South Dakota softball returns to Nygaard Field this weekend in a Summit League series with North Dakota that was shifted from Grand Forks to Vermillion due to snow/poor weather in North Dakota. Friday's doubleheader begins at Noon while game three on Saturday is at 11 a.m.

South Dakota enters with a 5-4 mark in Summit League play, good for third place through three weekends. The Coyotes split at home against conference favorites North Dakota State (won two of three) and South Dakota State (won one of three), before taking two of three in their first road series at St. Thomas last weekend.
North Dakota, meanwhile, is 2-7 in Summit League play and is coming off being swept by Omaha at home last weekend. The Fighting Hawks have dropped two of three in series' with Western Illinois and Kansas City.
 
About North Dakota
The Fighting Hawks won 20 or more games in three straight seasons from 2017-2019 before COVID shut down the rest of a promising 2020 campaign. North Dakota dipped to 17-33 in 2021 and are currently 12-29 in 2022
 
The Fighting Hawks are under the direction of Jordan Stevens, who is in his eighth season in Grand Forks after a four-year stint at Valparaiso. 
 
This Series
South Dakota leads the all-time series 62-37 and 34-12 in Vermillion...the last seven games in the series have been played in Vermillion. The Coyotes won three of four in last year's series.
 
South Dakota ranks third in the Summit League with a .274 team batting average. Individually, Coyote third baseman Aleesia Sainz continues to lead the Summit in slugging percentage (.740) and home runs (11) and is second in OPS (1.191). Outfielder Rylee Nicholson is 9-for-20 (.450) during a current eight-game hitting streak. Freshman second baseman Tatum Villotta ranks eighth in the Summit with a .336 average and leads the league with 13 hits during league play.
 
Senior Chevelle Sartin, who has five multi-hit games in Summit League play, has a .375 batting average during league play. The Fighting Hawks, though, rank seventh in the league with a .220 team batting average. In the circle, North Dakota is paced by senior Jannay Jones, who has 22 career victories to go with 238 strikeouts over 425 career innings pitched.
 
What to Watch
South Dakota is coming off a series win over St. Thomas where it scored at least seven runs in all three contests. That coming on the heels of only scoring six runs over three games against South Dakota State. Now, the Coyotes hope to feast on North Dakota pitching, that has a 4.03 overall team ERA, but ranks fifth during Summit League play allowing a shade over three runs per contest wiht a 2.70 team ERA.