GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Lady Argo softball needs conference wins, and a four-game home stand against Northwest University will have to be a turning point in order for the team to climb back into contention for the Cascade Collegiate Conference playoffs.
 
UGF currently sits ninth out of 10 Cascade Collegiate Conference teams, with the top six making the playoffs, but they are only one win behind both Northwest and Northwest Christian in the standings.
 
The NW Eagles are one of the least familiar conference teams for UGF, with the two programs only competing in one doubleheader, a meeting on April 1, 2016. In those two games, the Lady Argos cruised to a 9-0 and a 9-1 win, including a 4 run complete game pitching performance from current Lady Argo senior, Shelby Abeyta.
 
The first of the two doubleheaders against the Eagles will start on Friday, March 23 with games at 2 & 4 p.m., followed by games at Noon & 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 24. All four games will be played at the Multi-Sports Complex, Field #7, giving the Lady Argos its first home games since March 3.
 
Rescuing the Stranded: Six more runs a game would certainly have turned around the results of most of UGF's conference losses and those runs are there to be had. In UGF's nine conference games, the Lady Argos have left an average of 6.78 runners on base per game.
 
Coach Egan said this week's practices have focused on what she calls "unselfish swings," which call for players to simply put the ball in play with runners on base, instead of trying to bring everyone home with one fell swoop.
 
A Corner Potentially Turned: While UGF is on an eight-game losing streak, the team's most recent contest, an 8-7 loss in 9 innings, could prove to be a turning point for the Lady Argos. Despite the extended innings, the Lady Argos just left 3 runners on base, and started to find the offensive teamwork to string runs together.
 
It was also the best game of the year so far for senior Hali Gruntowicz. She was UGF's leading, and most clutch, hitter in 2016 but has been cold so far until 2017. That is, until the final game against EOU when she went 2-4 with 2 runs, 1 RBI, and her second home run of the season.
 
Quick Notes

• UGF is currently on an 8-game losing streak, the team's longest losing streak since 2012.
• With each 4-game series, UGF has more successfully turned hits into runs. The Lady Argos scored 14 runs off 34 hits against Carroll for a percentage of 41.1 percent of its hits, scored 13 runs off 28 hits against SOU (46.4 percent), and 16 runs on 32 hits against Eastern Oregon (50 percent). That percentage jumped even higher in the team's final two games against EOU, brining in 12 runs off 19 hits (63.1 percent).
• Junior Bailey Henderson hit 0.333 or better in all four games against EOU with 8 hits, 4 runs, and 3 RBI in 16 at bats. She currently ranks 49th in the NAIA in doubles per game (0.389).
• UGF's four player pitching rotation has been consistent as a unit, keeping its opponent batting average below .400 in every game this season but one (a March 10 loss to Southern Oregon). Teams have hit below .300 against UGF in four of the last six games.
• Errors have been an issue for the Lady Argo defense, costing the team an average of 1 run a game. While the team's ERA is 3.278, the team has giving up 4.278 runs per game.
• Freshman Hanna Tarum got her second and third starts of the season and her career in the final two games against Eastern Oregon and made a case to stay there. The Great Falls, Montana native hit 0.428 with 1 run, 1 RBI, and the first double of her collegiate career.

 
About Northwest

• The NU Eagles are 6-13 (2-7) on the season and tied for seventh in the CCC Standings.
• In 2016 NU finished the season with a record of 11-29 (6-22) to finish in last in the CCC.
• Sophomore Aubrey Slocum is NU's top hitting on the season with a batting average of 0.298, but is very hot and cold. She has either hit 0.500 or better in every game this season or gone hitless.
• The team's most dangerous hitter with runners on base has been junior Maggie Harshaw, leading the team with 10 RBI.
• Defensively, NU ranks 32nd in the NAIA in both Assists per Game (9.368) and fielding percentage (0.957).
• Offensively, NU has shown a propensity for hitting triples, ranking 39th in the NAIA in triples per game (0.263).