SPEARFISH, S.D.- The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (3-8) are about to begin RMAC play after a week off and they will be heading to Broomfield, Colorado due to forecasted weather in the Spearfish area. The Yellow Jackets will face the Adams State Grizzlies (1-9) to start the conference season off. BHSU has not competed since going 0-5 in Oklahoma and will be looking to get back in the win column at the Holy Family H.S. softball field Sunday and Monday afternoon.
 
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Date/Time/Location (All Times MT): Sunday, February 22 at 12 and 2 PM at the Holy Family H.S. Softball Field in Broomfield, Colo.
Monday, February 23 at 11 AM and 1 PM at the Holy Family H.S. Softball Field in Broomfield, Colo.

Live Streaming: Beginning in the 2025-26 season the RMAC Network will now move to Pay-Per-View. Fans can purchase a single game pass ($10), monthly ($25) or annual subscription ($130). Individuals with bhsu.edu or yellowjackets.bhsu.edu email address can still take advantage of the Peak Pricing Promotion by using the code Y26-RMACEDU.
StatBroadcast: Live Stat links for all games can all be found at the links above
 
BLACK HILLS STATE STORYLINES

• Black Hills State currently sits at 3-8 after splitting each of their first three series versus UMary, Minot State, and MSU Billings. They then went down to Oklahoma, where they played three top 25 schools and went 0-5 in Edmond, Okla. They fell to Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma Baptist, and Oklahoma Christian, who are all currently ranked in the top 25. They also fell to Cameron and Eastern New Mexico who are solid Lone Star schools.
• The Yellow Jackets are currently top 75 in the country in eigth different stats. They are leading the country in batters hit (1), fourth in hit by pitches (15), 48^th in strikeouts per seven innings (5.91), 57^th in home runs (6), 60^th in doubles (15), 68^th in home runs per game (.55), 74^th in sacrifice bunts (5), and 75^th in hits (77).
• The team took BHSU to their first ever RMAC tournament last season after leading BHSU to a 27-27 (25-19 RMAC) record, which finished sixth in the conference. They had five All-RMAC players, one RMAC Pitcher of the Year, and one All-Region player last year.
• Last year, the Yellow Jackets set 20 separate team records. They were single-season doubles (102), single-season triples (12), single-season walks (177), single-season wins (27), single-season road wins (20), single season RMAC wins (25), single-season hits (468), single-season RBIs (272), single-season runs (290), single-season total bases (699), single-season at-bats (1487), single-season games played (52), single-season pitcher strikeouts (295), single-season sacrifice flies (20), single-season sacrifice bunts (43), single-season hit by pitches (39), single-season batting average (.315), single-season on-base percentage (.397), and single-season slugging percentage (.470).
• BHSU landed at seventh in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 64 points. It is the highest ranking BHSU has received in a preseason coaches' poll in their RMAC history.
• The three wins in the first weekend at the Bubble was the most wins in the first weekend in the D2 era. It is also the second time BHSU has entered the second weekend at .500.
• Kaitlyn Geschwill, a newcomer for the Yellow Jackets, made probably the biggest impact a newcomer can make in her first weekend with her new team: she won RMAC Pitcher of the Week. The Central Lakes College transfer had a huge weekend out of the bullpen for BHSU. She pitched in five of the six games, threw 15 innings with a 2-1 record, only allowing two earned runs and seven hits on a .93 ERA and 22 strikeouts. She leads the conference in pitching appearances (7), first in strikeouts (29), and second in strikeouts per seven innings (10.2). She struggled in Oklahoma giving up 13 runs in seven innings, but she did have ten strikeouts.
• Carly Reyes Mims is also coming off a major freshman season and was also named All-RMAC Honorable Mention last season. She is in the record book once for being tied for fifth in single-season doubles (11). Reyes Mims started the season off very hot. She is hitting .394 with a  1.080 OPS with a .545 slugging percentage and a .535 on-base percentage. She has 13 hits and 11 runs in 11 games with five RBIs, a home run, and two doubles. She is fourth in runs per game (1.00), and sixth in runs per game (1.11). In Edmond, she went 3-3 versus Oklahoma Baptist and 1-3 versus Central Oklahoma.
• Freshman Jessica Melendez is sitting in second on the offense with a .364 batting average. She has eight hits, five runs, two RBIs, and a .409 slugging percentage in nine games with six starts. She had a hit in three out of five games including one run scored in Oklahoma.
• Caylee Mann was the top player for BHSU early and was another transfer who made an immediate impact. She has a  She is ranked sixth in the country in RBIs, 12th in hits, and 30^th in total bases. She had an RBI in five of the six games and she has two games with three RBIs while having three hits in both of those games.
• Desi Hernandez is coming off an excellent freshman season where she was named All-RMAC honorable mention. Hernandez is hitting .324 with five RBIs, two doubles, a home run, three runs scored, and 17 total bases. She has a .459 slugging percentage. On the fielding side, she had one caught stealing. She had a career-high four hits twice going 4-4 in both games against New Mexico Highlands and Colorado School of Mines. She has a hit in 10 of 11 games this year and has reached base in all 11 games. In Edmond, Hernandez had five hits and went 2-for-4 against Cameron.
• Sammie Kaufman-Warner, a freshman, hit second for BHSU in all six games and was the only player to hit multiple home runs this weekend. She is hitting .314 with nine RBIs, 11 hits, two home runs, three doubles, 20 total bases, and five walks. She has a .571 slugging percentage. She is third in the conference in home runs (2) and fifth in home runs per game (0.22). She also reached base in all six games and had hits in five of them. She has a hit in seven out of ten games, a run in seven out of ten games, and an RBI in seven out of ten games. She had four hits, two runs, and three RBIs in Oklahoma including 2-for-3 versus Central Oklahoma and 1-for-3 with two RBIs versus Oklahoma Baptist.
•  Alyssa Wong was named to All-RMAC Gold Glove team and started this year with a .541 on-base percentage with 10 walks, six hits, two doubles, and three runs scored. She is 17^th in walks per game (1.0). She went 2-for-2 versus Cameron and had five walks in Oklahoma.
• Head Coach Ashlyn Englehorn is the first Jacket head coach to win Coach of the Year since Amy Gurney did it in the DAC in 2008. She is entering her third season as head coach of the Yellow Jackets and has a overall record of 65-116 (.359), a BHSU record of 45-67 (.401), and a RMAC record of 39-47 (.453). She led BHSU to first RMAC Tournament berth in program history in 2025 after being picked to finish ninth in preseason coaches poll. Helped the Green & Gold finish with their first winning record in program history since 2009. In her first two seasons as head coach, she has won nine RMAC series, with six being this year. In the previous 12 seasons, BHSU had won a total of eight RMAC series. She also helped BHSU break their program wins record, program road wins record, and program RMAC wins record, along with multiple other program statistical records. 

