SIOUX FALLS – Moving their doubleheader up one due to the weather forecast, University of Sioux Falls Softball will host Wayne State on Tuesday, April with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. The Cougars (20-17, 7-5 NSIC) are coming off a 4-2 week while the Wildcats (7-29, 1-11 NSIC) went 1-5 at home last week. After their home stand, USF heads to the road at the midway point of their league schedule with games at Minot State and University of Mary on April 14 and 15, respectively.
 
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USF sweeps MSU Moorhead, splits with Northern State to close home week
With standout pitching performances from Kerrigan Hoshaw and Courtney Mathews, the Cougars rolled to a pair of victories over NSIC foe MSU Moorhead. Hoshaw struck out nine MSUM batters and hit her seventh homerun of the season to lead the Cougars to a 5-2 win. Not to be outdone, Mathews surrendered just three hits to record a shutout with Sydney Nieveen providing two RBI in USF's 8-0 win. After letting in five runs in the third and fourth innings, the Cougars began their comeback against Northern State, but fell one run short of forcing extra innings in a 5-4 loss. In game two, Sioux Falls again faced a five-run deficit, but they responded with 13 unanswered runs led by Hoshaw and Jasmine Ragusi's homeruns and each driving in three runs for a 13-5 victory.
 
Series history: WSC lead 7-3
Facing Wayne State for the 11th and 12th time since USF joined the NSIC in 2012-13, the Cougars are looking to slant the lopsided series in their favor. Wayne State holds a 7-3 edge over the Cougars, including a 7-1 lead in games during the NSIC regular season. The Wildcats won the first five games in the series and swept the regular season doubleheader last year. Sioux Falls won the most recent matchup, an 11-1 blowout in an NSIC Tournament elimination game last season. During the regular season, WSC stymied the Cougar bats and rolled to a pair of 9-1 wins in Wayne, Neb. Sioux Falls has only hosted this series once before, which ended in a split at Sherman Park in 2015. The Cougars dropped the first game in 2015, 13-7, before rebounding for an extra-inning victory. USF won their second straight over WSC later that year with a 2-0 victory pushing them into the NSIC Tournament semifinals.
 
Ragusi leads Cougar offense, raises batting average 37 points last week
Leading Sioux Falls to a 4-2 record, junior catcher/utility player Jasmine Ragusi posted a team-high .556 batting average over the last week, going 10-for-18 at the plate. Ragusi earned a walk and three hit-by-pitches, giving her a .636 on-base percentage, and she recorded four extra-base hits, three doubles and her fifth homerun of the season. From the start of the week, Ragusi increased her batting average by 37 points, increasing it from .323 to .360 entering this week. In the final five games last week, Ragusi recorded two hits in each and drove in four total runs, part of her team-high 25.
 
Freshman Heath leads Cougars in batting average
Earning a spot in the starting lineup with her pinch-hit performances, freshman infielder Kenna Heath's bat has stayed hot as a full-time starter. Heath has gone 30-for-79 for the Cougars' top batting average at .380 this season. The Seward, Neb. native added five more hits over the weekend and currently owns a six-game hitting streak entering the week.
 
Mathews settling into pitching role
Both as a reliever and starter, freshman right-handed pitcher Courtney Mathews is starting to find her comfort zone. Hailing from Lee's Summit, Mo. Mathews earned the win in USF's historic comeback victory over Minnesota State last week then went on to earn a complete-game shutout victory against MSU Moorhead and a three-inning save against Northern State over the weekend. Opponents are hitting a team-low .240 against her and she has struck out a team-high 62 batters in 85.2 innings pitched. Her earned run average of 2.45 ranks 10th in the NSIC and she's ninth in strikeouts with a 7-6 record in her freshman campaign.