SIOUX FALLS -- In making its seventh straight NSIC Softball Tournament appearance, the No. 9 seeded University of Sioux Falls Softball Team (21-22), will face No. 8 Minot State (22-20) on Field A at 10 am on Thursday, May 13 at the RYFSA Complex Rochester, Minn.
 
The Cougars, which were 15-14 in the NSIC this year, will play MiSU, which was 15-13 in league play, for the third straight time in the NSIC postseason tournament. In 2019, the Cougars recorded a 9-7 win over MiSU in eight innings in the opening round and defeated the Beavers, 8-6, in 2018 in the second round. This season, USF owns two wins over Minot State, 9-1 and 7-2.

USF's streak of seven straight appearances does not include 2020 when the CoVID-19 pandemic canceled the season after 19 games.
 
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2021 NSIC Postseason Tourney Info

In an announcement from the league on Sunday, May 9, the 2021 NSIC Softball Tournament bracket was released and showed the top 10 teams in the final regular season standings. Those squads will participate in the double-elimination tournament, which will be held May 13-15 at RYFSA Complex in Rochester, Minnesota.

Day one match-ups are listed below:

Time	Field	Teams
Thursday, May 13, 2021
10 a.m.	Field A	(8) Minot State vs. (9) Sioux Falls
10 a.m.	Field B	(7) SMSU vs. (10) Northern State
12 p.m.	Field A	(4) Minnesota Duluth vs. (5) Concordia-St. Paul
12 p.m.	Field B	(3) Winona State vs. (6) St. Cloud State
2 p.m.	Field A	(1) Augustana vs. Lower Seed of game 1&2 winner
2 p.m.	Field B	(2) Minnesota State vs. Higher Seed of game 1&2 winner

 
The winner of the NSIC Softball Tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament.  The 42-team NCAA Central Region is made up of teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and the Great American Conference (GAC). Automatic bids are awarded to the tournament champions from each conference with the final three spots awarded on an at-large basis. In all, six teams will advance to the NCAA Regional Tournament. 

Seventh Straight NSIC Postseason Appearance for Cougars

With the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic, which canceled the 2020 NSIC Postseason Tournament, the Cougars have made seven straight apperances at the postseason championships. In program history, USF is 7-12 in the NSIC Softball Tournament.  

2019: Record - 1-2 - Seed - No. 10
May 2 vs No. 7 Minot St. -- Win, 9-7
May 2 vs  No. 1 Winona St. -- Loss 3-2
May 3 vs No. 4 St. Cloud State -- Loss 6-5

2018: Record - 1-2 - Seed No. 6
May 3 vs No. 3 Minnesota Duluth -- Loss, 4-0
May 3 vs No. 9 Minot St. -- Win, 8-6
May 4 vs #14 & No. 2 Augustana -- Loss, 3-1

2017: Record - 1-2 - Seed - No. 7
May 4 vs No. 10 Northern St. -- Win, 7-5 
May 4 vs No. 2 Winona St. -- Loss, 9-4 
May 5 vs No. 6 Bemidji St. -- Loss 3-1 

2016: Record - 1-2 - Seed - No. 7 
April 28 vs Wayne St. -- Win, 11-1
April 28 vs SMSU -- Loss, 5-4
April 29 vs SMSU -- Loss 4-2 

2015: Record - 3-2 - Seed - No. 9
April 30 vs St. Cloud State -- Win, 8-4
April 30 vs Winona St. -- Loss, 4-2
May 1 vs St. Cloud State -- Win, 9-1 
May 1 vs Wayne St. -- Win, 2-0
May 2 vs Minnesota St. -- Loss, 6-2

2014: Record - 0-2 - Seed - No. 5
May 1 vs No. 4 Wayne St. -- Loss, 10-8
May 1 vs No. 10 Concordia St. Paul -- Loss, 7-5

Breaking Down Minot State
The Beavers stand 22-20 overall and sit at eighth place in the league going into the postseason tournament. As a team, the Beavers are hitting .313, with 216 runs on 348 hits. MiSU is led by Jamie Odlum, who is hitting .415 on the season so far, with 38 runs on 51 hits, 11 doubles, one home run, and 23 RBI. Isis Cabral is hitting .405 for the Beavers, with a team-high five home runs, a .643 slugging mark, and 10 stolen bases in 14 attempts. From the circle, Trinity Valentine leads the Beavers, with a 3.02 earned run average, nine complete games, 55 earned runs allowed, and a team-high 118 strikeouts. Gabi Dawyduk has a 3.63 earned run average, with 39 strikeouts and three complete games in 73.1 innings pitched. 

