VALLEY CITY, N.D. (VCSU Sports Information) – The Valley City State softball team will be back on the road this weekend when they travel to Bellevue, Nebraska to take on the Bruins in the Frontier Conference opening weekend.

The Vikings are 10-11 on the season while the Bruins come in 9-11. Last season, the Vikings were 1-3 versus Bellevue.

The Vikings were 3-6 during their trip to Arizona facing some tough teams and top pitchers. Teams threw their ace against the Vikings on many occasions. As a team, VCSU hit .322 in Tucson. Kennadi Stone led the way with a .450 average. Seven of her nine hits were for extra bases including six doubles and a home run. Her and Reagan Mieras tied for the team leadership with eight RBI. Stone also had a .613 on-base percentage thanks to eight walks. Jenna Decker was also over 400 for the trip with a .414 batting average. Freshman Pascale Kihn, hitting in the leadoff spot most of the trip, hit .385. Another newcomer, Freshman Bailey Leroux, hit .389 in Arizona to bring her season average up to .435.

For the season, Leroux’s .435 average leads the team. Stone is hitting .397. Kihn is at .391. Kylee Banerd is also at .391. Decker is at .382. Stone leads the team with three home runs and Mieras has a team high 19 RBI with Stone not far behind at 16 and Decker at 14.

Maddy Hazelton carried the bulk of the load in the circle. She started six of the nine games and pitched in seven totaling 25 innings. She had 18 strikeouts in those 25 innings. Hazelton had two wins on the trip. Cooper Klaahsen pitched in six games with one start and had 15.1 innings of work. She picked up one win in the circle, that was a sparkling 4 innings in relief where she allowed three hits, no walks and had four strikeouts in the Vikings 7-5 win over Westcliff University.

Hazelton leads the team with five wins, 58.1 innings, 56 strikeouts, and 14 appearances. Klaahsen has a team leading 3.56 ERA IN 13 appearances with 39 strikeouts in 37.1 innings.