 
ADAMS STATE STORYLINES

• Adams State has started the season off 1-9 with their sole win being a 6-3 win over Minnesota Crookston. The Grizzlies started their season off in New Mexico, where they played five LSC schools including West Texas A&M twice. They nearly beat Western New Mexico, but lost 8-9. They also nearly beat Sul Ross State, but lost 6-4, those are the only two games, they have lost by two or less runs.
• The Grizzlies have a scoring margin of -59 and an average of -5.9 runs per game. This includes a 17-run loss to WTA&M, and two 11-0 losses to WTA&M and Pittsburgh State. They went 1-4 in the UCCS tournament that included two losses to TA&M-Kingsville and Pittsburgh State.
• Adams State is ranked top 80 in the country in five stats. They are first in hit batters (1), 35^th in double plays (4), 37^th in hits allowed per seven innings (10.38), 57^th in double plays per game (.40), and 79^th in walks (31).
• Adams was predicted to finish 12^th in the conference with 16 points after going 3-41 in RMAC play last year. They are 1-9 overall as they begin RMAC play.
• Aubree Davis has been an early star on the pitching staff for ASU. She has a 2.00 ERA so far in five appearances and 14 innings pitched. She's only given up four runs and one home run so far, while having 10 strikeouts. She is fifth in the RMAC in ERA (2.00) and hits allowed per seven innings (6.00). In the UCCS Tournament, she pitched 5.2 innings, and only gave up three runs, four walks, while striking out three.
• Raegan Johnson has been the early batting average leader for ASU. She is hitting .364 with an .826 OPS, while having a .462 on-base percentage with eight singles and four walks. She played in all five games in their last weekend and she went 5-12 (.417) with two RBIs and a run scored.
• Isabel Rodriguez is hitting .333 while having a team-leading .916 OPS with a .476 slugging percentage and a .440 on-base percentage. She has seven hits, three doubles, three runs scored, two RBIs, and 10 total bases so far this season. She went 3-13 (.230) in Colorado, while going 1-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI in the first game versus Kingsville.
• Head Coach Dane Craig is in the midst of his fourth season as skipper for the Grizzlies. He is 22-148, with five or less wins in the past two seasons. He is coming off back-to-back five win seasons and a 50-loss season last year.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• BHSU is currently losing the overall series versus Adams State at 17-27. However, the Yellow Jackets have now swept Adams in two straight seasons and has won 11 of the last 14.
• Last season, the Green and Gold took it to the Grizzlies winning all four games in Alamosa to begin RMAC play. They outscored ASU 45-26 with a 20-17 win in game three of the series. They run-ruled them in game four of the series and started a great stretch of games for BHSU.