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CITY  (NewsDakota.com)–The Viking softball team starts a busy stretch in Iowa today.

The Vikings play six games in three days, facing Bellevue University and Northwestern, IA today, Midland Lutheran, NE and Dakota Wesleyan, SD tomorrow, and Mount Marty, SD and Morningside, IA Sunday, all games in Sioux City, IA.

The Vikings are currently 10-7 after a split at Bemidji State Tuesday.  They have moved up to fourth in the latest Association of Independent Institutions (AII) poll, the highest ranked former-Dakota Athletic Conference (DAC) team.  Jamestown College is fifth, and Dickinson State is sixth.

Several Vikings are among statistical leaders in independent status.  Jane Pettit (Sr., Rushford, MN) is fifth in the nation in batting average at .479, Hilary Kulczewski (Jr., Windsor, CA) is second in the nation in RBI (23 total, 1.44 per game), and Katie McBride (Sr., Grand Rapids, MN) leads the nation in strikeouts (71 total, 9.88 a game), is fourth in opposing batting average (.202) and fifth in ERA (1.84).

The Vikings begin DAC play with a doubleheader at Jamestown College April 3rd.