MOORHEAD, Minn. The Minnesota State University Moorhead softball team opens its 2013 season at the NSIC Dome Crossover, which begins Tuesday at the West St. Paul Dome in West St. Paul, Minn.

MSUM will play five games at the two-day event. On Tuesday the Dragons will face Minnesota-Duluth at noon, followed by Bemidji State at 2 p.m. On Wednesday, MSUM will face Northern State at 10 a.m., followed by games with Bemidji State (noon) and Minnesota-Duluth (2 p.m.). All of the games are nonconference.

MSUM will be very young, with just one senior and two juniors on its active roster. MSUM has six sophomores and eight freshmen on its roster as well.

"We're going to rely a lot on underclassmen," third-year MSUM head coach Kelsey Fehl said. "It'll be good for us to play a lot of nonconference games before the conference season begins. We're improving every day in our scrimmages."

The Dragons return two of their top four hitters from a year ago, including senior first baseman Amanda Moore (.306, seven homers, 32 RBI) and sophomore catcher Brittany York (.298, 10 doubles, 18 RBI). York and Moore return to man those positions, with freshman Kristen Nordby stepping in at second. At shortstop is sophomore Taylor Huss, who hit .253 with two homers and 16 RBI a year ago. Two players will platoon at third base to start the year, with sophomore Amanda Lynch and junior Whitney Finco both seeing time there.

In the outfield, sophomores Moriah Bruns (left), Mollie Annen (center) and Rachel Sannicandro (right) will start.

On the mound, senior pitcher Alexa D'Onofrio is taking a medical redshirt in 2013.  Junior Brandi Howell, who was 4-16 a year ago and led the team with 104.0 innings and 41 strikeouts, will lead the rotation to start the year, with freshman Morgan Nybo, Taylor Clifton and Kristi Bruni all expected to log innings.  Promising freshman Katie Edison will miss time early but is expected back by the team's Florida trip in early March.

"We want to be more competitive in conference play," Fehl said. "We hope to gain some experience and confidence in our nonconference schedule to help our younger players develop."

About the opponents:
Minnesota-Duluth: The Bulldogs are 1-4 on the season. They finished 1-4 at a tournament in Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb 9-10, losing to Cal Baptist (10-8), Mary (12-10), West Texas A&M (11-4) and Minot State (5-2). UMD beat Azusa Pacific, 11-6. Kierra Jeffers is hitting .529 with one homer and five RBI to lead UMD, while Megan Mullen is hitting .500. On the mound, Julia Nealer is 1-1 with a 6.06 ERA.  Jen Banford is in her eighth season as UMD's head coach with a record of 207-141 at the school.

Bemidji State: Bemidji State was 10-37 a year ago and 3-23 in the NSIC. The Beavers open the season at the tournament. Sophomore Summer Monsrud returns after hitting .306 with six RBI a year ago for Bemidji State. The Beavers hit just .199 as a team a year ago with five homers and 73 RBI. On the mound, the top returnee is Kelsey Saralampi, who was 1-14 with a 5.23 ERA in 97.2 innings. Rick Supinski is in his second season as BSU's head coach with a record of 10-37 at the school.

Northern State: The Wolves, who open the season at the Dome tournament, were 24-28 a year ago and 13-14 in the NSIC.  Their top returner os Caitlin Moran, who hit .383 with 18 RBI a year ago, while another top returning hitter is Kelsey Robling, who hit .366 with two homers and a team-best 41 RBI. As a team, Northern hit .296 a year ago. The top returning pitcher is Kami Smesmo, who was 10-13 with a 3.74 ERA in 151.2 innings a year ago. Kristi Villar is in her third season at Northern State with a record of 38-57 at the school.