MANKATO, Minn. --- The Minnesota State softball team carried its hot streak into NSIC action as it extended its winning-streak to 12 games, going an unblemished 6-0 record on the circuit.

The Mavericks will see three additional conference twinbills this week as it entertains  Southwest Minnesota State in St. Peter, Minn., before taking to the road to do battle with MSU Moorhead and Northern State.
 
Our Last Outing: The Mavericks posted four shutouts in a six game span as it downed Concordia-St. Paul (6-0, 8-2), Bemidji State (11-3, 11-0 in five innings) and Minnesota Crookston (10-0 in five innings, 5-0) to sit atop the NSIC standings with a 22-6 overall record with a mark of 6-0 on the circuit.
 
In that six game stand, MSU saw three athletes bat over .556, led by sophomore Tatum Klein  who batted .650 scoring eight runs on 13 hits in 20 at bats with a double, triple and a home run with seven RBI. Senior Lindsay Erickson posted a .563 batting average scoring six runs on nine hits in 16 at bats with a double, a triple, three home runs and 13 RBI for a 1.313 slugging percentage. Senior Samantha Holien recorded a .556 batting average scoring seven runs on 10 hits in 18 at bats with two doubles and two RBI.
 
In the circle, the tandem of junior Brittany Lauterbach and freshman Coley Ries each earned their 10th wins of the season, each posting a perfect 3-0 record to start NSIC action. In three appearances, Ries posted one complete game, one shutout and recorded 10+ strikeouts in two different games, and tied a career-best 17 single game strikeouts in the Mavericks' 6-0 win over Concordia-St. Paul. On the week, the Eagle Lake, Minn., product tallied a 0.47 ERA giving up one run on eight hits with 36 strikeouts in 15 innings of work.
 
Times, They Are A Changin': Due to the Minnesota weather, Minnesota State was forced to postpone and relocate its twinbill with Southwest Minnesota State. The Mavericks will do battle with the Mustangs on Wednesday, April 2 on the Gustavous Adolphus football field, where MSU went 6-0 a season ago.
 
About Southwest Minnesota State: The Mustangs own a 6-16 overall record, but they come into the twinbill winning three of their last four games, including a two-game sweep over the University of Mary. Jamie Dunn became the 10th head coach in Mustang history this past June. This is her second NCAA Division II team she's coached as she led Colorado Christian University to a 25-23 record as an assistant coach.
 
Even though the team collectively is hitting .247 and average 3.23 runs per game, which are both 13th in the NSIC, Jazmyne Neely owns the team's triple crown batting .357 with two home runs and 16 RBIs. She also is tied with Chelsey Rodenkirch for most doubles with five. With 80 1/3 innings pitched, SMSU's ace Rachel Hoeppner owns a 4.44 ERA with a team best 4-7 record. She's fanned 42 batters and has walked 27.
 
About Minnesota State Moorhead: With a 5-10 overall record, the Dragons are looking to end a four-game losing streak and their first NSIC victory. Kelsey Fehl entered her third season at the helm for the Dragons. Her squad struggled last season ending with a 7-36 overall record and went 5-23 in the circuit.
 
Mollie Annen and Brittany York lead the Dragons with 10 hits while Annen is hitting .256 with one home run and two RBIs and York is batting .244 and has brought in four runs. Kristy Bruni owns the home run and RBI title with three home runs and five RBIs. The Dragons have two pitchers in Morgan Nybo and Kristen Nordby, who share time in the circle. In Nybo's 52 innings she's won the most games (3) struck out the most batters (38) and has the lowest ERA (4.31). Nordby has a 2-5 record with 26 strikeouts and 19 walks.
 
About Northern State: The Wolves of Northern State haven't found a win in their last five games as they own a 1-5 NSIC record and 8-14 overall. The team's head coach is entering her fourth season. Kristi Villar, who was part of Southwest Minnesota State's staff for two seasons, led the Wolves to their best season in school history with a 24-28 overall record.
 
Rachel Albright owns the team's triple crown with a .407 batting average (seventh in the NSIC), six home runs (tied for third) and 18 RBIs. She's also sixth the conference in slugging percentage with .729. With a team-leading 3.31 ERA, Kami Smesmo has been the ace for the Wolves. She owns a 6-6 record while leading the teams in strikeouts (46) and opponent batting average (.261).
 
What Ranking?: Minnesota State is a perfect 3-0 against ranked opponents, including wins over then ranked No. 14 Wayne State (Mich.), 5-1, No. 12 LIU-Post, 3-0 and most recently a 12-4 win over then ranked No. 12 Emporia State in six innings.
 
Lighting Up the Board: MSU is currently 5-0 when it scores over 10+ innings in a game, adversely, the Mavericks are 15-1 when holding their opponents to under two runs, and have posted nine shutouts so far this season.
 
Isn't That Grand?: Head coach Lori Meyer has won 989 games in her coaching tenure and is just 11 wins away from 1,000 career wins. Meyer looks to be the 23rd softball coach to reach the 1,000 win mark in all divisions.
 
League Leading: As a unit, MSU leads the league in several statistical categories including, runs scored (183), hits (274), RBI (167), doubles (48), home runs (22) and total bases (398). Individually, senior Samantha Holien leads the NSIC in batting average (.515), runs (35), hits (50) and total bases(77). Fellow senior Lindsay Erickson boasts the league's most RBI (38) and has the second-best slugging percentage (.826).

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