SIOUX FALLS – On a roll with five straight wins and seven in their last eight games, the University of Sioux Falls Softball Team (19-16, 13-8 NSIC), will conclude their 10-game home stand on Senior Weekend as the Cougars play NSIC doubleheaders on Saturday, May 1 against Minnesota Duluth (25-11, 15-7 NSIC) as well as against St. Cloud State (20-12, 9-9 NSIC) on Sunday May 2, with all games at Sherman Park. 
 
USF's games against Minn. Duluth will be held at 1 pm and 3 pm on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, USF, which sits seventh in the league at 13-8 and 19-16 overall, will face St. Cloud State at 11 am and 1 pm will honor its six seniors and four from SCSU between the two games. The games were originally schedule for 12/2 pm but due to the forecast of rain and thunder was adjusted up an hour on Sunday. The USF seniors to be honored include Rachel Klassen of Elkhorn, Neb.; Frankie Mickelson of Rochester, Minn.; Mika Rodriguez of Laveen, Ariz.; Emmie Uitts of Elkhorn, Neb.; Cassie Van Beek of Rock Valley, Iowa, and Emily Cheloha of Omaha, Neb. 

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Minnesota Duluth - Saturday, May 1
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St. Cloud State - Sunday, May 2 (Senior Day)
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Also follow along via live tweets by following USF Athletics on Twitter - @USF_athletics.

USF seniors have made an impact on the program

Outfielder Rachel Klassen, who has a 1.000 fielding percentage with 0 errors in 54 chances, has accumulated career-bests in hits with 15, runs scored with 14 and stolen bases with two in her senior season. A psychology and social sciences major, she is a .237 career hitter and leads USF with two triples this year, which ranks ninth all-time at USF. Over the past 15 games, the senior outfielder has stepped up with a .375 batting average, .458 slugging mark and .500 OBP with 13 putouts and perfect fielding percentage. She has nine hits in 24 at bats with two RBI and a triple during that 15-game stretch. The daughter of Brennan Klassen and Annette Bolton, she has been named NSIC All-Academic Team and was a D2 ADA Academic Achievement Recipient in 2020. During her career, she has been part of 54 wins at USF.

Frankie Mickelson, a social work major and daughter of Troy and Pam Mickelson, has been a staple in centerfield for most of her career although she has also served as a catcher. With a career .974 fielding percentage, she ranks in the top-12 all-time. A force at the plate, she ranks in the top-10 in 12 statistical categories in USF's DII era. She has played in 188 games, which ranks third all-time as does her 181 career starts. At USF, she is third in at bats with 533, third in stolen bases with 30, fifth in hits with 148, sixth in RBI with 73, seventh in runs scored with 83 and eighth in home runs with 14. MIckelson has twice been named to the All-NSIC Team of Excellence, been selected to the NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete team, earned NSIC All-Academic Team honors in three seasons and was named the 2020-21 USF Gibby Award recipient for her perseverance, resilience and leadership coming back from a car accident last summer. At USF, Mickelson, who has 32 multi-hit and 18 multi-RBI games, has been part of 116 wins and twice batted over .300 (.312, 2017; .316, 2020). 

Senior shortstop Mika Rodriguez, who has already earned a degree in international business from Minnesota-Crookston, is studying in the Master of Business Administration program at USF. The daughter of Nancy and Rueben Rodriguez, she has been a stalwart at shortstop for USF with a .263 average and is tied for a team-high with four home runs while driving in 17 and owning a .930 fielding percentage. In her career, she is a career .275 hitter, with 17 home runs in her NCAA career and has 72 RBI. She owns a .463 slugging mark at USF and a .379 OBP. In the past 15 games, Rodriguez has hit .375 with three home runs, 12 RBI, .675 slugging mark and .479 on-base percentage. 

Emmie Uitts, an entrepreneurial studies major, who was named USF's Entrepreneurial Studies Student of the Year this spring, has played in 132 games in the last four years at USF and with 120 starts behind the plate ranks ninth all-time in USF's DII era. The daughter of Deann and Marty Uitts, she has a career total of five home runs and 19 extra base hits with a .242 career mark. This season, she has a .282 average in 16 starts with a 1.000 fielding percentage and 10 RBI (33 in her career). In the last 15 games when USF is 10-5, Uitts is hitting .350 with seven hits, seven RBI and four doubles. She has a .550 slugging mark and .450 OBP in that span.Twice, she has been named to the All-NSIC Academic Team and has helped USF win 86 games during her career.. 

