2017 Schedule No. 13/13 Minnesota at the ACC/B1G Challenge • Feb. 17-19 2017 (Raleigh, N.C.) Date Opponent Time (CST) Texas Tournament (Austin, Texas) Notre Dame (3-2) 2/10 Maryland W 3-2 2/10 at Texas W 5-2 Fri., Feb. 17 • 1:30 p.m. CT 2/11 Colorado State W 5-1 2/11 at Texas W 11-6 2/12 Maryland W 10-2 (5) B1G/ACC Challenge (Raleigh, N.C.) Notre Dame (3-2) 2/17 Notre Dame 1:30 PM Sat., Feb. 18 • 11:30 a.m. CT 2/18 Notre Dame 11:30 AM 2/18 at North Carolina State 4:30 PM 2/19 at North Carolina State 11:30 AM NC State (2-3) Fresno State Tournament (Fresno, Calif.) 2/24 UC Davis 1:30 PM Sat., Feb. 18 • 4:30 p.m. CT 2/24 at Fresno State 7:30 PM 2/25 UC Davis 11:00 AM 2/25 Cal Poly 1:30 PM NC State (2-3) 2/26 Idaho State 11:00 AM Sun, Feb. 19 • 11:30 a.m. CT LSU Tournament (Baton Rouge, La.) 3/3 Troy 10:00 AM 3/4 FAU 3:30 PM 3/4 at LSU 7:30 PM Five Things To Know 3/5 Illinois State 11:00 AM Washington Tournament (Seattle, Wash.) 3/10 Seattle University 3:30 PM 1. The Gophers freshmen rose to the occasion in their first weekend of collegiate 3/10 at Washington 5:45 PM play. Six freshmen total saw action with three making starts. MaKenna Partain hit 3/11 Seattle University 2:30 PM a team leading .533 with four RBIs including a walk-off single against Maryland. 3/11 at Washington 7:00 PM 3/12 South Dakota 12:00 PM Kendyl Lindaman was third on the team hitting .471 and had a massive home run. 3/13 at Oregon State 3:00 PM With the game tied in the fifth inning she stepped to plate and crushed a ball for her 3/15 at California 6:00 PM first collegiate home run. Amber Fiser won two games in the circle throwing a 2.33 3/17 at Pacific (DH) 2:00 PM 3/24 at Nebraska 5:00 PM ERA with eight strikeouts. Carlie Brandt saw action in left field and in the circle. She 3/25 at Nebraska 1:00 PM made a number of great catches and picked up a victory going 4.2 innings with two 3/26 at Nebraska 12:00 PM 3/31 at Illinois 5:00 PM strikeouts. 4/1 at Illinois 1:00 PM 4/2 at Illinois 12:00 PM 2. The Gophers used four pitchers this weekend showing depth in the circle that they 4/4 South Dakota (DH) 4:00 PM 4/7 Indiana 6:00 PM have not seen in recent years. Sara Groenewegen and Fiser each picked up two wins 4/8 Indiana 1:00 PM and Brandt picked up one. Tori Finucane got two starts. Groenewegen threw 14.1 4/9 Indiana 12:00 PM innings with a 0.98 ERA and 15 strikeouts. On top of her two wins she picked up the 4/14 Northwestern 6:00 PM 4/15 Northwestern 1:00 PM eighth save her career. She is now sixth all-time in Minnesota history for most saves. 4/16 Northwestern 12:00 PM In Finucane’s first weekend as a Gopher she recorded 10 strikeouts in eight innings 4/19 at Wisconsin (DH) 3:00 PM pitched. 4/21 Iowa 6:00 PM 4/22 Iowa 1:00 PM 4/23 Iowa 12:00 PM 3. The Gophers had to replace an entire senior outfield from last year and did so 4/26 North Dakota State (DH) 4:00 PM 4/28 Purdue 6:00 PM smoothly the first weekend of play. Maddie Houlihan, Dani Wagner and Sam Macken 4/29 Purdue 1:00 PM each started every game out there with Brandt filling in during multiple games. 4/30 Purdue 12:00 PM Throughout the weekend all four made a number of big plays to shut down the op- 5/5 at Penn State TBA 5/6 at Penn State TBA posing team’s offenses. 5/7 at Penn State TBA Big Ten Tournament (Ann Arbor, Mich. ): 5/11 to 5/13 4. Sydney Dwyer quietly had one of the strongest weekends around the country. She hit .500 with three doubles and nine RBIs for a team leading .714 slugging percent- age. Her nine RBIs were the 14th most recorded in the NCAA and second most in the Big Ten during opening weekend. 5. The last time the Gophers started a season 5-0 was the 2015 season when they swept the Sportco Kick Off Classic in Las Vegas, Nev. That season Minnesota won their first eight games of the year. Eight games is the program record for most wins to start a season which has been done three times. Quick Facts National Rankings University Information ESPN.com/USA Softball Rankings Location .................................................................................................................... Minneapolis, Minn. Founded ............................................................................................................................................... 