SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls Softball Team (6-8, 0-0 NSIC) will open the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference schedule with a doubleheader against Southwest Minnesota State (9-5, 0-0 NSIC) at 1/3 pm on Monday, March 29 at Sherman Park.

When USF plays SMSU Monday, Cougars and Mustangs will play official league series for the first time in two years. USF's last league game (not NSIC Tourney) was against Minnesota Duluth on April 28, 2019 in Duluth, Minn.

Broadcast - Stats Links/Info
Live stats and live video will be available. 

USF leads SMSU, 9-7, in all-time series
USF and SMSU have played 16 times with USF owning a 9-7 overall record. USF has a 5-2 home record against SMSU with a 2-4 road mark. In the last five matchups, USF and SMSU is 5-5. The Mustangs have won two straight. USF's longest win streak is three games from March 28, 2017 to March 28, 2018.  Over the course of the series, USF has scored 72 runs or 4.5 per game. In the last meeting, SMSU took a 4-3 decision  on March 26, 2019. USF last win was a 7-0 win on March 28, 2018 on the same day USF took a 11-10 victory in 11 innings. SMSU took the first game in the series, 4-3, on March 27, 2013 at Bob Young Field. In conference play, USF has a 9-5 mark.
 
SMSU Breakdown - Mustangs hitting .322 with 3.36 ERA
SMSU is third in the league with a .322 batting average and has scored 78 runs while hitting nine home runs, 24 doubles and six triples. They rank fifth in the league with a 3.36 earned run average with 68 strikeouts and have allowed 109 hits in 89.2 innings. SMSU opened the season with four straight wins before taking two losses. Since then, they have won six-ofnine games including a tweep of U-Mary by 4-0, 8-0 scores on March 19. On March 12, they lost to St. Cloud State, 6-0, 7-3.  Lileya Kebos leads SMSU with a .488 average with an .860 slugging and .511 on-base mark. Emma Grote is hitting .438 with a .449 OBP. Kali Tomlinson had a .367 average with team highs in home runs with five and RBI with 19. Megan Cull is 5-1 with a 1.53 earned run average with three complete games to lead the pitching staff.

Quick Look at USF 
USF finished 3-3 at the Missouri Western HyVee Classic, which had several schedule adjustments due to weather. USF opened by splitting two games at Central Missouri by taking a 7-6 win but falling, 6-1. After moving to Emporia, Kan., the Cougars dropped a 7-4 decision to Central Oklahoma but rebounded with a 5-3 win over Emporia State. With a four-run explosion in the first inning plus a stellar effort in the circle from Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag, USF turned back Emporia State, 5-3. Van Der Zwaag threw a complete-game two-hitter. With her 81 pitches to 26 batters, Van Der Zwaag allow just one earned run, two hits, and did not walk a hitter while registering two strikeouts. She registered her third complete game of the season and lowered her earned run average to 3.28.

USF had six batters record hits included two each by Van Der Zwaag, who had an RBI and scored twice; and Damaris Cuevas, who hit a single and double, had two RBI and scored a run. On Sunday, USF dropped a 2-0 decision to Central Oklahoma in another solid effort from Van Der Zwaag, who allowed five hits and two runs in throwing a complete game. Shayla Running had two hits for USF. With a seventh inning rally and a strong outing in the circle from Hanna Cress, USF finished 3-3 in the tourney with a 3-1 win over Emporia State. Cress (4-4) was 1-0 with a 1.00 earned run average as she threw a seven-hitter against ESUUSF's offense was led by Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag with two hits while Shayla Running had two hits and a run scored. It was the second straight two hit game for Running. Rodriguez added a hit and two RBI while Cassie Van Beek had a hit and run scored. Kylie Madrid, Lexie Swift and Kylan Straight all contributed base knocks for USF which had 11 hits on the day, including a pinch-hit RBI single by sophomore Kennedy Thomas.

Review of Past Six Games - Hit .265 with 3.50 ERA in going 3-3
In a review of the six games, USF finished 3-3 and hit .265, led by freshman Damaris Cuevas who hit .667 with 10 hits in 15 at bats, two doubles, a team-high five RBI and 12 total bases plus a .722 OBP. Freshman infielder Shayla Running hit .571 with four hits in seven at bats and .625 OBP while Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag batted. 316 with six hits in 19 at bats. On the mound, USF had a 3.50 earned run average with Van Der Zwaag at 3.29 with a 1-1 record, two complete games and nine strikeouts in 17 innings. Cress finished 2-2 with a 3.50 earned run average, four appearances, two complete games and 14 strikeouts in 20 innings. In the 40 total innings, including three innings from Shayla Shaver, USF had just three walks and hit just one batter.
 
In standing 6-8 through 14 games, USF is hitting .245, which was a just of 17 points over the first eight games. USF has scored 41 puts with 90 hits,  .313 slugging and .308 on-base percentage. USF has five steals and a .967 fielding percentage. In total, USF has 20 extra base hits with 17 doubles. On the hill, USF dropped its ERA .19 over the past six games with eight complete games, 63 strikeouts against 18 walks in throwing 90 innings.  USF ranks ninth in the league in pitching  while ranking 13^th in hitting.
 
