THE OPENING PITCH: It may be only the first full week of February but the University of Minnesota Duluth will embark on a new season on Monday, Feb. 5 when it plays Southwest Minnesota State University. The non-conference double header showdown will be played at the West St. Paul Regional Athletic Center starting at 11:00 a.m.

SCOUTING REPORT ON SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE: The Mustangs finished last year 23-23 and a 14-14 NSIC record. SMSU made the NSIC Tournament as the eighth seed but bowed out in day one. The Mustangs are also making their 2018 season debut with head coach Jamie Dunn in her fifth season the helm. Dunn welcomes Jess Vernon as the club's newest addition to the coaching staff.
SMSU will be led by Mackenzie Clouse after losing its top three hitters from a year ago. Clouser started 34 at catcher and hit .281 with four home runs and 21 RBI. Abbie Decker and Emma Grote also return to the Mustangs' lineup in the Mustang outfield. Decker is the leading base stealing returner (7). The lineup will be retooled with the loss of three of its top five batters. 
The pitching staff lost their ace but retain the services of Athena Golling and Shelby Crank. Both are in line to start against the Bulldogs. The right handed Golling went 6-3 with a 3.43 ERA in 12 starts. Crank, also a right-handed hurler, made nine starts in 2017 and finished 4-7 with a 3.88 ERA.

THE SERIES: UMD and SMSU split the double header slate in Duluth last season. On April 22, the Mustangs shutout the Bulldogs in the first game 2-0. UMD responded to force a split taking the second game of the twinbill 3-2. Since the Bulldogs rejoined the NSIC in 2009, UMD has won 18 of the 25 meetings between the two ball clubs. SMSU has not had the advantage in any season series since that time frame. The Mustangs, who have split the series three times the last nine years, did take two victories in 2015.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and SMSU stack up with the 2017 records, the NSIC standings last year and in the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association poll.
TEAM        RECORD        NSIC        NFCA
UMD             35-20             4th            NR
SMSU           23-23             8th            NR

THE BROADCAST: The matches this weekend will be carried live through a video stream, in addition to live stats capabilities, and is available for free at:
portal.stretchinternet.com/umd

LIVE STATS: Live stats can also be viewed in HTML form here: 
sidearmstats.com/umd/softball/xlive.htm

PLAY BALL: Monday will mark the 38th season of Bulldogs softball since records were tracked. The West St. Paul Dome will host UMD to open the season for the first time. Since 2005, the Bulldogs are 11-15 when playing on opening day. The only season they walked away without a lost was in 2012 (2-0; Chadron State, New Mexico Highlands). UMD came away with a split winning 8-0 over Nebraska Kearney but losing 6-2 to Arkansas Tech.

THIS DOME IS LIKE HOME: The West St. Paul Regional Athletic Center has been a secondary home to the Bulldogs. After a one-year hiatus, UMD returns to the dome where it has seen success. Since its first appearance in 2013, the Bulldogs have gone 27-6 inside the inflatable building. They went undefeated in the first year (13-0) and won 15-straight before being tripped up by the University of Mary 10-2. In 2016, UMD went 1-2 for its first losing season. The Mustangs have yet to beat the Bulldogs at the WSPRAC (0-4). 

FLASH THE GLOVE: 2017 was a record-breaking year defensively for the Bulldogs. UMD closed out the year with a .974 fielding percentage -- the best mark in program history (the previous record was .971 set in 2002) - - to rank 11th among all NCAA Division II clubs. Leading the way for the Bulldogs and setting career highs in that department were Becky Smith (.982), Kalynn Tilton (.982), Hannah Schmoll (.978), Lauren Oberle (.971) and Natalie Wright (.965).

THE PRICE IS WRIGHT: For two seasons Natalie Wright has dominated at the plate. The two-time All-NSIC selection earned D2CAA second team honors her sophomore season by pacing the 2016 Bulldogs with a .373 batting average and 66 hits (including a 20-game hitting streak), eight home runs, 13 doubles and 47 runs batted in. She followed that up by topping the club in batting average (.360), hits (67), doubles (18), triples (5) and slugging percentage (.559) last season. 

SPEED DEMON: The season and career record holder in stolen bases, Hannah Schmoll has one more year to etch her name higher into the UMD record books. Back in 2016, Schmoll smashed the single-season stolen base record with the new aggressive guidance by coach Walter. Schmoll stole 40 bases on 46 attempts during her sophomore campaign. Last year, the Grand Rapids, Minn., native notched 37 steals, three shy of her own record. In her three seasons thus far, Schmoll has 102 stolen bags in 118 tries. Both those marks are career highs at UMD.

PILING UP THE HITS UNDER WALTER: Since the arrival of the new manager, UMD is 56-5 when it out-hits the opposition. 

EXTRA! EXTRA!: UMD is 13-4 in extra innings dating back to the 2013 season. Last season, the Bulldogs had won the only game that didn't finish in seven (8-7 over Northeastern State in 8 innings).

