University of Minnesota Athletics
Friday, May 20
Norman, OK
4:00 PM
University of Minnesota
vs
Texas A&M
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
C/1B
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
UT
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
Gophers Off to Oklahoma for NCAA Regional
5/19/2022 9:45:00 AM | Softball
MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota softball is back in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed at the 2022 NCAA Norman Regional hosted by the top national seed Sooners. The Golden Gophers take on No. 2 seed Texas A&M in the opening game of the weekend Friday at 4 p.m. with No. 4 Prairie View A&M rounding out the participants.
Catch every pitch from the action at Marita Hynes Field live on the ESPN family of networks starting Friday on ESPN2. Tiffany Greene (play-by-play) and Erin Miller (analyst) will be on the call for all the games.
WEEKEND QUICK HITS
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
This will be the Golden Gophers' 16th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament where they have posted a record of 27-31, including two Super Regional appearances and a trip to the Women's College World Series in 2019. Minnesota has tallied 20 of those NCAA wins in the last decade where it holds a 20-17 record dating back to 2013 when its current streak of making the postseason began. The Maroon & Gold advanced to the regional final at UCLA a season ago before falling to the host Bruins. The Gophers ninth-straight postseason appearance is the second-longest active Big Ten streak behind only Michigan (27) and their 16 overall appearances ranks fourth in the Big Ten behind Michigan (29), Nebraska (25) and Northwestern (20).
POSTSEASON TIME
Minnesota won four of its final six games of the season, all of which were against NCAA Regional teams, to reach the NCAA's postseason tournament. Overall, the 2022 schedule featured 29 of its 51 total games against a team that heard its name called by the NCAA selection committee this year, including action against five of the other six Big Ten teams that advanced. The Gophers rank in the top 40 in the country in total walks (186), home runs per game (1.3), on-base percentage (.387), slugging percentage (.482) and double plays turned per game (0.4).
RESUME BUILDER
On paper at the beginning of the season, Minnesota's schedule was one of the toughest in the nation, and the non-conference schedule currently ranks as the No. 2 most difficult in the NCAA. They have played 14 games against opponents inside the top 50 of the RPI, including 10 in the top 25. The Gophers have posted a 15-11-1 record when facing a team outside of the Big Ten Conference this season, while its overall strength of schedule ranks 11th in the country playing 29 games against the top 50. Sixteen of those games were facing a team in the top 25, of which the Gophers won five times to go with a tie.
B1G HONORS
Minnesota picked up several postseason honors from the Big Ten Conference in 2022 as Natalie DenHartog and Chloe Evans headlined for the Maroon & Gold earning All-B1G Second Team Honors. Emily Leavitt landed on the All-Freshman Team, while the left side of the Gophers infield featuring Kayla Chavez and Makenna Dowell were named to the All-Defensive Team. Ali Lindner represented the team as the honoree for the Sportsmanship Award.
CLASSROOM WORK
Seniors DenHartog and Autumn Pease were honored on the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for the second-straight year it was announced last week. The award recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. DenHartog is pursuing a master's degree in organizational leadership, policy, and development and Pease is studying kinesiology.
WEEKLY DOUBLE
Leavitt's impressive final week of the regular season caught the attention of the league office as she concurrently was named Big Ten Conference Pitcher and Freshman of the Week May 9. The Chino, Calif., native was dominant in the circle posting a 3-0 record with a 0.70 earned run average appearing in all five outings of a 4-1 week. She struck out 22 batters in 20.0 innings of work, including a career-best 10 in a complete game win over the Badgers May 4. Leavitt followed that effort by recording a three-hit shutout of No. 8 Northwestern May 6 and then pitched five more scoreless frames to close the series.
NATALIE AT THE TOP
In the fourth inning Mar. 27 at Rutgers, DenHartog sent a deep fly high over the center field fence and circled the bases for the 52nd time in her career. That set a Minnesota record as she became the all-time home run leader passing Jordanne Nygren's mark of 51 from 1999-2003. She matched Nygren on a solo shot against Drake Mar. 12 capping an incredible stretch where she belted eight home runs in a span of 28 at-bats. With a solo home run against Northwestern in the regular season finale, DenHartog moved into a tie for fifth in program history recording her 170th RBI across 179 career games played as she pulled even with her former teammate Maddie Houlihan (2015-19). She also is 19th in the country launching 18 home runs, 14 of which have come in Gopher victories, and ranks 38th in the NCAA registering 118 total bases.
