MOORHEAD, Minn. -- MSU Moorhead softball will continue non-conference play this week in a five-game swing as part of the West Texas Invitational. The Dragons will play five games across three days in Canyon, Texas.
MSUM begins the tournament on Friday with a game against Texas A&M Kingsville at 6 p.m. before closing the day against 13th-ranked West Texas A&M. The Dragons will take on Eastern New Mexico the following day at 11:15 a.m. before playing the host Buffs again at 3:45 p.m. MSUM will wrap play on Sunday in a single game against Eastern New Mexico at 9 a.m.
Live video and stats will be available at msumdragons.com. Please note that FloSports, who is West Texas A&M's streaming provider, is a pay-per-view service.
MSUM is coming off a 4-2 stretch as part of the Minot State Bubble Invite. All four of MSUM's wins came over Division II opponents, defeating Minot State, UMary and sweeping Black Hills State in a doubleheader. The Dragon pitching staff was strong all weekend with senior
Avery Steffen earning the NSIC's Pitcher of the Week award after going a perfect 3-0 last weekend. Steffen touted a 1.40 ERA with 24 strikeouts and holding opponents to a .173 average. The senior nearly twirled a no-hitter against Black Hills State on Sunday, giving up her lone hit in the final half inning. Sophomore
Teagan Clemmons was also sharp for the Dragons, holding a 1.42 ERA with 10 strikeouts.
Steffen also led the Dragons at the plate for the weekend, hitting for a .632 average with four RBIs and 19 total bases. The Zumbrota, Minn., native had four multi-hit games with two games of three or more hits. Junior
Lexie Wilson led the Dragons last weekend with five RBIs, including a pair of home runs, finishing the week with a .722 slugging percentage.
Eliya Johnson hit for a .368 average with seven hits and four RBIs last week as well.
Annika Norman came out of the six games with a .333 batting average and a pair of doubles while
Teagan Pranchke drove home three runs.
In the field, MSUM held a cumulative .955 success rate for the weekend with six Dragons holding perfect 1.000 fielding percentages.
Vanessa Kellems is in her first season as MSUM's head softball coach.
