailee does a really good job of finding good strikes to swing at," said Rayman. "She manages to put the ball in play most of the time for us. Same thing with Allie. She's really stepped up in clutch situations at times this season as well as with runs batted in. They're both confident hitters in the box and that has been what's made them so successful this season. It really helps our offense when they are finding ways to get on base."
 
 
ETHERIDGE IN THE CIRCLE: Alyssa Etheridge (6-9, 4.87 ERA) has been solid in her freshman campaign with the Yellowjackets. Sunday, Etheridge relieved Haley Couch in the second inning after three 'Jacket pitchers struggled to keep the potent Wildcat offense from scoring. Etheridge went 5.2 innings and allowed five earned runs. She then started the second game of the doubleheader and threw a complete game, earning a win with one earned run allowed, eight hits, and two walks.
 
Earlier this season, Etheridge threw a no-hitter against Saint Martin's University and allowed just one earned run over 7.0 innings pitched against California State San Bernardino on March 30.
 
"I think we'll rely on Alyssa a lot this weekend on the road," Rayman said. "We saw her pitch 13 innings last weekend against a good Central Washington team and I'm very confident she is capable of carrying the load for us again. This season she's been staying quick and playing within herself. She trusts her pitches and does a good job of getting hitters to chase. If she can continue to do that the rest of the way, I think she'll be just fine."
 
 
REYNOLDS RAKES: Payton Reynolds jumped to the team lead in home runs with three long balls in four games last weekend against Central Washington. Reynolds posted two homers in game one Saturday afternoon for three runs batted in, then connected on a solo home run in game four Sunday to help the Yellowjackets win 5-1. Reynolds has seven home runs this season (tied for sixth in the GNAC) and holds a .533 slugging percentage.
 
 
OUR HOUSE: Junior Jolene House helped lead the Yellowjackets with a .500 batting average over the last six games, going 8-for-16 with two runs socred. House went 2-for-4 in Saturday's opener against CWU and then had three hits in game two Saturday. She closed out the weekend with a 2-for-4 effort on Sunday. House is hitting .348 in 25 games this season with two doubles and three runs batted in.
 
 
Scouting Northwest Nazarene University
Game Day: Friday, April 19 – 2 p.m. & 4 p.m. (Doubleheader)
Game Day: Sunday, April 20 – 12 p.m. & 2 p.m. (Doubleheader)
2019 Record: 21-20, 10-10 GNAC, 9-3 home, 7-11 away, 5-6 neutral
Head Coach: Rich Wagner (seventh season)
2018 Record: 31-23, 19-9 GNAC, 11-7 home, 10-8 away, 10-8 neutral
 
The defending GNAC champions have had an up and down year in 2019 after they returned all but two players from last season and were selected to finish first in the conference by the league's coaches. With 10 seniors on the roster in 2019, NNU is one spot out of playoff position and looking to prove themselves worthy of a second straight title.
 
So far the Nighthawks are fourth in batting average (.304), fifth in earned run average (4.18), and third in fielding percentage (.763). The team split a four game series with Saint Martin's University at home after scoring 21 total runs and allowed 14.
 
Kylie Orr (senior, first baseman) ranks fifth in the GNAC with a .429 AVG in 40 games played with 28 RBI, 10 doubles, and five home runs. Orr hit .368 last year and started 54 games with seven home runs and 45 runs batted in. Anna Williams ranks second on the squad with a .413 AVG and a team high 31 runs batted. Williams ranks second behind only Emily Benson (Western Washington) in GNAC home runs with 11.
 
Seven players have seen game action in the circle for the Nighthawks. Jordan Adams (11-6, 1.93 ERA) is the team's top pitcher. With 19 appearances and 18 starts, the sophomore has 14 complete games and a remarkable 124 strikeouts which is second most in the GNAC.  Opponents are hitting .222 against Adams, though she has allowed 13 home runs.
 
The Yellowjackets are also likely to see starts from Rylee Thomas (5-8, 4.91 ERA) and Maia McNicoll (2-4, 7.16 ERA) in the series.
 
MSUB is 55-16 all-time against the Nighthawks in games dating back to 2004. Last year the teams split the season series 2-2 in Billings on the last weekend of the regular season. MSUB picked up a win over NNU in the last game of the season 6-4 on April 28.
 
"I think the biggest thing is to go out there and play tough against NNU," commented Rayman. "They have one very quality pitcher who is going to be a challenge for us but I think we are capable of finding success against her and the rest of the staff. We just have to have use the attack mentality that we've been focusing on and had success with. If we can continue to focus on us and what we're doing, we have a good chance to win the series."
 
AROUND THE LEAGUE: Julia Reuble (Central Washington) earned GNAC player of the week after hitting .571 in four games over the weekend and having six runs batted in. Maddie Mayer (Western Oregon) was tabbed GNAC pitcher of the week, amassing a 1.84 earned run average. She allowed five runs on 16 hits with five walks and 13 strikeouts in 19 innings.
 
Central Washington leads the conference with a 16-4 record and is in good position to claim its third regular season title in four years. Western Washington sits second with a 13-7 record. Western Oregon and Concordia are tied for third at 12-8. Northwest Nazarene and Saint Martin's are just outside of the playoff picture but are still very much in contention.