Lady Jackets Fly South for HLC Tourney (4/23/07)

BILLINGS, MT – The Montana State-Billings softball team will venture to Texas once more this season, this time for the Heartland Conference Tournament April 26-28.  The tournament will be hosted by St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX.  The Yellowjackets will be the No. 3 seed and face No. 6 Oklahoma Panhandle State at 12:30 p.m. MDT on Thursday.  (Click here for complete bracket.)  St. Mary’s plans to have live stats of all games on the web at www.rattlerathletics.com.

The Yellowjackets enter the tournament with a 24-22 overall record having won nine of their final 11 games of the regular season.  Their only two losses during that stretch were to Division I Idaho State.  MSUB was 10-5 in conference games, going 4-0 against Oklahoma Panhandle State, 4-0 against Incarnate Word, 2-1 against Lincoln, and 0-4 against St. Edward’s.  Their four-game series against St. Mary’s in Billings was snowed out.

The Yellowjackets will be trying to play spoiler in their final weekend as a Heartland Conference member.  MSUB moves to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference beginning with the 2008 season.  Both top seed St. Edward’s and second seed St. Mary’s are regionally ranked and are still alive for NCAA postseason at-large berths.  Last year the Yellowjackets, seeded fifth in the five-team field, knocked league co-champion Incarnate Word out of the tournament.  The Cardinals still received an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament and advanced all the way to the South Central Region title game.

MSU Billings will rely heavily upon its offense, which leads the Heartland Conference with a .298 batting average.  The Yellowjackets haven’t hit as many home runs as in years past—just 19 in 45 games—but they lead the league in runs per game at 5.04.  Sophomore Terina Stacks (Washougal, WA) is chasing the Heartland Conference batting title and currently leads the league with a .405 average.  She ranks in the top five in the league for hits, runs, home runs, doubles, RBIs, stolen bases, and slugging percentage.  The Yellowjackets have four players ranked in the top 15 in the conference for batting average.  Jenna McCartney (Hamilton, MT) is third at .382, Jessica Frank (Great Falls, MT) is eighth at .333, and Steph Gosselin (Victoria, BC) is fifteenth at .314.  Gosselin also ranks thirteenth in the nation for the fewest strikeouts per at bat.

Defensively, the Yellowjackets are in the unique position of having four pitchers that have been used fairly equally.  In the four-game series against Incarnate Word late in the season, a different pitcher started each of the four games with all four tossing complete game victories.  MSUB is the only team in the Heartland with four different pitchers ranked in the top 10 in the league for earned run average.  Freshman Lindsey Trenary (Helena, MT) has emerged in the second half of the season and has posted a 5-4 record in 15 appearances.  She leads the team and ranks seventh in the Heartland with a 2.91 ERA.  Rebekah Tsatsa (Eagle, ID) has the most career wins of any of the Jackets’ four pitchers and ranks eighth in the conference with a 3.84 ERA.  Stacks is 6-4 with a 4.22 ERA, and Lisa Moore (Bakersfield, CA) is 5-5 with a 4.22 ERA.

Heartland Conference Tournament Seeds (overall, conference)
1. St. Edward’s (39-14, 15-1)
2. St. Mary’s (39-16, 12-3)
3. MSU Billings (24-22, 10-5)
4. Incarnate Word (18-31, 6-14)
5. Lincoln (14-27, 5-12)
6. Oklahoma Panhandle St. (8-37, 2-15)

Thursday First Round Pairings (all times Mountain)
#1 St. Edward’s, bye
#2 St. Mary’s, bye
#4 Incarnate Word vs. #5 Lincoln, 10:00 a.m.
#3 MSU Billings vs. #6 Oklahoma Panhandle St., 12:30 p.m.

Thursday Second Round Pairings (all times Mountain)
#1 St. Edward’s vs. UIW/LU winner, 3:00 pm.
#2 St. Mary’s vs. MSUB/OPSU winner, 5:30 p.m.