SIOUX FALLS – After going 4-2 on a six-game road trip, the University of Sioux Falls Softball Team (11-11, 53-3 NSIC) will begin a four-game home stand with a doubleheader against No. 11 ranked Winona State (16-5, 5-3 NSIC) on Saturday, April 9 at 1 and 3 pm at Sherman Park. The Cougars will also face Upper Iowa (6-15, 2-6 NSIC) on Sunday, April 11 at noon and 2 pm in another NSIC doubleheader.  To this point through 22 games, USF has played just two home games and split those games with SMSU.

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The Cougars are coming off a 4-2 road trip which including an 8-6 and 5-2 sweep against Wayne State on Tuesday in Wayne, Neb. Last weekend, USF swept a doubleheader with Minnesota Crookston, 5-4 (eight innings) and 8-1 and then dropped 6-3 and 5-3 (eight innings) decisions at Bemidji State.   

Breaking Down Opponents 
Winona State, which is 16-5 and 5-3 in the NSIC (tied for 6^th with USF), has lost three straight games. The Warriors, who were ranked No. 11 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Poll, opened the year with nine straight wins before a 3-2 setback to Rogers State. They opened the NSIC with five straight victories (Upper Iowa, MSU Moorhead, Northern State) before falling to NSU, 10-3. On April 6, they dropped two games to MSU Mankato, 3-1 and 1-1 in 15 innings at Winona.  WSU ranks second in the NSIC in team batting at .342 with 164 runs, (2^nd,  NSIC), 194 hits and 18 home runs with eight steals. In the circle, WSU ranks fourth in the NSIC with a 3.00 earned run average with 150 strikeouts and 13 complete games. They average 8.81 strikeouts to 2.24 walks per seven innings. WSU's offense is led by Katie Kolb, a senior who is hitting .448 with 14 RBI. In the circle, Jordyn Kleman is third in the NSIC with a 1.80 earned run average as she is 10-2 overall, which is the most wins by a pitcher in the league. She averaging 8.38 strikeouts per seven against .95 walks (the best mark in the NSIC).

Upper Iowa, which is 6-15 overall and 2-6 (12^th, NSIC), has also lost three straight games. UIU opened the year with four straight losses until an 8-4 win over Illinois Springfield on Feb. 26. They proceeded to drop of the next eight nonconference games. In the NSIC they opened with a two losses to Winona State before take a 9-1 win in five innings against NSU at Fayette, Iowa. NSU won game two, 14-0 and then UIU split with MSUM, winning 12-4 and falling, 5-4. On April 6, they fell to Concordia St. Paul, 5-4 and 8-1. Upper Iowa ranks 11th in the league with a .266 team batting average and has 142 hits, 15 home runs and five stolen bases. On the mound, UIU is 12^th in the NSIC with a 4.68 earned run average with 108 strikeouts and 12 complete games. They average 5.82 strikeouts to 2.75 walks per seven innings.

Series Notes – Winona State, Upper Iowa
In the all-time series, Winona State owns a 17-2 advantage and took a 3-2 victory in the most recent matchup on May 2, 2019. In the 3-2 setback, USF was seeded 10^th and lost a narrow decision to the top-ranked Warriors in Rochester, Minn.  The Cougars sit 2-4 at home and 2-12 in league play against the Warriors, which has won eight of the last 10 matchups. WSU has won four straight since USF took a 4-3 win on March 29, 2018 at Sherman Park.

In the all-time series, USF leads Upper Iowa, 10-6, and has a 9-5 conference record against the Peacocks. USF, which lost the most recent game 8-5 on April 5, 2019, has a 5-1 mark at home and has won 7-of-10 against UIU. In the first-ever match up in Fayette, USF took a 15-1 decision but UIU responded with three straight wins. USF won five straight from April 1, 2017 to April 5, 2019.

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. She registered her third complete game of the season and lowered her earned run average to 3.28. 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 NSIC play, USF has gone 5-3 with a 4-2 road mark. In the NSIC opener, USF split a pair with SMSU as they lost 3-1 and took a 5-3 decision. They swept Minnesota Crookston, 5-4 (eight innings), and 8-1 before dropping two at Bemidji State, 6-3, 5-3 (8 innings). The Cougars most recently defeated Wayne State, 8-6 and 5-2, at Wayne, Neb.

Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag (5-4) had a big day for USF with two wins in the circle and a combined 2.56 earned run average. In throwing 13.2 innings, she allowed just five earned runs while recording 11 strikeouts against one walk. In addition, she had two hits and two RBI, including the tie-breaking hit that provided the difference in USF's rally to win game one. Then, she threw a complete game, five-hitter to lead the way for USF in earning the sweep and extending their winning streak against the Wildcats to five games.

Sophomore Kennedy Thomas had her best day at USF with four hits in eight at bats and had four RBI. She had two doubles which helped her to a .750 slugging mark. Her two-run single in game one helped USF tie the game. And, then Thomas had a two-run double to give USF an early lead in the 5-2 win in game two. Junior outfielder Kylan Straight also had a solid day with three hits in six at bats with two runs scored and two RBI.

Quick Look at USF -
In a review of the season so far, USF has gone 11-11, including 5-3 in the NSIC, and hit .243, which ranks 15th in the NSIC.  USF has a .323 slugging percentage and .323 on-base percentage with 15 steals in 14 attempts. On defense, USF ranks eighth in the NSIC with a 3.31 earned run average with 11 complete games and a shutout. In 132 innings, USF has allowed 169 hits and 69 earned runs while registering 132 strikeouts (4^th, NSIC) against 27 walks (1st, NSIC).  USF is averaging 6.33 strikeouts to 1.44 walks per seven innings. The walks per seven innings is the best in the league.

The USF offense is led by freshman C/DP Damaris Cuevas who ranks fourth in the NSIC and 46^th in NCAA DII in batting average at .475. She is seventh in the NSIC in on-base percentage at .523 with her slugging mark at 644. She has 28 hits in 59 at bats, seven doubles, HR, 10 RBI. Cuevas, who has nine multi-hit and four multi-RBI games, had her 10-game hitting streak end vs Bemidji State.

Kylan Straight is hitting .297 (jump of 18 points from three games ago) with 22 hits in 74 at bats. Named to the Washburn Invitational All-Tournament Team, has five multi-hit games this year and three multi RBI games while owning 46 career hits. Seventeen times this season, Straight has at least one hit in a game. She has a .316 OBP and a .338 slugging mark. In addition, she leads USF with five stolen bases.

Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag is batting .274 with 17 hits in 62 at bats. She has a .388 OBP and owns four multi-hit games this year and 10 in her career with eight career multi-RBI games. On the mound, she has a 2.85 earned run average and a 5-4  record. Van Der Zwaag has allowed 73 hits and 28 earned runs with 62 strikeouts against 13 walks. She has six complete games in nine starts and 12 appearances and has held opponents to a .266 average She is 11-12 in her career with 175.3 innings and 47 appearances with 21 starts.   
 
Senior Frankie Mickelson has 13 hits, 15 total bases, .243 on-base percentage and .231 slugging mark. With four RBI this season, Mickelson sits seventh all-time at USF with 68. She needs three RBI to move past Danielle Walker, 70, 2015-16 for sixth all-time. She also ranks sixth in games played at USF with 175. She also ranks sixth in starts by a USF player with 168. Mickelson is also sixth all-time with 137 hits and sixth 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 29 career steals and has 215 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.

Freshman infielder Shayla Running ranks third on USF with a .281 batting average with 17 starts in 19 games. She has 16 hits in 57 at bats with eight runs scored (2^nd on team), and a double with two RBI, 17 total bases. .298 slugging and .305 OBP. A year ago, she led USF with a 4.31 average and had nine RBI with a .569 slugging mark. She had 25 hits in 58 at bats and is now 41-of-115 for .356 career average. She has 13 multi-hit games in her career with four this season. She had a season-best three hits against Minnesota Crookston on April 2, 2021, which tied her career-best against Missouri Western on Feb. 23, 2020.

Freshman Hanna Cress is 6-6 with a 3.18 earned run average with 15 appearances and 10 starts. She has tied Van Der Zwaag for a team-high six complete games with 32 earned run in 70.0 innings, which is the highest total in the NSIC. She has a team-best 68 strikeouts, which ranks fifth in the NSIC, against 16 walks. Her six wins ranks sixth in the NSIC and 14 appearances in fourth in the NSIC. She is third in the league with 10 starts. Last weekend (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 11-9 with 24 appearances and 19 starts with eight complete games and a save. In her career, she has 115 career strikeouts. 

Head Coach Shannon Pivovar
Pivovar, who has a 47-48 career record at USF with a 19-21 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.