SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University softball team remains eighth in the RMAC standings as they get ready to play UCCS.  The Yellow Jackets (10-19, 7-14 RMAC), will take on the Mountain Lions (18-21, 14-13 RMAC), on April 13 and 14.  The Yellow Jackets will be the home team, but the games will be played in Colorado Springs due to inclement weather.
 
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
UCCS moved to a 18-21 overall record (14-13 RMAC), after facing Colorado Christian in a four-game series.  The Mountain Lions took the final game of the series, 4-3, as the Cougars won the series, 3-1. 
 
Last season, the Mountain Lions swept the Yellow Jackets in four games at UCCS' campus for the final series of the regular season.  UCCS went on to compete in the RMAC tournament as the sixth seed.  
 
Melissa Martinek leads the Mountain Lions with a .382 batting average and .724 slugging percentage. The senior shortstop has totaled 37 RBI and 39 runs, along with eight homeruns this season.  Rayle Glover Martinek has a .363 BA, and leads UCCS with nine homeruns and four triples.  UCCS is batting .288 as a team, which is ninth in the conference.    
 
The Mountain Lions rank eighth in the RMAC with a 4.88 team ERA, led by Braelyne Crenshaw (6-7).  Crenshaw has earned a 4.45 ERA with two saves, while Taylor Reidhead (7-9) is third in the conference with 93 total strikeouts.
 
Last Time Out
The Yellow Jackets walked away with a 6-4 victory over MSU-Denver in the final game of the conference tripod, in Denver, Colo., after falling to Dixie State, 5-3.  Overall, BHSU went 1-3 in the tripod to move on to a 7-14 RMAC record (10-19 overall), to remain eighth in the conference standings.
 
Bombs Away
In the RMAC tripod against MSU-Denver and Dixie State, the Yellow Jackets added four homeruns to total 12 homeruns this season as a team.  Freshman Crystal Amaral and junior Dominique DiManna each recorded the first homerun of their careers, while Kindall Bethke tallied her second and Maddi Fidler her third.  
 
Gotta Be Quicker Then That
Junior catcher Maddie London has moved up to fifth in the conference after throwing out another runner at second in the tripod opener against MSU-Denver (4/6/19).  The Indiana native has caught seven runners stealing in 29 games this season, totaling 23 runners in her career at Black Hills State. 
 
In the Circle
Crystal Amaral (7-5) earned her seventh victory of the season in the win against MSU-Denver (4/7/19), which is the most wins by a BHSU pitcher since Jessica Clark in 2009.  Amaral leads the Yellow Jackets with a 4.56 ERA through 81.1 innings.  She averages 6.4 strikeouts per seven innings, tallying 74 in her freshman debut to rank seventh in the RMAC.
 
At the Plate
As a team, the Yellow Jackets rank eighth in the RMAC and 135^th in the NCAA II statistics, with a .289 batting average.
 
After batting .600 at the tripod in Denver, Kindall Bethke is now hitting .442 to move up to fourth in the conference rankings.  Bethke leads the Yellow Jackets in batting average (42-for-95), total bases (59), and triples (3). 
 
Make It a Double
The Yellow Jackets added another successful double play to their season stats in the opening game of the weekend against MSUD (4/6/19).  In their 29 games, BHSU has rolled 11 double plays against opponents.  The Green and Gold rank 37^th in the NCAA II statistics and sixth in the conference, averaging .38 DP per game.     
 
Up Next
Following the weekend series against UCCS, the Yellow Jackets will host Colorado Christian for their first and final home series of the season.