BILLINGS, Mont. – For the first time since 2019, the Montana State University Billings softball team kicks off a full, 53-game schedule this season, starting t­­­­his Friday with five games at the Concordia Kickoff Classic.
 
The Yellowjackets bring back several starters and five all-conference selections from the 2021 season. Like it has in years past, the program is aiming for its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament appearance since 2015.
 
"This team has a chemistry that we haven't seen in the last three years, and I think that comes from our leadership,
MSUB head coach Lisa McKinney, who is entering her eighth overall season, said. "Our older kids are really learning how to lead this team and they've done a really good job taking the underclassmen under their wings. It's been really exciting to see them all grow together. So I'm excited to see them take that new leadership over the last few years and put it into play during our games in the upcoming weeks."
 
Last season, the 'Jackets finished a shortened season with a 10-26 record, including a 6-14 mark in GNAC play. This year, the 'Jackets will be led by all-conference first baseman Brittanee Fisher and leftfielder Allie Hughes, plus the 'Jackets return 15 players – including five all-conference selections – from last year.
 
"I think everyone on our lineup can be a difference-maker on this team," McKinney said. "I truly believe they're all going to have their moment to shine. The question is who's going to produce more in the pressure situations. I think all of them have the capability of doing that because everyone has such good competition at their spots."
 
Fisher and Hughes opted to return and take their fifth year of eligibility awarded after the coronavirus pandemic canceled the 2020 season. The duo, alongside Sydney Norwood, Sidney Pollard, Morgan Quimby and Skyler Jenkins, will play their final collegiate seasons this year.
 
"They know our program and what we expect as coaches," McKinney said of the upperclassmen. "They do a great job of portraying that and holding their fellow upperclassmen accountable. With them, we're focusing on how they can have their best year possible. We're focused on them keeping their grades up, getting them prepared for life after softball, talking to them about what they want in their careers and just letting them play the game."
 
"They know the conference and what Division II is like," McKinney added. "I think we've done a great job at figuring out what they want to do individually in order to be the best version of themselves."
 
In particular, Fisher is within striking distance of not only MSUB's career home run record, but also the conference record. The Billings Senior alumna has hit 31 home runs in her career, which is 10 shy from breaking Cameron Cassinelli's record of 40. The GNAC career record is 45 home runs. Last year, Fisher earned Second Team NFCA All-West Region honors after hitting .337 with 11 home runs, 29 RBI and a .705 slugging percentage that ranked third in the conference.
 
"Britt is chasing the MSUB and the GNAC records and she's obviously capable of breaking both of those," McKinney said. "She just has to stay within herself. The conference knows what kind of hitter she is, so we've talked about her being a good ball hitter and hit some balls out of the zone. She's going to have to do hit balls outside of the strike zone in order to attain this goal and not look for that one perfect pitch."
 
In the outfield, fellow fifth-year leftfielder Allie Hughes is coming off a season in which she hit eight home runs and 24 RBIs while batting .263 and slugging .547. She also led the team with 23 runs scored. Going into her fifth year, Hughes is tied for 13^th on MSUB's career home run rankings with 18 home runs. Aside from Hughes, Brie Frazier, Payton Meyer, Shelby Marquardt and Claire Bagnell are the only returning outfielders with collegiate experience. Freshman Alexis Tovar – one of two lefties on the roster – is the lone newcomer in the mix.
 
"We have players who are pretty quick and who are going to cover a lot of ground out there," McKinney said. "We have two power-hitting potentials with Allie Hughes and Alexis Tovar, with Brie Frazier being the quick, contact hitter in the group. We also have power potential in Payton Meyer, who is a very strong kid who can cover some ground. Shelby Marquardt is one of our two lefties along with Alexis Tovar, which gives us a little different look to our lineup. Our outfield rounds out with Claire Bagnell, who is a really great teammate, is quick on her feet and has a really accurate throw. Like Brie, she is a really good contact hitter, so she can provide a good spark to our team as well."
 
A second-team All-GNAC selection in 2021, centerfielder Brie Frazier returns after a stellar freshman season. As MSUB's leadoff hitter, Frazier batted .321 and had a .351 on-base percentage, plus she stole a team-high five bases and scored 22 runs. Defensively, Frazier only committed three errors in 76 chances, and she notched five outfield assists.
 
"I think Brie is still trying to figure out what she accomplished last season," McKinney said. "I think it hasn't hit her yet. We're constantly reminding her that what she did earned her the right to be called a second-team all GNAC player last season, and to continue building off that. Brie is exciting because she's always flying around the outfield and she's a good contact hitter who's not afraid to lay down a bunt. She's really aggressive on the bases too, which is a great balance to the rest of our team."
 