1851 Rank Team Record Enrollment ........................................................................................................................................51,147 1 Florida (18) 5-0 Affiliation .........................................................................................................................NCAA Division I 2 Auburn (8) 3-1 Conference.......................................................................................................................................Big Ten 3 Florida State (4) 5-0 Nickname ...................................................................................................................... Golden Gophers 4 Oklahoma (2) 2-2 Colors ............................................................................................................................ Maroon and Gold 5 Alabama 5-0 Facility (Capacity)..................................................................... Jane Sage Cowles Stadium (1,000) 6 UCLA 5-0 President .................................................................................................. Eric W. Kaler (Cal Tech 1978) 7 LSU 4-1 Athletics Director .........................................................................................Mark Coyle (Drake 1992) 8 Washington 3-1 Staff Information 9 Oregon 6-0 Head Coach .......................................................................................Jessica Allister (Stanford 2004) 10 Arizona 5-0 Email ....................................................................................................................... [email protected] 11 Michigan 3-2 Softball Office Phone ...............................................................................................612-626-5594 12 Georgia 5-0 Career Record ...................................................................................................234-102/6 seasons 13 Minnesota 5-0 Record at Minnesota .......................................................................................234-102/6seasons 14 James Madison 3-1 Career B1G Record ...............................................................................................93-45/6 seasons 15 Tennessee 5-0 Associate Head Coach .....................................................Jessica Merchant (Michigan 2005) 16 Utah 5-0 Email ................................................................................................................. [email protected] 17 Missouri 4-1 Pitching Coach ...................................................................................Piper Ritter (Minnesota 2004) 18 Louisiana 3-2 Email .................................................................................................................mart1003@umn.edu 19 Texas A&M 4-0 Director of Operations ................................................................................. Michael Kyllo-Kittleson 20 USF 3-1 Email ....................................................................................................................kyllo071@umn.edu 21 Fresno State 4-1 Phone .............................................................................................................................612-625-5574 22 Kentucky 3-2 Communications Director .............................................................................................. Ryan Tibbitts 23 Baylor 3-2 Email............................................................................................................................. [email protected] 24 Pittsburgh 5-0 Phone .............................................................................................................................612-619-1634 25 BYU 2-2 Program Information 2016 Record.............................................................................................................................43-14 (.754) 2016 B1G Record .................................................................................................................... 19-3 (.864) USA Today/NFCA Rankings 2015 B1G Finish .....................................................................................................................................2nd Letterwinners Returning/Lost...........................................................................................................9/9 Rank Team Record Newcomers ..................................................................................................................................................9 1 Florida (18) 5-0 Inaugural Season ...................................................................................................1974 (44th Season) 2 Auburn (8) 3-1 All-time Record ......................................................................................................... 1,274-913-4 (.581) 3 Florida State (4) 5-0 All-time Games Played ................................................................................................................... 2,191 4 Oklahoma (2) 2-2 All-time B1G Regular Season Record .......................................................................380-360 (.514) 5 Alabama 5-0 All-time B1G Tournament Record ...................................................................................15-14 (.517) 6 UCLA 5-0 All-time NCAA Tournament Record