At The Plate: Finally returning home after playing 20 games in Clermont, Florida, the University of Mary Softball team opens up their conference schedule this week. First they'll host their rivals from upstate of Minot State University on Tuesday, March 24, before heading out on the road against Augustana College on Saturday, March 28, and Wayne State College on Sunday, March 29.

For The Record: On the year so far, the Marauders are 11-15 after going 9-11 on their road trip down in Florida. U-Mary has fallen to tough teams such as Grand Valley State University, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, University of Indianapolis, and University of Southern Indiana, but have significant victories over Kutztown University, West Liberty University, Merrimack College, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Minot State is working on a 19-4 record with wins over Augustana, University of Minnesota Crookston, Bemidji State University, and Minnesota State University Moorhead. Augustana owns a 19-5 record and had a productive trip down in Clermont as well with wins over Wayne State University, University of Central Missouri, Pittsburg State University, and University of Central Oklahoma. Wayne State is 14-6 on the year so far with split games against University of Nebraska-Kearney, wins over St. Thomas Aquinas University, Kutztown, Mercy College, and St. Joseph College.

In The Past: The Marauders are 9-5 against Minot State while at the Division-II level, including at 2-1 record last year after the Beavers won the first contest on February 24, but U-Mary bounced back with conference wins on March 26. Augustana had won 10 straight against U-Mary dating back to 2008, but last year the Marauders finally broke loose and swept the Vikings in the regular season on April 27. The all-time series against the Wildcats has gone back-and-forth; last year the teams split while in Wayne, Neb., but the Wildcats had the upper hand in 2012, despite losing both regular season games to the Marauders, after defeating U-Mary in the conference tournament.

Last One Up: U-Mary ended up going 4-2 in the last three days of their Florida trip, starting with the day's sweep over Merrimack and Ohio Dominican University on March 8, split games against Southern Indiana and West Liberty on March 9, and capping off the trip with split against against U-Indy and Kutztown. The highlight of the trip came on the last game when the Marauders, after falling 13-7 to U-Indy, bounced back with a complete showing against Kutztown in a two-hit, 4-0 win over the Golden Bears.

On Deck: All of the Marauder's games next week will be played at home, starting with Bemidji State coming to town on Tuesday, March 31, Southwest Minnesota State University on Friday, April 3, and University of Sioux Falls on Saturday, April 4.

For more information, check out the full PDF release here.

#marauders#