Review of USF - Cougars 9-7 over past 16 games 
Over the past 16 games, the Cougars have gone 9-7 in league play. It is a year that includes 21 wins with a victory over No. 1 ranked Augustana, 2-1, on April 22 at Sherman Park and also a win against then No. 11 ranked Winona State on April 10 also at Sherman Park. USF totaled 15 league wins which is the most since 2018 (15).
 
Over that stretch of 16 games, USF has outhit opponents, .325-to-283, and own a 95-to-49 scoring edge as well as a 137-to-111 hit margin. USF has 21 doubles, three triples, 10 home runs and 92 RBI with a .461 slugging and .405 OBP. The Cougars have 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts and have fielded at a sterling .985 percentage with just six errors while doling out 104 assists.
 
USF has been led by Shayla Running who has a .400 average in that stretch with 14 hits in 35 at bats and a .563 slugging mark. Damaris Cuevas, who finished the regular season with the second best mark in USF DII history at .433, hit .375 with 10 RBI and a .563 slugging mark. Also for USF, Kennedy Thomas has a .370 mark with a .413 slugging percentage and 17 hits. Kylan Straight has hit .347 with a .411 OBP. Also Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag (.297) and Cassie Van Beek (.273) have a team-high three home runs and Van Beek's 14 RBI lead USF. In the circle, USF was led by Van Der Zwaag with a 5-2 record in eight starts and 10 appearances. She had a .302 earned run average with 37 strikeouts to 11 walks. Hanna Cress was 4-4 in eight starts and 10 appearances with 18 strikeouts.

Through 43 games, USF is fourth in the NSIC in fielding and sixth in pitching
 
Overall, USF is hitting .275 this season which stands 11th in the NSIC. The Cougars own a .380 slugging and .350 OBP. They have 19 home runs and 173 RBI with 187 runs scored (157 for opponents). Cuevas leads USF with a .436 average in 34 starts with 44 hits, which is tied with Kylan Straight for the team-high. Running is hitting .324 with 33 hits while Straight has a .317 average and 12 RBI. Van Der Zwaag has a team-high six home runs and a team-best 32 RBI. Cassie Van Beek, who is hitting .245, has five home runs with 21 RBI.   
 
In the circle, USF ranks sixth in the league circuit with a 3.44 earned run average and is tied with SMSU for eighth in strikeouts with 217. The Cougars rank fourth in the league with a .973 fielding percentage, which includes 843 put outs, 267 assists and 13 double play.

Individually in the circle, USF is led by Van Der Zwaag who is 11-9 with a 3.35 earned run average in 26 appearances and 20 starts. She has 10 complete games and two shutouts with an extraordinary 111 strikeouts to 26 walks differential. Cress has the team's best earned run average at 3.23 and is 10-11 overall. She has made 20 starts, 28 appearances and has 12 complete games with 99 strikeouts and 33 walks. Thomas has a 3.34 earned run average with seven appearances and six strikeouts.

Season Review - USF stands 15-14 in the league 
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).

Three weeks ago, 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. It was the program's first-ever win over a No. 1 team and the second win over a top-15 ranked squad. After that win, 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. Two weeks ago, the Cougars lost to Minnesota Duluth, 1-5 and 7-0. On Senior Day, the Cougars earned an 8-4 win over St. Cloud State in the opener before falling 4-0 in the second game. Last weekend, USF split with Concordia St. Paul with a 4-2 win and a 3-0 loss at St. Paul, Minn. They lost twice to Minnesota State, 6-3, and 1-0 in Mankato, Minn., to finish NSIC schedule at 15-14. 

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 49th in NCAA DII in batting average at .436. In her first collegiate season, the freshman has played in 38 games with 34 starts, Cuevas has two home runs, including a go-ahead two-run home run against No. 1 Augustana in a 2-1 victory earlier this season. She has 20 RBI, 60 total bases and 44 hits in 101 at bats. Cuevas has a .594 slugging and .473 on-base percentage while fielding 1.000 with 12 assists and 131 putouts. Cuevas, who has 13 multi-hit and seven multi-RBI games, has had a 10-game hitting streak this year. She has had three hits in a game four times. On April 17 in the 14-2 win over NSU, she had her career-best with four RBI. With four games to play, Cuevas ranks second all-time in USF's DII era in batting average (Brooke Stetzler, 2016, .439, 189 ab). She is third all-time dating back to 2000 with Kristin Kono owning the school mark of .477 in 2004. 
 
Sophomore infielder/pitcher Kennedy Thomas is hitting .289 with 26 hits in 90 at bats in first season at USF. She has nine RBI, .344 slugging mark and a .333 OBP. In addition, she has done some solid work in the circle with seven appearances, 14.2 innings and just seven earned runs with six strikeouts. Thomas has a 3.34 earned run average. 

Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag is batting .261 with 30 hits in 115 at bats. The junior, who pitches and contributes in the field and at the plate, has a .393 OBP and owns five multi-hit games this year and 13 in her career with 11 career multi-RBI games - 10 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, Van Der Zwaag 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. On the season she stands 11-9 with a 3.35 earned run average. She has accumulated a team-best 111 strikeouts against 18 walks and has 10 complete games. Across 135.2 innings, the junior has allowed 65 earned runs. Van Der Zwaag is 17-17 in her career with 245.1 innings and 55 appearances with 32 starts and 183 strikeouts.

Outfielder/DP, Kylan Straight is hitting .317, with a team-high 44 hits (tied with Cuevas) and 19 runs (2nd to Van Beek's 22). She has 12 RBI with six doubles, and a team-best nine steals in 11 attempts. She has 11 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 42 starts in 43 games with a .374 slugging mark and .349 OBP. 

Freshman infielder Shayla Running ranks third on USF's squad, with a .324 batting average. With 36 starts in 39 games, she has 33 hits (102 ab) with 16 runs and 10 RBI. She has a .373 slugging mark and .378 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 a year ago 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 58-of-160 for .362 career average. She has 16 multi-hit games in her career seven 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 10-11 with a 3.23 earned run average with 20 starts and 28 appearances in 2021.  In 20 starts, she has 99 strikeouts with 29 walks and allowed 146 hits across 123.2 innings. She has 12 complete games and a shut out this season. With Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag, USF has 22 complete games in 43 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 15-14 with 40 appearances and 29 starts with 14 complete games and a save. In her career, she has 146 career strikeouts. 

Six seniors will play final NSIC Tourney

Six seniors - Frankie Mickelson, Rachel Klassen, Cassie Van Beek, Emily Cheloha, Mika Rodriguez and Emmie Uitts - will play in their final NSIC Tournament. They were honored as part of Senior Day on May 2 at Sherman Park.  Here is a review of the seniors and their statistics.

Centerfielder Frankie Mickelson, who hit over .300 twice in her career (.312, 2017 & .316, 2020) has had an impact at USF and been part of 118 victories through five seasons. She ranks in the top-10 in 12 statistical categories in USF's DII era, including playing in 194 games, which ranks third all-time as does her 186 career starts. Mickelson is third in at bats with 542, third in stolen bases with 30, fifth in hits with 151, sixth in RBI with 73, seventh in runs with 83 and eighth in home runs with 14.This season, she has had 19 games with a hit, including six multi-hit games. In her career, she has scored 83 runs, and twice hit five home runs in a season (2019, 2020) with 14 for her career. She has totaled 223 bases and fashioned a .484 career slugging mark and .312 on-base percentage with 30 steals in 35 attempts. In addition, she has had at least one hit in 106 games with 32 multi-hit games, including three games with a career-best four hits.

Catcher Emmie Uitts has played in 134 games in the last four years at USF and with 121 starts behind the plate ranks ninth all-time in USF's DII era. She has caught 15 runners stealing while compiling a perfect 4-4 mark on the base paths herself. Uitts had a career-best five home runs in the 2019 season and has 19 extra base hits in her career. She holds a .242 career mark at the plate with 33 Cougars driven in. This season Uitts, who has started 17 and played in 23 games, is hitting .250 with 11 hits and five doubles while putting together a .364 slugging mark. 

In 37 games with 34 starts in 2021, infielder Cassie Van Beek is hitting .245 this season with five home runs and 21 RBI while attaining a .455 slugging mark. She is 5-of-5 in stolen bases and is now 14-of-14 in her career. She has played in 129 career games with 76 starts and is batting .257 for her career. She has seven career home runs.  

A career .275 hitter, Mika Rodriguez has belted 17 home runs in her NCAA career and driven in 73 runs. A staple at shortstop, she has a .930 fielding percentage while currently leading the Cougars in assists with 62. In 2021, Rodriguez is hitting .235 with four home runs and 18 RBI while owning a .392 slugging mark.

Outfielder Rachel Klassen boasts a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage with no errors in 54 chances. In 38 games, she has made 33 starts this season and has a .212 average with 15 runs on 18 hits and a .306 on -base percentage. Klassen has two stolen bases and three RBI. A career .237 hitter, Rachel leads the USF offense with two triples this season (ninth all-time at in the DII era) and and has 12 walks.

A career mark of .184, utility standout Emily Cheloha has played in 74 games for the Cougars since joining the squad in the fall of 2016. After graduating from Omaha Marian High School in Omaha, Nebraska, Emily had a career best season in 2018 with a .200 mark and four runs driven in. She has hit .200 this season with a hit and a run with two RBI in five at bats.
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Head Coach Shannon Pivovar
Pivovar, who has a 56-60 career record at USF with a 28-31 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.