Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney softball team heads to Missouri Western State this weekend for the Hy-Vee Classic, a three-day tournament pitting the MIAA against the NSIC (Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference).
MWSU has setup a
tourney website with first pitch times and field assignments for the Friday through Sunday event.
Live stats will be available UNK's tourney opener and both Saturday games.
UNK will face the upper half of the NSIC in Minnesota State (17-3), Winona State, Minn. (16-3), St. Cloud State (16-4) and Northern State (13-5). The Lopers will also tangle with Minnesota-Duluth (11-7) and Mary, N.D. (5-14)
Earlier this year, the Lopers fell to the SCSU Huskies (9-1 & 7-4) and the MSU Mavericks (2-0) in Minnesota and to the UMD Bulldogs (8-0) in Arkansas. In 2016, UNK out slugged Mary (12-11) in Las Vegas.
True freshmen
Macey Nelson (.350, three doubles, two triples & 10 runs) and
Alexis Howe (.387, three doubles & three RBI's) continue to pace the Loper offense. Howe (Papillion-LaVista) also has 40 putouts and 12 assists in the field with Nelson (Temecula, Calif.) leading UNK in slugging percentage (.467).
In the circle, junior
Abbey Martin (Pleasant Grove, Utah) threw a solid 4.1 innings of relief in a loss to Northeastern State on Sunday. She allowed one earned run with three K's and a walk.
Against Mankato last month, freshman
Sara Sempek (Papillion-LaVista) tossed a three-hit complete game. Fanning three, she only took the loss because MSU's Libby Bemis threw a one-hit complete game shutout. The Mavs come in receiving votes for the
Top 25; Mo West is currently 18th with Central Oklahoma ninth.
UNK has a quick turnaround as they are at Wayne State on Tuesday (March 21st). Those games were originally set for Wednesday but recently were moved up.
