Beavers continue early play at Minot State Bubble Invite

The Bemidji State University softball team continues its early portion of its 2022 schedule this weekend and will travel to Minot, N.D., to compete in the Minot State Bubble Invite II, Feb. 18-20. The Beavers (1-5) will play four games at the Air-Supported Dome in Minot including three games against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponents.

Bemidji State opens the invitational Friday, Feb. 18 with a 7:30 p.m., battle against University of Mary. BSU will then have a doubleheader against University of Minnesota Crookston and Montana State University-Billings Saturday. BSU then closes out play Sunday against host school Minot State University at 1 p.m.

Live video and stats will be provided by Minot State and can be accessed here and here.

Mary enters the weekend with an 0-4 record while Minnesota Crookston is 4-4, Montana State-Billings is 4-8 and Minot State is 7-2 to start the season.

The Beavers return to action after opening their season at the Kelly Laas Memorial Softball Tournament at the Husky Dome in St. Cloud, Minn., this past weekend. The Beavers went 1-5 at the tournament with Jordan Petersen earning her first collegiate head coaching win in an 8-4 victory over Southwest Minnesota State University on the final day of the tournament.

Bemidji State was led by freshman Alexa Christenson who, in her collegiate debut, batted .500 during the tournament after totaling eight hits including three doubles, one triple and drove in two runs. She also compiled a .813 slugging percentage which is second on the team and .556 on-base percentage which leads the team.

She was followed by junior Jennifer Smith who batted .400 with six hits, two doubles and drove in two runs while sophomore Molly Houts paced the Beavers with four RBI and also batted .308.

Sophomore Stella Dolan earned the Beavers’ lone win in the circle when she pitched 5.1 innings and struck out five batters in Sunday’s 8-4 victory against SMSU. She paces the team with a 1.84 ERA in 19.0 innings and has posted a 1-1 record with 10 strikeouts.

Dolan is followed by senior Kaidron McClafferty who has pitched 10.1 innings and has an ERA of 2.03 while redshirt sophomore Kyla Damerow has added 4.2 innings and an ERA of 9.00.