Jacket Softball to Host League Leader (4/12/06)

BILLINGS, MT – The Montana State-Billings softball team will face its toughest test of the season this weekend when St. Edward’s University visits Cenex Stadium for doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday.  At the moment the Hilltoppers are running away with the Heartland Conference regular season race, entering the week with a perfect 14-0 mark in league play. 

The Yellowjackets will get four shots at the Hilltoppers, twice on Friday and twice on Saturday.  Game times both days are scheduled for 3:00 and 5:00 p.m.  The Yellowjackets enter the week with a 12-28 overall record and a 5-11 mark in the Heartland Conference.  St. Ed’s has a 39-11 overall record to go with its unbeaten conference slate.  The Hilltoppers will play a tough conference doubleheader against St. Mary’s on Wednesday before flying to Billings.  Regardless of the outcomes of Wednesday’s games in Austin, the Hilltoppers will still sit in first place when they visit Cenex Stadium over the weekend.

Montana State-Billings pieced together its longest winning streak of the season last weekend with a four-game sweep of visiting Oklahoma Panhandle State.  The Yellowjackets hit .374 as a team during the series sweep, scoring 39 runs and hitting seven home runs.  Rachel Quarnburg (Jr., Billings, MT) hit three of those homers while batting .583.  In one of Friday’s wins she set a new school record for RBI in a game with seven.  For the season Quarnburg is batting .351 with six home runs.

Anna Henderson (Sr., Frenchtown, MT) was 4-for-6 at the plate against the Aggies and scored four runs.  She has scored 10 runs this season.  Stephanie Gosselin (Fr., Brentwood Bay, BC) and Jenna Haacke (So., Billings, MT) were each 4-for-11 against OPSU.  Gosselin, who is batting .400 for the season, also scored six runs in the four games.  Gosselin, Quarnburg, Haacke (.316) and Christy Wankel (.308) are the only Yellowjackets batting higher than .300 for the season.  Haacke leads the team with nine home runs.

Wankel (Sr., Great Falls, MT) enters the final two weeks of the regular season in reach of numerous career school records.  She already holds school records for games played, games started and is currently tied for first in school history for triples, RBI, and stolen bases.  She’s also approaching career records for at bats (needs 12), hits (needs 9), home runs (needs 5), and total bases (needs 1).

St. Edward’s, ranked fifth in this week’s NCAA South Central Region, has used solid pitching and an explosive offense to build its unbeaten conference record.  The Hilltoppers enter the week batting .325 as a team led by Jennifer Hollas’s .390 average.  Lindsey Heye and Melissa McSheffery have combined for 87 RBI.  McSheffery leads the Heartland Conference with 16 home runs, almost one every three games.  Robin Becker and Jennifer Bishop rank second and third in the conference respectively for earned run average.  Becker has a 16-4 record with a 1.78 ERA, while Bishop is 17-3 with a 1.94 ERA.

MSU Billings will have just one home stand remaining following the weekend series with St. Edward’s.  The Jackets close out the regular season by hosting Lincoln University on April 21 and 22.  If they finish in the top five in the regular season conference standings—they are currently fifth—they will advance to play in the Heartland Conference Championship Tournament in San Antonio, Tex., April 27-29