UMD Bulldogs "ALLETE" Moments: Competition
Throughout this year, UMD Athletics is partnering with Minnesota Power, ALLETE to highlight the Bulldogs accomplishments in the 3 C's: Classroom, Competition, Community. 

Lauren Dixon of the University of Minnesota Duluth softball team was named to the NFCA All-Central Region First Team when the All-Region squads were announced on Wednesday. 

If you'll recall, this isn't Dixon's first run-in with the national scene. Back on April 4, the junior lefty was tabbed as the DII NFCA Pitcher of the Week. It turns out that'd be just the beginning of a season to remember from the Sobieski, Wis. native. Dixon would also win the NSIC Pitcher of the Week title on April 4, the first of what proved to be three such nods- all of which would come in a row, spanning from April 4 to April 18. 

It's no surprise, then, that Dixon landed on the NSIC All-Conference First Team. It goes beyond that, though- the lefty took home the honor of NSIC Pitcher of the Year. Dixon became just the second player in school history to do so, joining Michelle Simmonds in 2003.

But the already decorated pitcher was far from finished. Dixon was a Bulldog on a mission in the NSIC Tournament, giving it her absolute all in UMD's quest for conference gold. The junior pitched complete game efforts in all four of UMD's contests- 28 innings across four days. In that span, Dixon allowed just 13 hits, nine walks, and a single run. The lefty tossed two postseason one-hitters. Don't forget the 30 extra strikeouts, too. This translated into an All-Tournament Team appearance for Dixon, but more importantly, it led to an NSIC Tournament Title.

How about a little history being thrown in the mix, too? In the very first game of that memorable NSIC Tournament bid against Minot State, Dixon took exactly one inning to register two strikeouts. Ordinarily pretty standard fare for the junior, but this time around, it was something particularly special. Those two K's were enough to land the lefty at 548 on her career, good for a new record in UMD history. The thing is, she's still got plenty of time to add to that touchstone. A few games later, that number's at 576.

As Dixon gears up for yet another tournament run, her cumulative stats show that she's a pitcher nobody would like to run into on the biggest stage of them all. The junior sits at seventh in the country in shutouts with 11 and 10th nationally in both total strikeouts (219) and strikeouts per seven innings (9.5). She leads the NSIC not only in all of those categories but also in ERA (1.48), complete games/wins (21) and hits per seven innings (4.51). All the while, Dixon's holding opposing hitters to just a .178 batting average.

The Bulldogs will start their NCAA Tournament journey against two-seed and regional pod host Missouri Southern State on Thursday, May 11 at 2:00 p.m. CT. Stay tuned for a full preview breaking down the contest and the Central Regional at-large.

About Minnesota Power, ALLETE:
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