CHLOE IN CHARGE
Evans has reached base safely in 40 of 51 games played this season and been a run-producing machine for Minnesota. The sophomore paces the team with 44 RBI and ranks just outside the country's top 100 averaging 0.9 RBI per game, including four, four-RBI performances. She has a hit in 26 of her last 34 outings, including her first career triple against South Dakota State April 13, and scored at least one run in 18 of those contests.
GETTING OUR STEPS IN BY WALKING
Minnesota drew double-digit free bases (11) for the second time this season April 13 against the Jackrabbits continuing a trend of a disciplined approach at the plate in which it ranks 27th nationally totaling a B1G-best 186 walks. Nine different players have recorded double-digit walks for the team in 2022 with Evans (25), Lauren Espalin (25) and Sydney Strelow (24) leading the way.
RECOMMEND A DINGER (OR MORE) A DAY
Minnesota has launched 64 home runs in 51 games this season to sit 29th in the NCAA averaging 1.3 home runs per game. Ten different players have hit a long ball, led by 18 from DenHartog, 10 by Evans and at least seven from Megan Dray, Sara Kinch and Strelow. The Gophers have posted a 23-9-1 record when hitting at least one home run in 2022. The team's six home runs Mar. 27 at Rutgers were the most in a single game since hitting six against Kent State Mar. 1, 2019, and just the second time hitting that mark over the last decade.
STRONG START TO THE INNING
Minnesota continues to excel when leading off an inning leading to early base runners as it has recorded a .390 batting average (130-for-333) as the first hitter in a frame. Espalin has a team-best 36 hits in that position and a .450 average, while DenHartog is hitting .625 (20-for-32) as the lead-off batter. Chavez, Ellee Jensen, and Strelow also are all hitting .400 or better.
PLAYING IN FRONT
Getting out to an early lead has been vital to Minnesota's success in 2022 as it holds a 20-5-1 record when leading after four innings. The Gophers are 19-10-1 when scoring first in a game and have posted a 22-7-1 mark when scoring at least four runs.
Catch every pitch from the action at Marita Hynes Field live on the ESPN family of networks starting Friday on ESPN2. Tiffany Greene (play-by-play) and Erin Miller (analyst) will be on the call for all the games.
WEEKEND QUICK HITS
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
This will be the Golden Gophers' 16th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament where they have posted a record of 27-31, including two Super Regional appearances and a trip to the Women's College World Series in 2019. Minnesota has tallied 20 of those NCAA wins in the last decade where it holds a 20-17 record dating back to 2013 when its current streak of making the postseason began. The Maroon & Gold advanced to the regional final at UCLA a season ago before falling to the host Bruins. The Gophers ninth-straight postseason appearance is the second-longest active Big Ten streak behind only Michigan (27) and their 16 overall appearances ranks fourth in the Big Ten behind Michigan (29), Nebraska (25) and Northwestern (20).
POSTSEASON TIME
Minnesota won four of its final six games of the season, all of which were against NCAA Regional teams, to reach the NCAA's postseason tournament. Overall, the 2022 schedule featured 29 of its 51 total games against a team that heard its name called by the NCAA selection committee this year, including action against five of the other six Big Ten teams that advanced. The Gophers rank in the top 40 in the country in total walks (186), home runs per game (1.3), on-base percentage (.387), slugging percentage (.482) and double plays turned per game (0.4).
RESUME BUILDER
On paper at the beginning of the season, Minnesota's schedule was one of the toughest in the nation, and the non-conference schedule currently ranks as the No. 2 most difficult in the NCAA. They have played 14 games against opponents inside the top 50 of the RPI, including 10 in the top 25. The Gophers have posted a 15-11-1 record when facing a team outside of the Big Ten Conference this season, while its overall strength of schedule ranks 11th in the country playing 29 games against the top 50. Sixteen of those games were facing a team in the top 25, of which the Gophers won five times to go with a tie.
