NDSU Softball Faces UND In First Round of Summit League Championships

BROOKINGS, S.D. – North Dakota State softball will open up the Summit League Championships on Wednesday as the No. 5 seed, taking on No. 4 seed North Dakota in the first round. The Bison are slated to take on the Fighting Hawks at 1 p.m. at JT Moriarty Field in Brookings, South Dakota.
 
Tournament Coverage
All games of the Summit League Championships will be streamed live on The Summit League Network. A Summit League Network subscription is needed to view the games. All games will also include live statistics. Links to the streams and stats will be available on the softball schedule page on gobison.com.
 
Series History
North Dakota State and North Dakota have met 127 times in series history, the second-most played series for the Bison program. NDSU leads the series 83-43-1. However, North Dakota has won six of the last seven, including a series sweep last season in Grand Forks and a 2-1 series win this season in Fargo. In the Division I era, the Bison and Fighting Hawks are tied 11-11.
 
Woldruff Leads NDSU’s Summit League Honors
Chloe Woldruff was selected to the All-Summit League Second Team as an outfielder, while Star Cortez and Amai Hanta were named Honorable Mention All-Summit League. It is the second postseason honor for Woldruff and the first for Cortez and Hanta.
 
Big Game Chloe
Chloe Woldruff led the Bison during the regular season, hitting .315 with a .376 on-base percentage and a .785 ops on her way to Second Team All-Summit League accolades. She finished with 40 hits, including five doubles, two triples and a home run. The right fielder batted in 17 RBI and scored 12 runs. However, the numbers only get better for the senior when facing the top competition. In 12 games against teams that are ranked 1-75 in the RPI, Woldruff hit .400 with an ops of 1.005.
 
Hanta Leads League In Stolen Bases
Freshman Amai Hanta entered league play with a splash, swiping seven bases in the series at Kansas City and then added four against North Dakota. She has 20 stolen bases on the year, which also ranks 84th nationally and first in the Summit League, helping her to Honorable Mention All-Summit League honors in her first year. Hanta’s 20 stolen bases in the most for a Bison since 2019 and is tied for the sixth most in NDSU’s Division I era. Her stolen base percentage of .909 ranks 22nd nationally.
 
Star Is Shining
Star Cortez started every game in center field during her sophomore campaign, as she picks up her first postseason honor with Honorable Mention All-Summit League accolades. Cortez led the Bison with 44 hits on the year, including two triples and three doubles. She finished second for the Bison this season in hitting at .291. The leadoff hitter scored 24 runs on the year and also had seven RBI. On the base path, Cortez recorded 11 stolen bases, including five in league play, which was tied for third.
 
Tough Outs
The Bison lead the Summit League in fewest strikeouts at the plate this season. NDSU has just 161 strikeouts in 1360 total plate appearances, striking out just 11.8 percent of the time, or just over three times per game. The league average is 14.4 percent, with South Dakota and Kansas City tied at second closest with 192 strikeouts each.
 
Zoe King leads the Bison and the Summit League in Toughest to Strikeout Ratio, at one per 27.6 trips to the plate, which also ranks 42nd nationally.
 
Turning Two
North Dakota State ranks 22nd nationally with 25 double plays turned and 17th nationally with .51 double plays turned per game. NDSU’s 25 total double plays turned, including 13 in the Summit League, is second most in NDSU history behind is 28 in 2009. The Bison turned just 16 double plays last season.
 
NDSU Leads League In Stolen Bases
NDSU has recorded 43 stolen bases (in 52 attempts) this season, which leads the league lead. The Bison closed out last season with 44 stolen bases. Amai Hanta has 20 stolen bases to lead the team, while Star Cortez finished the regular season with 11.
 
Triple Threat Bison
NDSU recorded a triple in each game of the series at St. Thomas to close out the regular season. The Bison have also recorded five triples in the last seven games. NDSU leads the Summit League with 12 triples on the year. Amai Hanta leads the team with four, while Chloe Woldruff, Star Cortez and Savannah Henzler have two triples each. Bella Dean and Jasmyn Yessian also have one triple each.