A standout at third base, Cassie Van Beek is a .257 career hitter, and has three home runs – five in her career - and 17 runs driven in this season. She is a perfect 13-13 in stolen bases in her career while playing 121 games with 68 starts. Over the past 15 games, Van Beek is hitting .262 with a team-high 14 RBI and is tied with Rodriguez with three home runs. The daughter of Colleen and Al Van Beek, Cassie is an elementary education major. Twice, she has earned All-NSIC Academic honors, been named to the Easton-NFCA All-American Scholar Team and earned the Myles Brand Award for Academic Achievement. Like Uitts, Van Beek has helped USF to 86 wins during her career in which she has a .career .378 slugging and .318 on-base percentage.

Emily Cheloha, who is a business administration and exercise science major, has played in 73 games for the Cougars since joining the squad in the fall of 2016. The daughter of Dan and Michelle Cheloha, she has been named to the Academic-All NSIC teams twice and was named to the Easton-NFCA All-American Scholar Team in 2019. Cheloha, like teammates Van Beek and Uitts, has been part of 116 wins during her career. She has 12 career RBI, two stolen bases, and 18 hits.
 
Coming up for USF 
 
USF's home stand will conclude the regular season home schedule for USF, and they will conclude the entire regular season when they head to face Concordia St. Paul and Minnesota St. May 8-9.

Last week, USF took 5-of-6 games in NSIC play, defeating No.1 Augustana, 2-1, in game two of the doubleheader on Thursday, April 22. The Cougars then went on to complete a weekend sweep, defeating U-Mary, 15-0 and 11-2 and Minot State, 9-1 and 7-2. USF won five straight games, including a five-inning no hitter by Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag (15-0), when USF won by run rule in five innings against U-Mary. USF has wins over two ranked teams this year - No. 11 Winona State, 9-6 on April 10; and No. 1 Augustana, 2-1, on April 22 with both games at Sherman Park.  

Breaking Down Opponents 

UMD, which is coming off a weekend split with Winona St., has won five of their last six games and sit 25-11 overall and 15-7 in league games. The Bulldogs currently sit at fourth overall in the league, just two spots above USF, hitting .319 as a team. UMD is led in batting by Lauren Oberle, who is hitting .413, with 46 runs on 43 hits in 104 at bats. Jordyn Thomas is hitting .371, with a team-high eight home runs, 20 runs on 39 hits, and 35 RBI. As a team, the Bulldogs have hit 42 home runs, own a .555 slugging mark and a .402 OBP, and are fielding .978 overall. On the mound, UMD is led by Lauren Dixon, with a 2.08 earned run average and 114 strikeouts. Sam Pederson has allowed 29 earned runs for a 2.91 earned run average, and has thrown 57 strikeouts. 

St. Cloud State sits at 20-12 overall on the year and 9-9 in the league, putting them in ninth place overall. The Huskies are coming off a sweep of Upper Iowa and are 3-2 in their last five games. SCSU is hitting .356 as a team, with 217 runs on 309 hits, 24 home runs, 183 RBI, and 452 total bases. The Huskies are led in batting by Raven Vanden Langenberg, who is hitting .465 on the season, with 23 runs on 47 hits, three home runs, 24 RBI, and a .673 slugging mark. Jasmin Estrada is hitting .427, with 31 runs on 41 hits in 96 at bats, a team-high seven home runs, and 27 RBI. On the mound, SCSU is led by Lauren Kirchberg, with a 2.20 earned run average, while Sydney LaPoint has a team-high 60 strikeouts. 
 
Series Notes – Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State
 
In the overall series, UMD owns a 12-3 record over USF with 10 straight wins. The last victory for USF was a 2-1 decision in Duluth, Minn., on April 12, 2015. USF's last home win was April 6, 2014, a 7-3 decision at Sherman Park. In the most recent game, the Bulldogs took a 10-5 win over the Cougars in Duluth, Minn., on April 28, 2019.  

Against the Huskies, USF trails the all-time series, 9-8. The Huskies have won the last six matchups, with the Cougar's last win being a 13-4 decision in St. Cloud, Minn., on April 22, 2017. The Cougars last home win was on April 10, 2016 where USF took an 8-0 win at Sherman Park. 
 
