CHADRON, Neb. -- After opening its season with as good or better record than any of the previous teams, the Chadron State College softball team will launch its RMAC schedule Saturday and Sunday by playing a pair of double-headers with No. 21 Regis University in Denver.

The Eagles went 5-5-1 during their non-conference schedule.  Only in 2008, the second season after softball was revived at CSC, have the Eagles done as well through their first 11 games.  They were 5-6 that spring.

Four more times the teams have gone 4-7 to open the season, but in the past four years, none of the Chadron State teams has won more than three of the first 10 games. Last year, the Eagles began the season with a 0-13 record, then went 15-22 the rest of the way.

This year's team opened the season two weeks ago by splitting five games in Florida. How does a team split five games?  Well, rain ended the contest against Eckerd College with the score tied 3-3.

In the other games in Florida, the Eagles defeated Lynn University 5-4 and Palm Beach Atlantic 2-1 and lost to Florida Tech 1-0 and Saint Leo College 4-2. With the exception of Florida Tech, the rest of these games went to extra innings.

Last weekend while playing at Canyon, Texas, the Eagles divided six games during another classic.  They beat Angelo State 4-2 and No. 10 Tarleton State 6-4, fell to Midwestern State 9-7, No. 22 West Texas A&M 12-0 and Cameron 8-4 before bouncing back and beating Eastern New Mexico 11-7.

Through the first 11 games, the Eagles are hitting .273 while the opponents are hitting .341.

Junior shortstop Courtney Lecher is the leading hitter with 16 hits in 40 at bats for a .400 average. Generally, the leadoff batter, she also leads the team in total bases with 17 and runs scored with seven.

Junior Bekka Prokaski also has a 400 average, but she has been at bat just 10 times. Freshman Kayla Michel is hitting .320 with eight hits in 25 at bats.  Both senior Rebekah Anthony and sophomore Aspen Eubanks are hitting .300 with six hits in 20 at bats.

Coach Rob Stack believes pitching will be a strength for this year's team.  The busiest hurler so far is senior Cierra Cosslett, who has pitched 30.2 innings, has a 2.28 earned run average and a 3-1 record. Cosslett had a 7.33 ERA and a 2-11 record last season.

Regis, this weekend's foe, is also off to a strong start.  The Rangers are 5-6.  They had an identical start in 2015 non-conference play, en route to a 22-11 RMAC third-place finish. Regis went on to win the conference tournament last year and are the preseason favorite this spring.  The Eagles split four games with Regis a year ago. 

Except for Chadron State and Regis, none of the other RMAC teams has won more than three of its games heading into conference play.