MSUB's infield has four 'Jackets playing in their final season of college softball this year. Shortstop Sidney Pollard was a second-team all-conference selection last season, Morgan Quimby has been MSUB's starting second baseman for the past two seasons, plus Billings Senior grad Sydney Norwood made 10 starts at first base last season. According to McKinney, the veterans have done well preparing underclassmen like sophomore second baseman Kilee Imada and true freshman shortstop Lauren Blaschak so far.
 
"They have all done a great job of taking the younger players under their wings," McKinney said. "Pollard has freshman Lauren Blaschak competing with her at shortstop right now, and she's done a great job talking to Lauren and teaching her our system, so when Pollard leaves it's going to be an easy transition for Lauren to go through. Morgan has done a great job playing with Kilee Imada over the last couple of years at second base. Kilee's a sophomore, so Morgan has had a little more time with her. Those two really push each other and make each other better in a good, positive way, which is awesome to see."
 
Junior Marin Penney and true freshman Jazlyn Kalehuawehe are MSUB's third basemen this season. Penney was an All-GNAC Honorable Mention selection last year after batting .294, hitting seven home runs and had a .635 slugging percentage that ranked second on the team.
 
"Having Marin and Brittanee Fisher back at the corners is good for us," McKinney said. "Marin, Britt and Sydney Norwood have worked together a lot and they have good communication. We have Jazlyn Kalehuawehe at third base as well, and she and Marin have had good competition over there. They're both strong defensively with strong arms."
 
Pitching-wise, MSUB adds Dawson Community College transfer Shelby Martin and true freshman Preslee Christensen to its core of Jenna Kister, Alyssa Etheridge and Julia Qualteri.
 
"In the pitching realm, it's a battle," McKinney said. "Having five pitchers is really nice for us because in our first couple of tournaments, we could start a different pitcher in each game. Our pitchers will be able to stay fresh throughout the season and teams won't really to be able to focus their scout on just one pitcher. If someone ends up stepping up, they might get two or three starts in a weekend – it just depends on how they perform."
 
Sophomore Jenna Kister will look to improve on a solid 2021 campaign, in which she finished with a team-low 5.12 ERA and struck out 44 batters in 67.0 innings as a true freshman.
 
"Jenna has been working hard," McKinney said. "We've had talks about her freshman year, how she was kind of a surprise and no one really knew what to expect of her. But now she's going to be scouted by other teams; they're going to know her go-to pitches. That's always something to work through – whether you're a pitcher or a hitter, you're always going to have less of an advantage as a sophomore because other teams know who you are. But she's been doing a great job working through that. As long as she continues to hit her corners and keep her ball moving, I know she's still going to be successful for us."
 
Junior Alyssa Etheridge is the pitcher with the most experience in a Yellowjacket uniform. The right-hander already has a collegiate no-hitter to her name, plus she threw a one-hitter at Western Washington during one of her strongest stretches of play last season.
 
"Alyssa has always been trying to put the team on our shoulders," McKinney said. "She's really grown over the past few years. She has done a good job understanding her role, knowing when and how to take her team on her back, so we're excited to see that come out this year. I think she really shined last year at Western Washington and at Western Oregon. She had two really great games against Western Washington, which was really great to see, and we're hoping she continues down that path."
 
Julia Qualteri rounds out the returning pitchers, having started in 11 games and pitched three complete games as a sophomore last season. Qualteri led the team with four wins and, like Kister, held opponents to a .341 batting average last year.
 
"Julia has come a long way from her freshman year and she does a great job of keeping batters off-balance," McKinney said. "She had a really great outing at Saint Martin's last year, and I think that's something she's capable of doing that every single game. Julia likes to look at things differently – she's our very analytical pitcher – but she knows what works for her, which is awesome to see in a junior."
 
A two-year standout at Dawson Community College, junior pitcher Shelby Martin and the 2021 Mon-Dak Conference Most Valuable Player Maycen O'Neal will help bolster the 'Jacket battery. O'Neal joins Skyler Jenkins, who started 18 games at catcher last year, as the two catchers on the roster.
 
"Skyler is competing with our transfer Maycen O'Neal at catcher," McKinney said. "Skyler has done a really good job helping her work through our different defenses, and I think they've been good competition for each other."
 
McKinney says Martin and O'Neal have meshed well with the team so far. Given their experience helping the Buccaneers win several Mon-Dak Conference titles, both transfers will be invaluable this season.
 
"Anytime you can get a battery that's worked with each other for a few years, it's always a positive," McKinney said. "There's always that special connection between a pitcher and a catcher and they really understand each other. They're probably already thinking what pitch they're going to throw before the other one calls it, which is always nice. They come from a program at Dawson that's very successful in the junior college world, and they know what it takes to win, which I think is really important. I think they bring the knowledge of what it takes to win and what it takes to push ourselves to the next level. I think they've integrated really well on the team."
 
