What’s On Tap: Ninth-ranked Minnesota State (38-7, 18-2 NSIC) finishes its regular season schedule on this week as all six games will be at home. MSU will host SCSU (20-26, 6-14 NSIC) on Tuesday with the doubleheader scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. 

    The Mavericks then host U-Mary (19-16, 10-10 NSIC) on Saturday and Northern State (21-21, 10-8 NSIC) on Sunday at the Diamond at Gage Towers. Both games are scheduled for a 1 p.m., first pitch. 

What Just Happened: MSU junior pitcher Courtney McKelvogue pitched two complete game shutout wins last week as opponents hit just .068 in her 13 innings pitched. The West Des Moines, Iowa native pitched a one-hitter against Concordia Wednesday and then pitched a two-hitter against Southwest Minnesota State Saturday. McKelvogue had eight strikeouts over the week and gave up just three hits. Senior pitcher Kendra Huettl also pitched two complete game shutouts last week as she had 20 strikeouts and gave up just six hits. McKelvogue, Huettl and the Maverick pitching staff have pitched 30 consecutive shutout innings going into this week. Junior shortstop Abby Sonner batted .400 (4-of-10) in the Mavericks four games last week, compiling a .500 slugging percentage. 

The ninth-ranked Mavericks didn’t give up a run in its four games last week and tallied 28 strikeouts. The team batted a combined .295 as opponents hit just .098. 

Head Coach Lori Meyer: One of the most respected coaches in all of NCAA Division II softball, Lori Meyer is in her 28th year as the head coach of the Minnesota State softball team. Meyer owns a career record of 916-572-3 (.614) in 1,491 games. A seven-time NCC Coach of the Year, Meyer has guided the Mavericks to three North Central Conference titles (1987, 1989 and 2007), and guided the ‘87 Mavericks to a third-place finish at the NCAA Division II National Tournament and has made nine trips to the NCAA postseason and two trips to the NCAA Championships (1987, 2011). Meyer is the 35th coach in collegiate softball to mark 900 wins and the seventh NCAA Division II coach to accomplish the feat.

Minnesota State History: The 2012 season marks the 38th for Maverick softball. MSU owns an all-time record of 1,041-670-7 (.606) in 1,718 games, and have four North Central Conference titles (1984, 1987, 1989, 2007) and ten appearances in the NCAA Division II National Tournament (1984, 1987, 1989, 1995, 1997, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011) to its credit.

MSU Notes: Minnesota State has scored 35 or more runs in the first (40), third (39) and fourth (48) innings this season. The Mavericks are 9-1 in games in which it has scored 0-2 runs and is 31-0 when limiting its opponents to two or fewer runs. The Mavericks are 15-1 when scoring in the first inning and 33-1 when scoring first. The Mavericks are 24-2 when not committing an error. Sophomore Lindsay Erickson leads MSU with 20 multiple-hit games and 11 multiple-RBI games. Lindsay Erickson’s 11-game hitting streak to start the season is tied for the longest of the season as she is currently on a team-leading three-game hitting streak. Lindsay Erickson started the season reaching base in 15 straight games earlier this season as she is currently leading MSU on a three game streak. Minnesota State ranks first in stolen bases (83) and third in the NSIC in batting average (.306), slugging percentage (.469), on base percentage (.376), runs batted in (214), doubles (60), homers (41) and walks (124). 

Home Sweet Home: The Mavericks are perfect at home this season with an 8-0 record. At the Diamond at Gage Towers, MSU has outscored opponents 57-2 and combine for a .392 batting average. Junior shortstop Abby Sonner is batting .524 from the plate in Mankato as senior infielder Amanda Umhoefer is hitting .417 at home.