CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State will be on the road for the third time in four RMAC series when the Eagles take on regional rivals Black Hills State in Spearfish on Sunday and Monday. 

The Eagles (7-9, 4-8 RMAC) will battle the fast-starting Yellow Jackets (12-6, 10-2 RMAC) at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Monday. Start times have been pushed back a day due to weather in the Spearfish. 

Games will be streamed live on the RMAC Network while live stats will also be available.

Looking Back
Chadron State lost four games last weekend to UCCS despite leading in three of the four contests.  

RECAPS: Games 1-2 | Games 3-4

The Eagles hit four home runs in game one, with Lauren Zimmerman homering in her first two at-bats of the day and Jazlyn Arvizo and Ashland Baca also going yard. In games three and four of the series, Chadron State lost the lead in the sixth inning, allowing UCCS to grab come-from-behind victories. 

Hit Machine
Chadron State outfielder/catcher J'lyssa Martinez has continued to be one of the best bat-to-ball hitters in the RMAC. 

Martinez is batting .542 with a .600 on-base percentage, ranking second in the RMAC in both categories. The senior currently has an eight-game hitting streak, racking up multiple hits in five of those games. 

Martinez's 26 hits in 48 at-bats include five doubles and a triple. Notably, Martinez has the same number of walks (seven) as strikeouts this season. She leads the team in runs scored with 19 and is also a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts. 

Power Surge
Hitting directly behind Martinez in the order is third baseman Lauren Zimmerman, whose six home runs have the Arizona native in a three-way tie for second place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. 

Five of Zimmerman's home runs came in a three-game stretch, as the senior left the yard in game three of the New Mexico Highlands series on February 24 before recording back-to-back multi-homer games in the finale against NMHU and the series opener against UCCS last Saturday. 

Zimmerman has eight multi-hit games this season, including in seven of CSC's last eight contests. She ranks sixth in the RMAC with a .451 batting average, seventh with an .824 slugging percentage and fifth with a 1.297 OPS (on-base plus slugging).

No-Hitter
On February 24, in her first career RMAC start, freshman pitcher Belle Akins threw a five-inning no-hitter against the New Mexico Highlands Cowgirls. 

The no-no is only the second in recorded history for the Eagles and the first since Christina Lewis threw one in the 2011 season. During her no-hitter, Akins allowed just two walks for the only baserunners of the day and struck out six Cowgirls, including the first and last hitters of the game. 

The following day, Akins was honored as the RMAC's Pitcher of the Week.

Standout Pitching
Every RMAC Pitcher of the Week so far this season will be featured in this weekend's BHSU/CSC series. 

Chadron State has won the award in two of the five weeks of the 2025 season, with Tori Haug and Belle Akins each taking home the honor. The other three awards have all gone to BHSU's Laci Peskey, who is in the midst of a potentially historic season with a 1.45 ERA while appearing in all but one of BHSU's games this season. 

The offensive awards this year have been more spread out, with UCCS winning two and Colorado Mesa, Black Hills State and Regis each winning one. 

RMAC Polls
Chadron State was picked to finish 10^th in the 12-team RMAC in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own team. The Eagles also finished 10^th in the RMAC last season with a 12-28 record in conference play. 

Defending league champion Colorado Mesa was picked to win the RMAC again this season, receiving eight of 12 first-place votes. Colorado Christian received two first-place votes and finished second in the poll while MSU Denver and Regis each got one first-place vote and came third and fourth, respectively. 

The final two RMAC Tournament positions according to the preseason poll went to CSU Pueblo in fifth and UCCS in sixth. The remainder of the poll featured Colorado School of Mines, Fort Lewis and Black Hills State ahead of the Eagles, while Chadron State finished above New Mexico Highlands and Adams State in preseason voting.

Scouting Black Hills State
The Yellow Jackets of Black Hills State are currently in second place in the RMAC standings with a 10-2 conference record, a surprising start relative to BHSU's projected ninth-place finish in the RMAC Preseason Coaches Poll. The Yellow Jackets are 12-6 overall. 

So far in conference play, Black Hills has earned a four-game sweep of Adams State and taken three of four from both CSU Pueblo and New Mexico Highlands, winning the first three games of both series before being denied a sweep in the series finale. 

The Yellow Jackets have a do-everything pitcher in Laci Peskey, who has been the winning pitcher in every BHSU game this season. A three-time RMAC Pitcher of the Week already, Peskey has made 13 appearances with 10 starts and leads the RMAC in both innings pitched (72.1) and ERA (1.45). 

In BHSU's most recent series against New Mexico Highlands, Peskey started twice and threw two complete games and still came on for a combined five innings of relief in the other two games of the series. 

Offensively, Black Hills State ranks fourth in the league with a .311 batting average and fifth with 106 runs scored. Freshman catcher Desi Hernandez leads BHSU and ranks ninth in the RMAC with a .446 batting average while former RMAC Offensive Player of the Week Ashlynn Pauwels with five doubles and four home runs. 

Head Coach Ashlyn Englehorn is in her second season at Black Hills State. In her first season, the Yellow Jackets set a Division II school record for most wins (15) and conference wins (14).

Coach's Corner
After previously serving as Chadron State's head softball coach from 2008-2017 and helping out the program as a coaching assistant for the past two seasons, Dr. Robert Stack will serve as CSC's Interim Softball Coach for the 2025 season. 

Stack has been a math professor at CSC for the past 26 years and was previously RMAC Coach of the Year in 2014. During Stack's head coaching career, he led an Eagles program that had not qualified for the RMAC Tournament prior to his tenure to four conference tournament appearances. Stack's teams set a new school record for wins in three of his last four seasons as coach (2014, 2016 and 2017), with the 32 wins by the 2017 team still standing as the program season high. 

Stack has also mentored two RMAC Pitchers of the Year (Casey Williams in 2010 and Tayler Hall in 2016) as well as two RMAC All-Academic Players of the Year (Williams in 2009 and Cassie Humphrey in 2010) and a two-time RMAC Summit Award winner (Breeze Phillips in 2014 and 2016).