DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica softball team will open its 2015 campaign this Sunday at the Rochester Dome Tournament, opening with No. 18 Luther College (Iowa) and then facing Hamline University.
 
Where:
Rochester Dome (Rochester Community and Technical College) – Rochester, Minn.
 
When:
Sunday
vs. Luther – 2 p.m.
vs. Hamline – 4:30 p.m.
 
Live Stats: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/luther/
 
 
Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSSsoftball  
Instagram: http://instagram.com/csssaints
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/css.saints
 
St. Scholastica Saints
Roster | 2014 Stats
2014 Record: 27-12, 18-0 UMAC
Upper Midwest Athletic Conference: Standings | Stats
 
The Saints are coming off a 2014 season where they ran roughshod on the rest of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) finishing with a perfect record, outscoring conference teams 197-43 during the regular season and 32-6 in three games of the UMAC Tournament … The Saints set a single-season program record with 37 home runs in 39 games.
 
Who's Back: The Saints return nine starters from last year's squad … First inside the pitching circle, 2014 UMAC Freshman of the Chrisi Mizera (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East HS) led the UMAC in strikeouts (114), earned run average (2.91) and was second in wins (11) … Junior Micah McGuiness (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) led the conference with an opposing batting average of .247 … The infield will feature Rendi Johnson (Bonney Lake, Wash./Bonney Lake HS) at first, Kasandra McCabe (St. Peter, Minn./St. Peter HS) at second, Becca Zwak (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) moving from third to shortstop and catcher Kara Warren (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Denfeld HS) … Johnson and Warren each led the team with six home runs last season … Johnson, Warren and McCabe recorded 47 hits apiece last season … In the outfield, senior Molly Jazdzewski (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Central HS) tied for second on the team with five home runs and five stolen bases … Hannah Borgeson (Woodville, Wis./Baldwin-Woodville HS) tied for the team lead and was second in the UMAC with 18 walks as a freshman … Nikki Logergren (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Denfeld HS (Northern Stars)) will join the Saints after the hockey season … Logergren led the team with a .750 slugging percentage and was second on the team in batting average (.408), RBIs (35) and home runs (5) … Senior Emily Schiro (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Armstrong HS) tied for second on the team in stolen bases
 
Who's Gone: 2014 UMAC Player of the Year Tiff Hudack (Ashland, Wis./Ashland HS) was a second team All-Midwest Region choice last season … Hudack led the team with a .419 batting average … She scored a UMAC-best 50 runs, which tied a single-season program record … Shortstop Sydney Gordon (International Falls, Minn./Falls HS) started 37 games and had 14 RBIs.
 
Newcomers: Coach Jen Walter has brought in eight freshmen this season … Look for Forest Lake's Alexa Bremer (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) get significant time at third base … Zumbrota-Mazeppa's Carley Henning (Mazeppa, Minn./Zumbrota-Mazeppa HS) will also see time in the outfield as will Centennial's Cindi Rydlund (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial HS) … Duluth East's Vanessa Kohl (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS), Mesabi East's Carley Moisio (Hoyt Lakes, Minn./Mesabi East HS) and Stephen-Argyle's Cary Safranski will see action as pitchers … The rest of the class that adds depth is Melrose's Nikki Zierden (Melrose, Minn./Melrose HS) and Duluth East's Marjaana Dailey (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS).
 
Tough Non-Conference Schedule: The Saints will face four teams that are either ranked or receiving votes in the preseason NFCA Division III Top 25 poll … CSS will face the top five teams from Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from a season ago as well as two of the top five teams from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
 
Series Histories:
-Luther leads CSS 4-0
-CSS leads Hamline 4-3
 
Last Meetings: Luther defeated CSS 8-1 in the Pella Regional of the 2012 NCAA Tournament … Hamline defeated the Saints last year in Rochester by a score of 10-5 … CSS had four errors in the loss … Kasandra McCabe (St. Peter, Minn./St. Peter HS) was 3-for-4 at the plate.
 
Looking Ahead: This will head to Florida for Spring Break and take part in the Rebel Spring Games in Winter Haven … CSS will play 10 games in five days starting Friday.
 
 
Top 5 Games to Watch
3/1 vs. Luther
The Norse went 32-8 last season and return 14 letterwinners from that team … CSS is 0-4 all-time vs. Luther including back-to-back NCAA Tournament losses in 2011 and 2012
3/7 – vs. Illinois Wesleyan
The Titans are ranked eighth in the preseason NFCA Preseason poll … IWU had a record of 41-7 last season and advanced to the 2014 Super Regional.
3/29 – at Central
The Dutch are ranked No. 12 in the NFCA preseason poll … Central returns 12 seniors from last year's 30-12 club.
4/18 vs. Minnesota Morris
The Cougars fell to the Saints in the UMAC Tournament semifinals last season and have been picked second in the UMAC this year … Morris is the last UMAC team to beat the Saints.
4/24 vs. UW-Eau Claire
The Blugolds will make their first trip to Duluth since 2011.
 
 
UMAC Preseason Poll
1. 49 Points – College of St. Scholastica (7 First Place Votes)
2. 42 Points – University of Minnesota Morris (1)
3. 32 Points – University of Northwestern
4. 28 Points – Northland College
5. 26 Points – Bethany Lutheran College
6. 22 Points – Martin Luther College
7. 18 Points – Crown College
8. 7 Points – North Central University
 
 
Opponents this Weekend
No. 18 Luther College Norse
2014 Record: 32-8, 10-4 IIAC
 
The Norse made its 15^th national tournament appearance last season where their season came to an end with a loss to North Central College (Ill.) in the Pella Regional title game … Luther won the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Tournament as the No. 2 seed … The Norse will be led by senior outfielder Kelsey Rose, who named a third team All-American and the IIAC Position Player of the Year last season … She led the Norse with 44 RBIs and 14 doubles … Her on base percentage was .515 and struck out only eight times in 120 plate appearances … Junior first baseman Carli Radil was a first team All-Midwest Region choice, while junior Miranda McCay was a third team choice … The Norse do have to replace pitcher Becca Girvan, who had 18 wins in 31 appearances last season.
 
Hamline University Pipers
2014 Record: 18-17-1, 12-8 MIAC
 
The Pipers finished fourth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) last season … Junior shortstop Jamie Rubbelke led Hamline as a sophomore batting .418 with four home runs and 23 RBIs … Her .574 slugging percentage led the Pipers as did her 30 runs scored and 51 hits … Rubbelke earned an All-MIAC selection … Sophomore infielder Mary-Clare Couillard was an honorable mention All-MIAC choice … Couillard led the Pipers with nine stolen bases … The top returning pitcher for the Pipers is Sarah DeMars who was 5-4 last season.