Quick Look at USF 

USF finished 3-3 at the Missouri Western HyVee Classic, which had several schedule adjustments due to weather, as the season opened in February. 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. Prior to those games, USF dropped two games to Missouri Western (7-3, 3-0).

At the Washburn Invitational, USF, led by all-tourney standout Kylan Straight, was 3-3 with wins over Missouri-St. Louis, 3-1; Pittsburg State, 6-0 and Central Missouri, 3-1. In the NSIC opener, USF split a pair with SMSU as they lost 3-1 and took a 5-3 decision. On the first road trip, USF swept Minnesota Crookston, 5-4 (eight innings), and 8-1 before dropping two at Bemidji State, 6-3, 5-3 (8 innings). The Cougars also defeated Wayne State, 8-6 and 5-2, at Wayne, Neb. Then, USF had a 1-1 mark against then No. 11 Winona State before falling twice in closely contested games against Upper Iowa, 3-2 and 1-0. USF took 2-of-3 in Aberdeen with a 7-2 loss to Northern State followed by a 14-2 win and then a 14-0 win over MSU Moorhead in a trio of road games up north. In earning its second straight road win, the Cougars scored 14 runs for a second straight day as seniors Emmie Uitts and Mika Rodriguez led the way against MSUM. Uitts hit a pair of three-run doubles and Rodriguez had five RBI and three hits in the MSUM win. In those two games, USF scored 28 runs on 27 hits in playing a combined 10 innings. That production is the best two-game run this season and in USF DII history. In fact, the 14 runs scored on Saturday afternoon at NSU and Sunday at MSUM is the most by a team since April 2, 2019 (14-4 over Wayne State).

In a review of the past six games, USF has gone 5-1 to surge to a 19-16 record and 13-8 in the NSIC. Last week, USF upset No. 1 Augustana, 2-1, behind a two-run home run by Damaris Cuevas and stellar pitching from Hanna Cress, who held Augustana to one run. Then the Cougars ripped off four-straight wins against U-Mary (15-0, 11-2) and Minot State (9-1, 7-2) with the first three games all five-run run rule shortened games.

In the last week, the Cougars raised their hitting averaged 23 points from .262 to .285 and now rank 10th in the league. In the circle, USF is sixth in the league at 3.16 and 196 strikeouts against just 52 walks.

The Cougars have hit 15 home runs and recorded 23 stolen bases in 26 attempts. USF has a team .362 OBP, which is 10^th in the league, and a .391 slugging mark (10^th NSIC).  On defense, USF ranks fifth in the NSIC with a .970 percentage. They have 28 errors and totaled a league-best 12 double plays. USF is averaging 6.01 strikeouts, which is 6^thin the league, to 1.60 walks per seven innings. The walks per seven innings is fourth best in the league.

Over the past 15 games, USF has hit .340 has a team to raise the team average to .285 with 10 (15 on the season) home runs, 97 RBI and 22 doubles with three triples. USF has outscored its opponents, 101-to-43 and out hit opponents, 136-to-117. In addition, USF has a .485 slugging mark and .424 on-base percentage while fielding at .976 (opponents - .968). 

Cuevas leading the offense - ranks third in NSIC in hitting

The USF offense is led by freshman C/DP Damaris Cuevas who ranks third in the NSIC and 30th in NCAA DII in batting average at .463. In 31 games with 27 starts, Cuevas has two home runs, including a go-ahead two-run home run against No. 1 Augustana in a 2-1 victory last week. She has 16 RBI, 52 total bases and 38 hits in 82 at bats. Cuevas has a .634 slugging and .505 on-base percentage while fielding 1.000 with 10 assists and 111 putouts.  Cuevas, who has 11 multi-hit and six multi-RBI games, has had a 10-game hitting streak this year. She has had three hits in a game three times. On April 17 in the 14-2 win over NSU, she had her career-best with four RBI. She currently owns a four-game hitting streak and base knocks in seven of the past eight games. With the season winding down, Cuevas ranks first in USF"s NCAA DII era in batting average and has the best mark since Kristin Kono hit .477 in 2004 (NAIA). 
 