True freshman Preslee Christensen rounds out the pitchers as the only true freshman on staff. McKinney hopes Christensen can learn from her teammates this year – especially given her teammates' wide range of backgrounds, past successes and collegiate softball experiences.
 
"Preslee has a great opportunity to learn from girls who come from all across the west region who have had different experiences," McKinney said. "Between Shelby's success at Dawson, all the growth that Julia, Jenna and Alyssa have gone through, we all want Preslee to learn from these four other pitchers, so when younger pitchers come in, Preslee can teach them what she has learned. I think she has a great opportunity working with the four pitchers on the roster."
 
After this week's tournaments in Irvine, Calif. and Tucson, Ariz., the 'Jackets will travel to Minot State for four games in the Beavers' second Bubble Invite on Feb. 19-20. Aside from two series against Western Oregon and Simon Fraser – both of which do not count towards the teams' GNAC records – MSUB has a 24-game GNAC schedule that starts on March 11. MSUB also returns to play five games in Stanislaus State's Tournament of Champions, which will take place from April 1-3 in Turlock, Calif.
 
All told, MSUB has a full, 53-game schedule for the first time since the 2019 season. Both the 2020 and the 2021 seasons were shortened due to the pandemic.
 
"Only one third of our team has experienced a full season, which is crazy to think about," McKinney said. "It's going to be quite the journey and we're going to have to lean on those leaders who have gone through a full season to help carry this team."
 
MSUB was picked to finish sixth out of seven teams in the GNAC's preseason poll. Western Washington and defending champions Northwest Nazarene were picked as the top two teams in the league. As it stands, the top four teams in the conference standings will qualify for the GNAC Championships, which will be hosted by Saint Martin's in Lacey, Wash. this year from May 5-7.
 
All 16 home games will be played at Avitus Group Stadium, plus all home games will be livestreamed on YouTube. Tickets for home games cost $5 for general admission and are available at the gate. Admission is free for children in the sixth grade and below, plus for MSUB students and staff with a valid MSUB I.D. Links to live stats, plus livestreams for select road games can be found on the softball team's schedule page at msubsports.com.
 
ROAD TRIP AT A GLANCE
Starting this Friday, the 'Jackets play five games in the Concordia Kickoff Classic, held in Irvine, Calif. MSUB plays Cal State San Marcos at 9 a.m. PT, then faces Academy of Art that afternoon at 1:15 p.m. PT. Saturday features a pair of matchups against CCAA opponents – first against Cal State Monterey Bay at 11:30 a.m. PT, then a 4:45 p.m. game versus Cal State Dominguez Hills. The team concludes its time at the Concordia Kickoff Classic against Stanislaus State on Sunday at 8:45 a.m. PT.
 
MSUB will stick around in Irvine to play a doubleheader against the 10^th ranked Concordia Irvine Eagles on Tuesday at 3 and 5 p.m.
 
The following week, MSUB hosts the 12^th-annual Desert Stinger, held at Lincoln Regional Park in Tucson, Ariz. from Feb. 11-13. This year marks the first time the Desert Stinger will take place in Tucson instead of its usual location in Las Vegas, Nev.
 
"It's exciting to be going back to the Stinger," McKinney said. "It's different that it's in Tucson, but I'm hopeful that we're going to have good weather. It's going to be a great tournament with some high-caliber teams, so there will be a lot of good games."
 
At the Stinger, MSUB plays five games in three days. On Friday, Feb. 11 at noon, MSUB squares off against the Washburn Ichabods for the first time in program history. Washburn, which is located in Topeka, Kans. and competes in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association, was picked sixth in the conference's preseason poll. Before the Desert Stinger, the Ichabods open their season at the Minnesota State Sport Dome Classic from Feb. 4-6. A second non-conference meeting between MSUB and Academy of Art takes place later that afternoon at 5 p.m.
 
MSUB's only game on Saturday is against San Francisco State at 2:30 p.m. On Sunday, Feb. 13, MSUB squares off against Chico State – the preseason pick to win the California Collegiate Athletic Association title – at 9:30 a.m. The Yellowjackets' final game of the Desert Stinger is against Regis University at noon. The Rangers were picked to finish in a tie for fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's preseason poll. MSUB played at Regis in the Yellowjackets' season-opener last spring; the Rangers took both games of the series.
 
"We don't necessarily want to be the hottest team in February – we want to be getting hot in March and April," McKinney said. "We also understand these first few games are going to be a time for us to learn what we really need to focus on as a team. I think the biggest thing for us is to go out, have fun, get out of the cold and continue to grow as a team."
 
UP NEXT: The Yellowjackets open the season against Cal State San Marcos at the Concordia Kickoff Classic at 9 a.m. PT. Links to live stats, scores and ticketing information can be found online either at the Concordia Kickoff Classic's Tournament Central page, or the softball team's schedule page at msubsports.com.