Game Notes - Upper Iowa || Concordia- St. Paul || Southwest Minnesota State || Sioux Falls || Northern Sun

THE SCHEDULE & LIVE OPTION LINKS
 

Wednesday, April 16	Friday, April 18	Saturday, April 19
Games 35-36 vs. Concordia University - St. Paul NSIC Doubleheader begins at 2 p.m. Fayette, Iowa | Eischeid Softball Complex Live Stats | Live Video	Games 37-38 at Southwest Minnesota State NSIC Doubleheader begins at 1 p.m. Marshall, Minnesota Live Stats	Games 39-40 at Sioux Falls NSIC Doubleheader begins at 12 p.m. Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sherman Park Field

 

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THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK SOFTBALL... The Peacocks have a pivotal mid-week matchup with Concordia University, St. Paul at home before hitting the road for a pair of twin bills. First, UIU will host the Golden Bears (13-25, 8-10 NSIC) at 2 p.m. at the Eischeid Softball Complex in a series that could determine if the Peacocks make the postseason or not. Then, Upper Iowa will hit the road to face the Mustangs (11-24-1, 8-11-1 NSIC) in Marshall, Minnesota on Friday at 1 p.m. before heading west to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to take on the Cougars (26-8, 14-4 NSIC) on Saturday at noon.
 
LAST WEEK... The Upper Iowa softball team split two of its three conference doubleheaders this past week as the team bounced back from a sweep against MSU early in the week to split with NSU and MSUM. Junior infielder Katie Mnichowicz earned all three of Upper Iowa's RBIs against the Mavericks in Mankato on Thursday, but the Peacocks were swept, 3-11 and 0-6, as MSU stayed perfect in NSIC play. On Friday, UIU hosted the Wolves of Northern State and were upset in game one, 4-9, but bounced back to earn a dominant 7-1 victory in game two. A day later against MSU Moorhead, the Peacocks were again upset in game one, 2-7, but responded with an extra-innings, walk-off home run from sophomore Erica Kirgan. UIU trailed 3-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh, before the UIU bats came alive. Adrienna Olson earned the first RBI before UIU added the tying run on a MSUM fielding error. The Peacock defense held in the eighth before Kirgan connected on the walk-off, two-run home run in the bottom of the inning for her first walk-off in her career at UIU and the ninth this season.
 
THE SERIES... Upper Iowa is just 5-16 against Concordia University, St. Paul since these teams first met back in 2006.  Last season though, the Peacocks owned a 3-1 record against the Golden Bears, including a 1-1 mark in conference play. Jacqueline Flood earned a career-high 11 strikeouts against CU at home in game two last season. Meanwhile, the Peacocks hold a 5-9 series record against Southwest Minnesota State since 2007. The Peacocks started off slow in that series as well, but UIU currently holds a two-game win streak over SMSU. Finally, Upper Iowa holds a 3-1 advantage over Sioux Falls in their series, which spans only two years. The Peacocks swept USF last season at home with a five-inning victory in game one and an extra-innings, walk-off home run from Jacqueline Flood in game two.
 
WHO'S AT SECOND?... Senior secondbaseman Adrienna Olson posted a .357 batting average, connected on her third home run of the season and earned a .571 slugging percentage this past week as the Peacocks split all two of their three NSIC doubleheaders. On Thursday, UIU dropped both matchups to conference-leading Minnesota State despite a 1-for-2 day from Olson with a run scored. Two days later, Olson helped propel the Peacocks to a split at home against MSU Moorhead as she homered in the third inning of game two – a solo shot to right for her third jack this year – before adding an RBI in the bottom of the seventh to help UIU tie the game at send it to extra innings. The Peacocks went on to win the game in the bottom of the eighth as UIU moved up to 13-21 overall and 6-8 in the NSIC this year.
 
ON DECK... Following this weekend's action on the road, the Peacocks will head into their final week of regular-season play. UIU will begin that week with another trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota as the team faces the Vikings of Augustana College. Then UIU will return home to honor their seniors. UIU will face Minnesota Crookston on Saturday at home as the Peacocks' three seniors say goodbye. Upper Iowa will then wrap up the weekend with a Sunday doubleheader against Bemidji State.
 
IN THE "MARLING-HOUSE"... No Peacock has a longer reached-base streak than third-baseman Lauren Marlinghaus who has reached a bag in five straight games. The O'Fallon Illinois native added two doubles to her season totals this past week as the Peacocks split two of their three conference doubleheaders. The sophomore slugger added a .353 batting average, a .471 slugging percentage and a team-high .421 on-base percentage to her stat line. Furthermore, Marlinghaus out-did her teammate at short - Katie Mnichowicz, who leads the conference with 101 assists - with a team-high 14 assists this past week.
 
FLOOD OF EMOTIONS... Sophomore pitcher Jacqueline Flood gave up just one earned run and allowed four hits in game two against Northern State this past Friday afternoon in Fayette en route to her third victory of the season. She also recorded four RBIs from the batter's box as UIU converted 11 hits into seven runs. Two of those runs-batted-in came off a two-run jack - her third of the season - in the third inning.

WATCH IT LIVE... If you can't make it to Fayette for Wednesday's matchup with the Golden Bears, then tune in online and watch it free-of-charge or follow the live stats. Find the links above or click here. You can also find live stats links available for this weekend - both are provided by SMSU and USF.