BILLINGS, Mont. – Home for the second straight weekend, the Montana State University Billings softball team will host Humboldt State University in a four-game non-conference series at Avitus Group Stadium.
 
Doubleheaders are set for noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday, with live video available online here and live statistics available online here. Per Great Northwest Athletic Conference mandate, no fans are allowed at MSUB home softball games during the 2021 spring season. "We are really excited about Humboldt coming here, and we have had a long-running almost rivalry with them," said MSUB head coach Lisa McKinney. "The last three weeks have really prepared us, and the GNAC has become a lot stronger. We know that Humboldt has always been a really good hitting team, and we saw that most recently with Central and NNU."
 
The Yellowjackets (4-12, 1-3 GNAC) will return to conference play next weekend with their lone GNAC road trip of the year at Western Washington University on April 2-3. MSUB opened conference play at home last weekend, dropping 3 of 4 games against visiting Central Washington University. "It has been a little weird with COVID going on but the team was really welcoming and made sure to help show the freshmen the ropes," freshman centerfielder Brie Frazier commented on her first year in the program. "It has been pretty comfortable so far, and I feel at home in center. It has been fun to have an outfield that is so competitive, and we all have each other's backs."
 
POLLARD AMONG GNAC LEADING HITTERS: Junior shortstop Sidney Pollard leads the team in hitting with a .419 batting average, as she is tied for ninth in the GNAC in hitting. Pollard went 6-for-12 last week against CWU, and hit the first two home runs of her collegiate career. Pollard also has three doubles this spring, and ranks second on the team with a .710 slugging percentage.
 
FISHER CLIMBS TO SEVENTH IN CAREER HR: Senior Brittanee Fisher hit a pair of home runs last week, both of which came in Game 3 of the series as she notched her first-ever multi-home run performance. Fisher upped her career total to 24 home runs, lifting her into sole possessions of seventh on MSUB's all-time list.
 
MSUB Softball Career Home Run Leaders (as of March 26, 2021)

Rank	Player	Home Runs	Career
1	Cameron Cassinelli	40	2015-18
2	Kelly Parsons	35	2008-11
3	Kelsey Devlin	30	2014-17
	Emily Osborn	30	2012-15
5	Meg Harasymczuk	29	2011-12
6	Stephanie Gosselin	25	2006-09
7	Brittanee Fisher	24	2018-21
8	Theresa Campbell	23	2002-05
	Kaycee Hoffman	23	2010-11
10	Heather Tracy	21	2015-18
	Christy Wankel	21	2003-06

FRAZIER STANDS OUT AT PLATE, IN CENTER: True freshman Brie Frazier has had an impressive start to her career, ranking third on the team with a .333 batting average while starting 15 of 16 games in center field. Frazier had hits in all four games against Central last week, and she leads the team with five doubles while holding a .444 on-base percentage. Frazier's most exciting moment of the week came on defense, when she raced in to catch a fly ball and gunned down a runner at home who was trying to tag up in the top of the fifth inning in the Yellowjackets' win. "I saw the ball come in and just charged it, and that was really exciting being able to end the inning there," Frazier commented on her standout defensive play. "It was definitely an outfielder's dream play with all my momentum coming forward, and I was able to put that into the throw and get her at home. It was really cool."
 
"Brie has been really great this year," McKinney commented on the freshman. "Coming in as a true freshman it is a little bit difficult, but Brie has done a really great job especially in the top of our lineup. She has been in that one or two spot all season long. She is doing a great job for us there, and she is also doing an amazing job for us defensively."
 
"My approach at the plate is just to try to do my job wherever I am at in the lineup," Frazier said. "I just try to do whatever I can to make sure we have runners on for the three and four spots. I think we are rolling with a lot of energy, and I think we have really broken out of our shell offensively. It will be good rolling into some non-conference games this weekend and seeing what we can do there."
 
HAILEE HOMERS TWICE: Senior Hailee Gregerson hit her first two home runs of the year on Monday, the first of which was a solo, walk-off home run to give MSUB a 13-12 win in the bottom of the eighth inning in Game 3. Gregerson went 6-for-13 with four RBIs total on the week, while scoring three times. "It was awesome," Frazier commented on Gregerson's game-winning home run. "The walk-off was just the icing on the cake and we all got super hyped for her."
 
ETHERIDGE EARNS FIRST WIN: Right-hander Alyssa Etheridge picked up her first victory of the season in the circle, entering the game and throwing three shutout innings of relief in MSUB's triumph against the Wildcats. Etheridge struck out three while allowing just one walk and two hits to finish off the game and set up Gregerson's walk-off home run.
 
Humboldt State University Jacks
2021 Record: 0-0
 
The Jacks open their season with this weekend's series against the Yellowjackets. Humboldt State went 7-16 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, and posted a mark of 21-29 in its last full season during the spring of 2019.
 
The Series: Humboldt State owns a 19-4 all-time record against the 'Jackets and this weekend will mark the first-ever meeting between the teams in the Magic City.