WINNING THE CLOSE ONES: The last two seasons UMD has gone 11-5 in one-run games. It has won the last three one-run decisions. 

SCORE FIRST: Scoring first doesn't always lead to victories but it is close. The Bulldogs have a combined 68-13 (.840) record dating back to 2015 when scoring first including 24-3 in 2017. In 23 of those games, UMD plated a run in the opening inning.

THE WHOLE GANG IS (ALMOST) BACK: Every single positional player is back for the 2018 season. Sam Hartmann, who is back as a volunteer coach, is the lone player to not return. Hartmann ended her career with 94 career starts (most by a Bulldog) going 47-38 with 417 strikeouts. UMD does have three pitchers returning.

GETTING THE CALL UP: Four freshmen join the 2018 roster in addition to the 13 returnees. Two local prep standouts (Brandie Goldberg and Jordyn Thomas) fuse with exceptional metro duo (Jessica Bren and Taylor Koehnen) to make up the freshmen class. 
Goldberg, who dominated the rubber for Superior H.S., will serve as the fourth pitcher. Thomas, who played multiple positions for Hermantown H.S., will patrol backup infield duties. Bren, who hails from Chanhassen, Minn., is prepping for time behind the plate with a power bat. Lastly, Koehnen will rotate as a utility backup near the middle infield as she learns under the guidance of the starting seniors.

SKIPPER'S REPORT CARD: The NSIC coaches placed UMD fourth in the coaches' preseason poll. The poll was released on Jan. 24 and the league selected Winona State University to finish first in the 2018 NSIC Preseason Softball Coaches' Poll. This marks the third time in the past four seasons that the Warriors have been selected by the coaches to win the league.  The Warriors amassed 221 points and 11 first place votes. Augustana was second with 206 points and two first place votes. The defending NSIC regular season, tournament and NCAA National Champions of Minnesota State were third in the poll, receiving three first place votes. 
Minnesota State's Jessica Meidl was named the NSIC Preseason Player of the Year. Winona State's McKenna Larsen was chosen as the NSIC Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
Two players from each team were selected as players to watch for. UMD's Natalie Wright and Valerie Hohol were the two Bulldogs that were given the preseason spotlight.

2017 ACCOLADES: Three Bulldogs earned All-NSIC honors last season. Natalie Wright was the lone Bulldog to be name to the first team. She was joined by Hannah Schmoll and Becky Smith, whom both were selected on the second team. In addition, Wright and Schmoll each were given the conference's gold glove award at their respective positions -- Wright at second base and Schmoll at center field. Kalynn Tilton was the only UMD player bestowed with a Player of the Week accolade. 

THE HEAD COACH: In two short seasons at the controls of the University of Minnesota Duluth program, Walter has posted back-to-back 35-win seasons, accumulating a 70-37 overall record while going 39-17 in league play (including 18-10 in 2017 when it placed fourth in the 16-team standings).
Walter made quite the splash during her debut season at UMD as not only did the Bulldogs set a team record for NSIC victories by finishing 21-7 (good for a second-place finish and just one game back of league champion Minnesota State University-Mankato), but they returned to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time since 2012. Along they way, they amassed a 35-17 overall mark and shattered or equaled nearly one dozen team and individual records.
On July 22, 2015, Walter signed on as just UMD's third head softball coach since the 1981-82 season. Walter certainly had proven herself the previous 16 seasons right down the road at the College of St. Scholastica, having directed the Saints to a 447-233 overall record (a .657 winning percentage), five NCAA Division III Tournament appearances (2006, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015), 15 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference regular season championships, 13 UMAC Tournament titles, and one trip to the NAIA National Tournament (2004). During Walter's tenure, CSS also eclipsed the 30-victory plateau on seven occasions. In addition, Walter helped produce three CSS All-Americans -- Laura Heise (2004 and 2006), Erica Kozacek (2006) and Rilee Dawson (2007) – 11 UMAC Player of the Year award recipients, 43 All-Region selections, 71 All-UMAC picks, and 81 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Scholar-Athletes.  
A native of Wadena, Minn., Walter played two years of softball at Golden Valley Lutheran College in Minneapolis, where she was a National Junior College Athletic Association All-American catcher, and continued her collegiate career at Augustana College (S.D.), attaining All-North Central Conference honors as a senior in 1985. She went on to serve as the head softball coach at Perham High School (1989-91) and the assistant softball coach at both the Breck School (1991-97) and Robbinsdale Armstrong  High School (1997-99).
Inducted as player into the 2010 Minnesota High School Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Walter received a B.A. degree in health, physical education and recreation from Augustana in 1986.

ON DECK: The Bulldogs will battle Missouri Western State University in a double header in Joseph, Mo. on Thursday, Feb. 15 before heading to Bentonville, Ark. for the UAM 8-State Classic that weekend (Feb. 16-19).