Mustang
SOFTBALL
SATURDAY – SUNDAY, APRIL 9-10, 2022 Anxiously awaiting May flowers, Morningside University dances around the April showers with an adjusted weekend schedule. The Mustangs, seeking a rebound from a pair of Great Plains Athletic Conference losses at Midland on April 5, welcome Briar Cliff University and Mount Marty University to Jensen Family Softball Complex. The four-game set was initially planned for Friday and Saturday, with MMU first followed by BCU.
THE SERIES Head coach Jessica Jones-Sitzmann’s program has a 69-18-2 lead over their fellow Sioux Citians. The all-time roll includes a current stretch of 10 victories in the last 11 meetings. Mside has won 14 in a row over the Lancers, dating back through the second game of the 2014 regular-season doubleheader. The all-time total shows the Mustangs holding a 47-4-3 advantage.
THE MATCH-UP The Mustangs, sporting a 15-9 overall and 3-3 league mark, are still within range of an impressive conference finish. The middle of the GPAC standings couldn’t be much closer. Only two games separate Dordt University and the College of Saint Mary, tied for second and 10thplace Hastings College. Midland and Concordia are the only two programs to have played ten loop contests. Jones-Sitzmann’s squad dropped out of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ top 25 with the April 6 poll release. However, Morningside is the leader in the Others Receiving Votes section with 107. Senior infielder Morgan Nixon’s .407 batting average guides an offense with seven individuals hitting .300 or higher. Her 27 RBI are second to fellow infield upperclasswoman Lexie Stolen’s 28. She’s also tied for second in doubles (seven) with senior utility player Bre Tjebben, as senior outfielder Ellie Cropley’s eight two-baggers are first. Freshman Grace Buffington’s eight victories and 2.08 earned run average are first in the circle, while senior Katherine Wurtz’s 46 strikeouts lead the way. A span of six games in six days started with a pair of losses at the hands of GPAC-leading Midland on April 5. Stolen crushed a pair of home runs and drove in five in game one, and Buffington battled with a complete-game, three-strikeout effort in the nightcap. Briar Cliff, coached by Erin Bly, took a 15-10 overall and 5-3 conference mark into a doubleheader at College of Saint Mary Friday. The infielding combination of sophomore Aubrey Chichurka and junior Josie Chronic was first and second in batting average through 25 games at .420 and .407, respectively. Senior Kayla Guerrero and freshman Georgia Krohn compiled nine wins and 66 strikeouts between them pitching-wise. Head coach Kayla Bryant’s Lancers also prefaced their Jensen journey with games at College of Saint Mary Saturday. They took a 17-9 overall and 5-3 league record to Omaha. Junior infielder Emma Burns, the reigning NAIA Player of the Week, registered a stratospheric .545 batting average and 1.045 slugging percentage due to nine home runs, 11 doubles, and three triples over 26 contests. Classmate Bailey Kortan also had some plate pop with a .413 average and .696 slugging percentage in the same timeframe. In the circle, junior Kaylee Rogers’ six wins and senior Maureena Vornhagen’s 51 strikeouts were at the front of the class. Morningside is scheduled to resume six in a row at home Tuesday, April 12. Concordia University takes a northeastern trek for a 3 p.m. doubleheader.