For Immediate Release
Monday, May 1, 2023
NSIC Media Relations

NSIC Player of the Week
#24 Kennedy Thomas (P/1B, Sr., R/R, Ankeny, Iowa / Ankeny HS) – Sioux Falls
- Went 10-for-21 for a .476 averages as USF went 6-1
- Held a 1.143 slugging percentage as she hit a pair of doubles and four home runs
- Led the team with 11 runs scored and 9 RBIs
- Went 2-for-3 with two home runs and three RBIs in a win over SMSU
- Also pitched 2.2 innings of scoreless ball, allowing just a single hit

NSIC Pitcher of the Week
#9 McKayla Armbruster (RHP, Jr., Faribault, Minn. / Faribault HS) – Minnesota State
- Went 4-0 last week as she posted a 1.40 ERA
- Threw a pair of shutouts against Minot State and UMary
- Struck out 35 batters and held opposing hitters to a .265 batting average
- Issued just two walks in 25.0 innings pitched 
- Named NSIC Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season (2/21/23)

Other Top Performances - Players
Torri Chute  (AUGIE) helped Augustana to its third-straight NSIC Championship while batting .476 for the week. She recorded 10 hits and nine RBI while scoring seven runs. She owned a .810 slugging percentage and reached base in 50 percent of her plate appearances.  She was at her best when the conference championship was on the line as she went 8-for-10 in the sweep of Minnesota Duluth. She concluded NSIC season leading the league in average at .524.
#17 Alexa Christenson (BSU) tallied six hits through six games, including a triple against Minnesota Crookston. She recorded four RBIs on the week.
Janelle Bergmann (UMary) closed out her freshman season with a strong final week going 7-for-17 with a double and an RBI. She had hits in each of her last five games including six hits in her last 10 at bats over the final four games to finish the season with a .306 batting average.
#4 Paige Shwaluk (UMC) hit .500 (10-of-20), with five runs scored, three doubles, and five RBI. She was 4-of-4 in a 12-4 win against her former school Southwest Minnesota State, with three RBIs and a run scored.
Sydney Nielsen (MSU) batted .412 last week with seven hits, including a double, a triple and a home run. She drove in a team-leading six runs, scored three runs and posted a .765 slugging percentage.
Eliya Johnson (MSUM) hit .333 with a home run, a double and 4 RBIs across four games for MSUM. She had a flawless 1.000 fielding percentage over the four games, including a total of 21 putouts.
#66 Morrison Brooklyn (MINOT) led the way for the Beavers with 5 hits on the week and 5 RBIs as Minot State split three doubleheaders on the road. She also added 2 doubles offensively, and defensively had 6 putouts and 7 assists.
#7 Holly Weinberger  (SCSU) went 9-for-18 over six games totaling five RBIs, scored five runs, with one extra base hits. Weinberger slashed .500/.591/.556 over the course of six games.
#17 Libby Neveau (WSU) put together an amazing weekend at the plate for Winona State as the Warrior earned a pair of doubleheader sweeps. She hit three home runs vs. Northern State in a DH sweep. She was 3-for-6 & 3-for-4 vs. the Wolves. She hit 10-of-23 overall for the week as she moved into second all-time at WSU in career home runs with 47. 

