At The Plate: The University of Mary Softball team wraps up the first half of their regular season with a visit to St. Joseph, Mo., to compete in the Apple Market Classic hosted by Missouri Western State University. The Marauders will have six games while in Missouri and will start off their trip with a game against the host school on Friday, March 18, and will feature six games in three days against the University of Central Missouri, Missouri Southern State University, Pittsburg State University, Washburn University, and the University of Central Oklahoma.

For The Record: U-Mary earned a handful of wins down in Clermont as they improved their record to 5-9 on the season after coming out of the gate with an 0-5 record at the 2016 Desert Stinger. Missouri Western State owns a 17-7 record after several successful non-conference trips, including a 5-1 record at the Kelly Laas Invite in St. Cloud, Minn. Central Missouri sits at 12-13 as they, too, competed in the Kelly Laas Invite but came away with a 2-3 record against NSIC opponents. Missouri Southern State owns a 13-16 record with a one of their wins coming against the University of Sioux Falls at the Teri-Mathis Zenner Memorial Tournament. Pittsburg State sits at 17-6 with a 2-2 mark in the Winona State Dome Classic in Rochester, Minn. on February, 19. Washburn has owns an 8-11 record with a similar 2-2 mark at the Winona State Dome Classic as they defeated Northern State University and Upper Iowa University in extra innings. Central Oklahoma tops the list with a 19-7 record as they own a 7-3 record in several early spring trips.

In The Past: This will be the first trip for U-Mary down to Missouri to compete in the Apple Market Classic. The last road trip the Marauders took that wasn't the Desert Stinger or the Dot Richardson Spring Games was back in 2014 when they visited West St. Paul, Minn., to compete in the West St. Paul Sports Dome Invitational and came away with a 4-1 record.

Last One Up: U-Mary went 5-4 during their visit down to the Dot Richardson Spring Games as the spring break trip was punctuated by several highs and lows. The offense powered the Marauders to an opening day sweep over Saint Anselm College and Notre Dame College, but hit a rut for the next few days as they dropped a trio of games to Lourdes University, Grace College, and the rematch against the University of Findlay. The bats awoke once again for a convincing win over Quincy University and a furious comeback rounded out the fourth day as U-Mary defeated Alma College, but the trip saw humbled finish as the Marauders dropped a four-run lead to Davenport University in extra innings, but rebounded for a strong win against Bloomfield College.

On Deck: The Marauders will finally open up the conference portion of their schedule as they pay a visit up north to take on Minot State University for two games on Tuesday, March 22. The first home game of the year is set for Friday, March 25, as they take on Wayne State College in a doubleheader, followed by a pair of contests against Augustana University the next day on Saturday, March 26.

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