BEMIDJI, Minn. – With just eight games remaining in the 2024 regular season, the Bemidji State University softball team hits the road looking to make a push for the 2024 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Softball Tournament sitting just 3.5 games back of a playoff seed.
 
Bemidji State will first travel to University of Mary for a doubleheader with the Marauders Saturday, April 20 beginning at Noon. It will then travel to Minot, N.D., for a Beaver Battle with Minot State University Sunday slated to begin at 11 a.m.
 
Each series will be streamed live on www.NSICNetwork.com/bsubeavers.
 
The Beavers (11-32, 5-15 NSIC) enter the weekend 13^th in the league standings and 3.5 games back of 10^th place University of Sioux Falls (17-26, 8-14 NSIC). Bemidji State is coming off a series split at University of Minnesota, Crookston Wednesday and has won two of its last four.
 
The Marauders are 9-31 overall and last in the NSIC standings with a 2-16 league record while the Beavers from Minot State are 18-15 and t-fifth in the standings (13-17 NSIC) but have lost its last three games.
 
Bemidji State is hitting .265 as a team, 10^th in the conference and has scored 148 runs while allowing 262. The Beavers are 12^th in the NSIC with a 5.46 team ERA.
 
The Beavers have three who are hitting over .300 at the plate and are led by junior Alexa Christenson who is batting .336 with a slugging percentage of .356 and on-base percentage of .386. She has collected a team-high 49 hits with three doubles and has driven in 16 runs. She is followed by senior Molly Houts who is batting .327 and paces the team with a .460 on-base percentage, the seventh best in the NSIC. She is fifth in the conference drawing 20 walks and is third after being hit by pitch eight times. Her 20 walks this season are the second most in program history and needs just one walk to tie Stephanie Rossman (2010) for most walks in a single season at Bemidji State. Houts also paces the Beaves with a .373 slugging percentage and is second with five doubles and 18 RBI.
 
Freshman Jackie Larsen rounds out the Beavers' hitters who are batting over .300 and is batting .303 while slugging .352 and carries an on-base percentage of .341. She leads the team with 20 RBI and is tied for the team lead with 22 runs scored. She is the Beavers' biggest threat on the base paths leading the team and tied for 10^th in the NSIC stealing 12 bases. She has stolen the most bases in a single season at BSU since Jessica Burlingame stole a program record 19 bases in 2019. Larsen's 12 stolen bases are the fourth most in a single season at BSU.
 
Bemidji State is led in the circle by its ace, senior Stella Dolan. She is 8-14 on the season with an ERA of 3.90 and has pitched in the most innings in the NSIC (167.0), the third most in all of Division II and the fourth most across all divisions in the NCAA. She has pitched 16 complete games with two shutouts and has struck out 104 batters to tie for eighth in the NSIC. Her 120 career appearances are most by any pitcher to play for Bemidji State while her 24 career wins are fifth most in program history. She has collected 351 career strikeouts and is one of four pitchers ever at BSU to reach the 300 career strikeout milestone.  
 
She is followed by sophomore Elle Hastings who has pitched 61.2 innings and is 1-8 in 21 appearances while freshman Danica Sarff has pitched in 49.1 innings and is 2-9 in 19 appearances.
 
For more information on the Bemidji State softball program, follow the Beavers on X (@BSUBeaversSB), like them on Facebook (facebook.com/BemidjiStateSoftball) and follow them on Instagram (@BSUBeaversSB).
 
Located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, Bemidji State University sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men's hockey in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and women's hockey in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
 
--bsu—