Gateway

Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: Sports

Treightin Yates steals second during the Mavs game against Augustana earlier this season. (Michelle Bishop) [Click to enlarge]

Coach Jeanne Scarpello will be looking to lead her team to the league's final NCC title this weekend in Duluth, Minn. (Michelle Bishop) [Click to enlarge]

The UNO Maverick softball team, currently 38-11 overall and 9-2 in conference, will prepare to face its biggest challenge of the season as they travel to Duluth, Minn., to compete in the North Central Conference's final tournament starting today.

The Mavericks will face stiff competition against the other talented members of the conference who are making their final run at a NCC title.

Standing in the way of UNO is its Maverick counter-part, Minnesota State, Mankato. The clash of the Mavericks started earlier this season when UNO swept Mankato in a double-header in Omaha.

This time around, the Mankato Mavericks (36-12, 10-2) are carrying a 19-game win streak, while UNO has dropped five of its last six.

Other teams in the conference have not fared as well as the two top-seeded Mavericks, but in tournament play some records can be thrown out. The University of South Dakota is in third place in the conference with a record of 17-23, 6-6 in NCC play.

In pitching, UNO leads the conference in earned run average with a 2.20 percentage, slightly besting MSU's average of 2.23. However, Mankato dominates the league in strikeouts with 296, edging UNO's 245 for the season.

In the hitting department, St. Cloud State leads all teams in the conference with a batting average of .334 and a hit total of 445. North Dakota, though sitting at a conference record of 2-10, leads all teams in home runs with 65, nearly doubling the next best total of 36 by SCSU.

On the defensive side of the field, SCSU leads the league with 1,002 putouts and a fielding percentage of .969.

Individually, the NCC has groomed a wide range of all-star caliber players from many different schools in the conference. Some notable performers include SCSU's Jenny Gensch, who leads the conference with 17 home runs and 126 total bases on the year; UNO's Leslie Svoboda, who led the league with 61 RBIs and four triples on the year; SCSU's Rachel Haines, who finished the season with a league-leading 68 hits; and UNO's Chanel Reaves, who led the league in stolen bases with 25 on 28 attempts.

The top-rated hitter in the NCC was Cassie Hanson of North Dakota. Hanson finished her final NCC season with a .537 batting average, 50 runs scored, 39 RBIs, 66 hits and 13 home runs in 123 at-bats, making UND a team not to be taken lightly.

The top-rated pitcher in the NCC this season was Meagan Teal of MSU. Teal produced a 1.51 earned run average with a record of 17-4 in 143.1 innings pitched. Teal also allowed just 31 earned runs and struck out 180 batters.

The top-tier teams of UNO and MSU are sure to put up a dogfight in this weekend's tournament. However, it is the quiet assassins like UND and SCSU that all teams must watch out for.

In a game in which it only takes one pitch to end a dream for good, no team should be overlooked in this run at the last NCC crown.

UNO will face No. 7 seeded UND this morning at 10 to kick-off the action.

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