B1G HONORS
Minnesota picked up several postseason honors from the Big Ten Conference in 2022 as Natalie DenHartog and Chloe Evans headlined for the Maroon & Gold earning All-B1G Second Team Honors. Emily Leavitt landed on the All-Freshman Team, while the left side of the Gophers infield featuring Kayla Chavez and Makenna Dowell were named to the All-Defensive Team. Ali Lindner represented the team as the honoree for the Sportsmanship Award.
CLASSROOM WORK
Seniors DenHartog and Autumn Pease were honored on the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for the second-straight year it was announced last week. The award recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. DenHartog is pursuing a master's degree in organizational leadership, policy, and development and Pease is studying kinesiology.
WEEKLY DOUBLE
Leavitt's impressive final week of the regular season caught the attention of the league office as she concurrently was named Big Ten Conference Pitcher and Freshman of the Week May 9. The Chino, Calif., native was dominant in the circle posting a 3-0 record with a 0.70 earned run average appearing in all five outings of a 4-1 week. She struck out 22 batters in 20.0 innings of work, including a career-best 10 in a complete game win over the Badgers May 4. Leavitt followed that effort by recording a three-hit shutout of No. 8 Northwestern May 6 and then pitched five more scoreless frames to close the series.
NATALIE AT THE TOP
In the fourth inning Mar. 27 at Rutgers, DenHartog sent a deep fly high over the center field fence and circled the bases for the 52nd time in her career. That set a Minnesota record as she became the all-time home run leader passing Jordanne Nygren's mark of 51 from 1999-2003. She matched Nygren on a solo shot against Drake Mar. 12 capping an incredible stretch where she belted eight home runs in a span of 28 at-bats. With a solo home run against Northwestern in the regular season finale, DenHartog moved into a tie for fifth in program history recording her 170th RBI across 179 career games played as she pulled even with her former teammate Maddie Houlihan (2015-19). She also is 19th in the country launching 18 home runs, 14 of which have come in Gopher victories, and ranks 38th in the NCAA registering 118 total bases.
CHLOE IN CHARGE
Evans has reached base safely in 40 of 51 games played this season and been a run-producing machine for Minnesota. The sophomore paces the team with 44 RBI and ranks just outside the country's top 100 averaging 0.9 RBI per game, including four, four-RBI performances. She has a hit in 26 of her last 34 outings, including her first career triple against South Dakota State April 13, and scored at least one run in 18 of those contests.
GETTING OUR STEPS IN BY WALKING
Minnesota drew double-digit free bases (11) for the second time this season April 13 against the Jackrabbits continuing a trend of a disciplined approach at the plate in which it ranks 27th nationally totaling a B1G-best 186 walks. Nine different players have recorded double-digit walks for the team in 2022 with Evans (25), Lauren Espalin (25) and Sydney Strelow (24) leading the way.
RECOMMEND A DINGER (OR MORE) A DAY
Minnesota has launched 64 home runs in 51 games this season to sit 29th in the NCAA averaging 1.3 home runs per game. Ten different players have hit a long ball, led by 18 from DenHartog, 10 by Evans and at least seven from Megan Dray, Sara Kinch and Strelow. The Gophers have posted a 23-9-1 record when hitting at least one home run in 2022. The team's six home runs Mar. 27 at Rutgers were the most in a single game since hitting six against Kent State Mar. 1, 2019, and just the second time hitting that mark over the last decade.
STRONG START TO THE INNING
Minnesota continues to excel when leading off an inning leading to early base runners as it has recorded a .390 batting average (130-for-333) as the first hitter in a frame. Espalin has a team-best 36 hits in that position and a .450 average, while DenHartog is hitting .625 (20-for-32) as the lead-off batter. Chavez, Ellee Jensen, and Strelow also are all hitting .400 or better.
PLAYING IN FRONT
Getting out to an early lead has been vital to Minnesota's success in 2022 as it holds a 20-5-1 record when leading after four innings. The Gophers are 19-10-1 when scoring first in a game and have posted a 22-7-1 mark when scoring at least four runs.
Minnesota (4) - Michigan (0) Highlights
Friday, May 02
Sydney Schwartz Throws No-Hitter
Tuesday, April 29
Gophers (8) - North Dakota (0) Highlights
Sunday, April 27
Gophers (5) - North Dakota (3) Highlights
Saturday, April 26