Also on fire at the dish is sophomore infielder/pitcher Kennedy Thomas, who is hitting.297 with 19 hits in 64 at bats. She has seven RBI, .359 slugging mark and a .348 OBP. In addition, she has done some solid work in the circle with three appearances, six innings and just one earned run with four strikeouts.  Thomas has a 1.17 earned run average. 

Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag is batting .255 with 25 hits in 98 at bats. She has a .376 OBP and owns five multi-hit games this year and 11 in her career with nine career multi-RBI games - eight this year, which leads USF. In a 9-6 win over Winona State, she had two hits including a three-run home run which was the game-winning hit. She hit her first career grand slam in the 11-2 win over Minot State. In the circle, she has two straight wins including a five-inning no-hitter over U-Mary (15-0) as she didn't walk a hitter and had eight strikeouts. Then she had a five-inning complete game win over Minot State when she allowed one run. In the past 10 innings, Van Der Zwaag has allowed just seven hits and a run with 12 strikeouts and no walks. On the season she stands 10-7 with a 3.07 earned run average. She has accumulated a team-best 99 strikeouts against 18 walks and has tied Hanna Cress for a team high with 10 complete games. Across 111.2 innings, she has allowed 49 earned runs.  Over the past 13 games in the circle, Van Der Zwaag has figured in 10 decisions, including five straight before game two of the Upper Iowa series on April 11. In that marathon stretch in the circle, she had a 5-3 record with eight appearances, seven starts, three complete games and a shutout. She recorded 32 strikeouts against seven walks.Van Der Zwaag is 16-15 in her career with 218.2 innings and 50 appearances with 28 starts and 173 strikeouts.

Over the last 15 games, outfielder/DP, Kylan Straight is hitting .356 which has pushed average to .310 on the season, which ranks third on USF. She has 35 hits (2nd to Cuevas, 38) with 17 runs (2nd to Van Beek's 18). She has 10 RBI with five doubles, and a team-best eight steals in 10 attempts. She has nine multiple hit games and a trio of multi-RBI games. Straight has had a six-game hitting streak this season. Named to the Washburn Invitational All-Tournament Team, she has made 34 starts in 35 games with a .372 slugging mark and .339 OBP. She has seven steals on the season.  

Freshman infielder Shayla Running ranks second on USF with a .322 batting average as she has pushed it up .40 points in the past six games. With 29 starts in 32 games, she has 28 hits (87 ab) with 16 runs and 10 RBI. She has a .368 slugging mark and .366 OBP. In the past six games, five USF wins, Running  hit .500 with eight hits in 16 at bats and a slugging mark of .688. She added six RBI, 11 total bases and a .556 OBP. In a doubleheader sweep over Minot State, Running had six hits in seven at bats with four RBI and a 1.143 slugging mark. A year ago, she led USF with a .431 average and had nine RBI with a .569 slugging mark. In fact her average of .431 ranks third all-time in DII era when counting at least 55 at bats. She had 25 hits in 58 at bats and is now 53-of-145 for .365 career average. She has 15 multi-hit games in her career with six this season. Four times she has had three hits in a game and 11 times had two in a game.

Freshman Hanna Cress is 9-8 with a 2.98 earned run average with 15 starts and 22 appearances in 2021. In the past six games, she has tossed 21 innings and allowed seven runs which allowed her to lower her earned average from 3.23 on April 11 to 2.98 as of now. In 15 starts, she has 92 strikeouts with 29 walks and allowed 121 hits across 103.1 innings. She has 10 complete games and a shut out this season. With Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag, USF has 20 complete games in 35 starts. On April 22, she earned a win against No. 1 Augustana by throwing a complete game and allowing just a run on nine hits while registering five strikeouts. On April 2-3, Cress finished 2-1 with a 1.62 earned run average in four appearances while starting two games. She had two complete games and totaled 31 strikeouts across 17.1 innings and allowed just four earned runs. Against Minnesota Crookston (USF sweep) Cress won both ends of DH and in a start in game two had 15 strikeouts in a game which was the most by a USF player since 18 by Amanda Walters against Valley City College (ND) since Feb. 25, 2014 and is the most by a USF player in NSIC league play in school history. In her career, she is 14-11 with 35 appearances and 25 starts with 12 complete games and a save. In her career, she has 139 career strikeouts. 

Head Coach Shannon Pivovar
Pivovar, who has a 54-54 career record at USF with a 26-25 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.