WICHITA, Kan. – After playing 18 games on the road to begin the season, the Wichita State softball team will host its first home series, beginning March 12 at 12 p.m. against Northern Colorado in a three game series.
 
Series Info.
 
Site: Wichita, Kan.
 
Stadium: Wilkins Stadium
 
Dates: March 12-13
 
Game Times:
 
Game 1: Wichita State vs. Northern Colorado (March 12, 12:00 p.m.)
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=128493
 
Game 2: Wichita State vs. Northern Colorado (March 12, 2:30 p.m.)
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=128494
 
Game 3: Wichita State vs. Northern Colorado (March 13, 11:00 a.m.)
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=128495
 
Live Audio: www.goshockers.com/watch
 
Series History
 
Wichita State vs. Northern Colorado
 
Record: 3-1               Last Meeting: 2006           Under Bredbenner: 0-0
 
 
Leading Off
 
Scouting Northern Colorado: To begin the 2016 season, the Bears have posted a record of 3-13 overall, with all of their wins coming in neutral site games. Offensively, Erica Dick has led the way, starting all 16 games for the Bears and has a batting average of .356. Madi Schmidt is the only other athlete with a batting average over .300 with .324.
 
In 2015, the Bears ended the season with a 17-25-1 record overall and 9-10 in the Big Sky Conference. From that team, there are just three starters returning. Northern Colorado has also brought in seven newcomers.
 
Wichita State has a 3-1 record against the Bears, with the last meeting coming in 2006. The Shockers have never faced Northern Colorado in the Bredbenner era.
 
 
Shockers News and Notes:
 
2016 Season: So far this season, the Wichita State softball team has compiled a record of 9-9 overall, with one win coming over a top-25 team for the first time in five years.
 
Offensively the Shockers have been led by Paige Luellen who has started all 18 games and has 18 hits in 48 at-bats for a batting average of .375. Luellen has also hit six double and two homeruns while driving in a team-high 20 runs.
 
Jenni Brooks has led the way in the circle for the Shockers, posting an ERA of 3.19 in 12 appearances and holding a record of 5-2.
2015 In Review: Wichita State finished the 2015 season with an overall record of 34-23 and a 16-11 record in the Missouri Valley Conference giving the Shockers a fourth place finish.
 
Eight of Nine Starters Returning: Wichita State is returning every starter from the 2015 team except catcher Melanie Jaegers, who was a big contributor for the Shockers, hitting .282 and starting all 57 games. Among the position starters returning for Wichita State is Cacy Williams (first base/right field), Liz Broyles (second base), Kelli Spring (shortstop), Mackenzie Wright (third base), Brittany Fortner (left field), Ashley Johnson (center field) and Macklin Hitz (first base). Overall, these returners combined for a batting average of .328 while collecting 202 of the team's 272 RBIs and also hitting 35 of the team's 44 homeruns.
 
2015 All-MVC: The trio of returners, Fortner, Wright and Williams, along with Jaegers who graduated were all named 2015 First Team All-MVC, while Malone, Broyles and Spring were named Second Team All-MVC.
 
Fortner's Historic Season: Fortner finished her junior season with a .416 batting average (second in team history for a single season, tied for the Valley lead), 74 hits (tied the all-time hits record in a season in team history, led the Valley), 47 runs scored (led the Valley, third in team history for a single season), 45 RBIs (third in the Valley, third all-time in a single season in team history), 18 doubles (tied for second in the Valley, set the all-time team mark for doubles in a single season this season), 121 total bases (second in the Valley, second all-time in a single season in WSU SB history), a .502 OB% (second in the Valley) and 0.82 runs scored per game (led the Valley)
 
Climbing the ranks: After two doubles last weekend and a double on Wednesday against Oklahoma State, Brittany Fortner is currently second all-time in the Shocker record book with 47 doubles, needing six more to take over first place.
 
Williams is also tied for ninth in doubles (33) and needs just one more to jump into seventh.
 
Williams is tied for eighth place with 104 runs scored needing just three more to jump into the top five.
 
Fortner is also 10th in hits (181), ninth in homeruns (17), seventh in RBIs (102), sixth in total bases (283) and 12th in walks (66).
 
Williams is also third in homeruns (27) and ninth in RBIs (95).
 
Missouri Valley favorites: Wichita State was picked as the 2016 MVC preseason favorite, as voted on by the Valley coaches. The Shockers collected 84 points and three first-place votes to make this the second year in a row that the Shockers have been the Missouri Valley favorites.
 
2016 Preseason All-MVC: After being named to the All-MVC First Team a season ago, Fortner, Wright and Williams have all been selected for the preseason All-MVC First Team.