Other Top Performances - Pitchers
Lander Lexi (AUGIE) went 3-0 with a 3.23 ERA.  She tossed 17.1 innings while striking out 20 as she held opponents to a .185 average.
#12 Kyla Damerow (BSU) went 3-0 on week with an ERA of 0.60. She threw three complete games with two shutouts. She totaled 11 strikeouts as she recorded her 12th win, most for BSU since 2017.
#77 Azalya Lopez (MSUM) appeared in three of MSUM's four games during the week, picking up a victory against Minot State. She pitched a total of 7.1 innings for the Dragons with three strikeouts. She would surrender a total of seven hits to the 32 batters she faced (.218 opponent batting average).
Reegan Floyd (MINOT) picked up a pair of wins in three starts for the Beavers, leading the way with a dominating 0.77 ERA as she allowed just two earned runs in 18 innings in the circle and struck out 13 opposing hitters.
#44 Kait Van Der Zwaag (USF) boasts a 1.56 ERA in 18 innings pitched with a 3-0 record. She pitched three complete games while striking out five batters and only giving up four runs. She picked up a 13-0 shutout against Wayne State.
#34 Emma Eickhoff (SCSU) struck out nine batters while allowing 16 hits, four runs, and two walks over 12.2 innings pitched to go 2-0 over the weekend. Eickhoff owned a 2.21 ERA over the course of two games.
#23 Abbie Hlas (WSU) earned a save in game one and a win in game two vs. MSU Moorhead on Saturday. She threw a six-hit, one-run complete game victory vs. Northern State on Sunday as she carried a perfect game into the fourth inning. She struck out 14 batters and walked only five on the week.
NSIC Softball Players of the Week
2/7/23
Player: #3 Ellie Tallman – Minnesota State
Pitcher: #26 Allyssa Williams - Minnesota Duluth
2/14/23
Player: #5 Sidney Zavoral – Minnesota Duluth
Pitcher: #15 Trinity Junker – St. Cloud State
2/21/23
Player: #10 Avery Steffen – MSU Moorhead
Pitcher: #9 McKayla Armbruster - Minnesota State
2/27/23
Player: #14 Maggie Fitzgerald – St. Cloud State
Pitcher: #26 Allyssa Williams – Minnesota Duluth
3/6/23
Player: #21 Clara Heislen – Concordia-St. Paul
Pitcher: #15 Trinity Junker – St. Cloud State (2)
3/13/23
Player: #14 Ashton Dorman - Augustana
Pitcher: #16 Kristi Pilz – Concordia-St. Paul
3/20/23
Player: #18 Jasmin Estrada – St. Cloud State
Pitcher: #15 Reegan Floyd – Minot State
3/27/23
Player: #20 Andrea Cain - Augustana
Pitcher: #28 Hailey Houston  - Augustana
4/4/23
Player: #12 Delaney Young – Augustana 
Pitcher: #24 Lauren Dixon – Minnesota Duluth
4/10/23
Player: #11 Cheyenne Behrends – Minnesota State 
Pitcher: #24 Lauren Dixon – Minnesota Duluth (2)
4/18/23
Player: #9 Abby Lien – Augustana
Pitcher: #24 Lauren Dixon – Minnesota Duluth (3)
4/25/23
Player: #25 Kennedy Buckman – Augustana
Pitcher: #32 Lexi Lander  – Augustana
5/1/23
Player: #24 Kennedy Thomas – Sioux Falls
Pitcher: #9 McKayla Armbruster - Minnesota State (2)

About the NSIC
The NSIC is a 16-team, 18-sport, NCAA Division II conference with institutions located in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The NSIC is a model Division II conference that uses high-level athletics competition to develop champions in the classroom and community while empowering student-athletes to be impactful and positive leaders. Formed in 1992 by the merger of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (men’s league) and the Northern Sun Conference (women’s league), the NSIC has flourished over the past quarter century, maturing into a 16-team union of Upper Midwest colleges and universities. The NSIC has won 25 team national championships and crowned 105 individual national champions. For additional information, visit NorthernSun.org.

About NCAA Division II
The NCAA, the national governing body for college athletics, is a volunteer association of more than 1,000 colleges and universities that classify their athletics programs in one of three membership divisions. The 300+ institutions in NCAA Division II support a balanced approach in which student-athletes can earn scholarships based on their athletic ability, pursue their desired academic degree, and participate in all the campus and surrounding community have to offer. Division II student-athletes annually graduate at rates higher than their student body peers, and they have access to the best championships-participant ratio among the NCAA’s three divisions. Division II gives student-athletes the unique opportunity to compete in the classroom, on the field, in their career, for their causes, and on their terms. For additional information, visit NCAA.org.