Player Notes – Cuevas leads NSIC in hitting and ranks 13^th in DII
In her first season with USF, catcher/DP Damaris Cuevas leads USF with a .586 average which leads the NSIC and  ranks 13^th in NCAA DII II. She has 19 hits in 33 at bats with five RBI and 23 total bases. She has a .697 slugging and .622 on-base percentage which leads the Cougars and leads the NSIC while ranking 24^th in DII. Cuevas has six multi-hit games, including two with three hits. She also has two multi-RBI games in her first season with USF and own a six-game hitting streak.

Junior outfielder Kylan Straight, who was selected to the Washburn Invitational All-Tournament Team, has a .286 batting average and ranks second on the team with 14 hits. She has a .327 slugging mark and .300 OBP.  Straight recorded three multi-hit games and opened with six hits in her first 12 at bats in the opening three games. A junior psychology major, Straight, who is in a five-game hitting streak, has 38 career hits.

Senior Frankie Mickelson is averaging .217 with 10 hits, nine total bases, .357 on-base percentage and .385 slugging mark. With an RBI this season, Mickelson sits eighth all-time at USF with 66. She needs two more to pass Alyson Netty, 67, 2015-16; and five to move past Danielle Walker, 70, 2015-16. She also ranks sixth in games played at USF with 167. She also ranks sixth in starts by a USF player with 160. Mickelson is also sixth all-time with 134 hits and 10 away from fifth, Kerrigan Hoshaw at 144, 2016-19. A senior center fielder, Mickelson ranks eighth in career home runs at USF with 14 and is two away from Sydney Nieveen, 16, 2017-20 and four away from Danielle Walker, 18, 2015-16.  She has 28 career steals and has 203 putouts, which ranks second all-time among outfielders (Megan Peterson, 226, 2014-17), with 17 assists on defense. In addition, Mickelson has 28 multi-hit games as well as 17 multi-RBI games
  
 Infielder Shayla Running is batting .344 with 11 hits in 32 at bats and five runs scored while recording an RBI and 19 putouts with 10 assists. Running has a .344 slugging mark (2^nd at USF) and .382 on-base percentage. In her second year at USF, she has 36 hits in 90 at bats for a .400 average. A year ago, she hit .431 with nine RBI and now has 10 career RBIs. Running, who hits in nine of 12 games this season 24-of-31 games in her career. Additionally, she has 11 multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games

Senior catcher Emmie Uitts has started nine and played in seven games. She has three hits in 16 at bats with a run scored and RBI while recording 33 putouts and two assists from the catcher spot. In her career she has 47 hits with five home runs and 24 RBI. She has played in 121 games with 111 starts. She has 14 extra base hits, nine doubles with nine multi-hit and four multi-RBI games.

This season, the junior right hander Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag, who has a team-best eight RBI, is hitting .244 with 10 hits in 41 at bats while totaling 13 total bases. She has a .317 slugging mark and .340 OBP.  On the mound, Van Der Zwaag has a team-best 3.13 earned run average with a 2-3 record in seven appearances and four starts. She has four complete games with 28 strikeouts across 38 innings pitched and only seven walks. In her career she is 8-11 and 145.1 innings of work with 42 appearances and 17 starts. She has 34 hits in 106 at bats for a .321 average and 21 career RBIs. Van Der Zwaag has six multi-hit games and six multi-RBI games.
  
Freshman Hanna Cress is 4-4 with a 3.93 earned run average with a team-high 34 strikeouts in 46.1 innings. In the past two games, she threw 14 innings and allowing 14 hits with five earned runs and nine strikeouts with a 2.50 earned run average. In her second year at USF, Cress has 81 strikeouts in 84.1 innings. She had a career high nine strikeouts in a 3-2 win over Missouri Western on Feb. 23, 2020. In her second year, she is 9-7 with 22 appearances and 16 starts and had six complete games with one save.   

Head Coach Shannon Pivovar
Pivovar, who has a 41-44 career record at USF with a 13-17 mark in NSIC play, is in her third year at USF. She was a standout student-athlete at Missouri Western State in St. Joseph, Mo. With the Griffons softball team, she was a four-year starter in the middle infield, earning All-Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) honors three times, and added All-North Central Region honors in 2008. She also helped lead Missouri Western to a pair of NCAA Tournaments. Named the 2010 Missouri Western Female Athlete of the Year, Pivovar, who had a career average of .306 and a .455 slugging mark, ranks in the top-10 in nine career categories at MWSU, including; assists (3^rd, 387), at bats (5^th, 692), games played (6^th, 226), starts (6^th, 224), hits (7^th, 212), doubles (6^th, 40), home runs (10^th, 21), total bases (10^th, 315) and runs batted in (8^th, 124). She also ranks in the top-10 in three season categories, including doubles (4^th, 18, and 2008); RBIs (10^th, 43, and 2009) and assists (6^th, 136, and 2009). Pivovar also excelled in the classroom, earning All-MIAA academic honors three times, finishing her Griffon career with a 3.80 grade point average. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science degree in sports management, with a minor in business.