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‘It’s time to go to the show’: Northern Colorado softball to face Oklahoma State in NCAA Tournament

Published

2 years ago

May 13, 2024

‘It’s time to go to the show’: Northern Colorado softball to face Oklahoma State in NCAA Tournament

A few hours after arriving home from the Big Sky Conference tournament, the University of Northern Colorado softball team gathered Sunday evening to find out its next opponent.

Winning the conference tournament for the second straight year again earned the Bears a place in the 64- team NCAA Tournament. UNC players, coaches and staff hung out in a classroom in Butler-Hancock Athletic Center to watch the softball selection show on ESPN2.

The Bears (27-24) will soon be packing their bags for Stillwater, Oklahoma where they’ll be one of four teams in the regional hosted by tournament No. 5 seed Oklahoma State (44-10).

UNC plays Oklahoma State at 3:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time Friday (4:30 p.m. Central, according to Oklahoma State’s schedule) in the first game of the double-elimination regional round. Michigan and Kentucky are the other two teams in the Stillwater regional.

UNC played Michigan (41-16) twice in February during its non-conference schedule and lost both games to the Wolverines, 9-1 and 4-1.

“Everybody we play will be good,” UNC coach Dedeann Pendleton-Helm said of facing Oklahoma State. “It’s time to go to the show.”

There are 16 four-team regionals hosted by the national seeds throughout the country to start the tournament. The regional winners advance to the best-of-3 game super regionals. The final eight teams qualify for the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.

The regionals begin Friday. The super regionals are May 23-26. The Women’s College World Series starts May 30 with the finals June 5-7.

The @UNC_BearsSB team finding out it will play in Oklahoma State regional in NCAA Tournament this week. Bears will be with OKSU – the No. 5 overall seed – and Michigan and Kentucky. 🥎 Bears are 2-time defending @BigSkyConf champs. pic.twitter.com/LWnxbkDMYy
— Anne Giles Delaney (@AnneGDelaney) May 12, 2024
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Texas (47-7) is the No. 1 overall seed for the first time ahead of three-time defending WCWS champion Oklahoma (49-6). No. 2 Oklahoma defeated Texas for the Big 12 Conference Tournament title Saturday night. Texas won the Big 12 regular-season title.

Last year, UNC played at the University of Washington and faced the host Huskies in the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance. Washington beat UNC 10-2 in six innings. The Bears then lost to Minnesota 4-0.

Sixteen players on the team were also with the Bears a year ago. One of those is outfielder Alyssa Wenzel, who was a first-team Big Sky Conference selection last year.

A senior from California, Wenzel said she is retired after sustaining a back injury earlier this season. She remains with the team. Wenzel was at the Big Sky Tournament and she’ll also go to Oklahoma State.

Wenzel said the team used last year’s experience at NCAAs to their benefit this year. The emphasis this season was on improvement instead of saying they’ll win X number of games and win the conference tournament.

“Every practice, every game, every day, every lift, everything that we did all wanted to do was to be 1% better,” Wenzel said. “I think that got us to where we are now because we were focused on being better people and better players rather than looking for an overall goal.”

Wenzel and Pendleton-Helm said the team sees it can compete with programs from bigger schools and bigger conferences — such as Power 5 schools. The Bears played the final game of the regular season at Pac-12 member Oregon. Pendleton-Helm said the players competed against the Ducks with a calm confidence. The UNC players looked more comfortable and as if they belonged in Oregon’s bigger stadium.

Oregon won 9-2. The Ducks (28-19) are also in the NCAA Tournament, playing in the Norman, Oklahoma regional hosted by the Oklahoma.

Northern Colorado softball coach Dedeann Pendleton-Helm addresses the team Sunday, May 12, 2024 after the players learned they’ll play Oklahoma State in the NCAA Tournament Friday in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Oklahoma State is hosting the four-team, double-elimination regional tournament. Michigan and Kentucky will also be in Stillwater. UNC is making its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament after repeating as Big Sky Conference Tournament champions. (Anne Delaney/Staff Reporter).

“We won’t be as awestruck,” the coach said of what she expects from this year’s NCAA tournament appearance. “It’s how do we win and play our game?”

UNC arrived home in Greeley early Sunday afternoon from the Big Sky tournament in Pocatello, Idaho. The Bears played two games and 18 innings Saturday against Portland State before clinching the title about 7 p.m. The team bused to Wyoming overnight and finished the trip Sunday.

“It’s very exciting,” sophomore first baseman Amailee Morales said. “It’s fun to win back to back (conference titles), it’s fun to extend our season. We’re one of 64 teams left playing and we get to do that for our seniors.”

Morales hit a grand slam in the top of the 10th inning of the second and deciding game against Portland State to secure the tournament championship. Morales was 2-for-4 with two home runs, five RBI and two runs scored in the second game against the Vikings.

“It was electric,” she said of hitting the home run. “The atmosphere, our mood shift, everything. Hitting that lit a fire under us and let us go out and push three outs.”

UNC was the visiting team in the second game, which was played because Portland State beat the Bears 4-3 in eight innings in the first game of the day. After Morales’ home run, the Bears had to play defense with Portland State getting one more chance to hit in the bottom of the 10th.

Morales was named tournament most valuable player after being selected as conference co-player of the year earlier in the week with Sacramento State’s Lewa Day.

Morales’ home run came on a 3-ball and 1-strike count. She said didn’t know the pitch Portland State’s Allicitie Frost threw, but Morales was looking for a strike because the Vikings didn’t want to walk her.

“As soon as I swung, I was like oh, yeah,” she said. “I knew. It’s unreal feeling knowing you did that for your team and knowing that you just helped them to another championship.”

Morales’ grand slam was decisive, but there were multiple other reasons the Bears had a chance to win the game. One of those reasons was junior pitcher Isabelle DiNapoli, who came into the game in the third inning with UNC trailing 3-0.

DiNapoli pitched 7 2/3 innings in relief and controlled the Vikings, giving up only two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts. Pendleton-Helm said DiNapoli “came in and dealt,” throwing the ball hard while in control and hitting her spots. Pendleton-Helm called the performance “amazing” and “fantastic.”

DiNapoli is from Littleton and played at Chatfield High School.

She said she had full confidence in her teammates when she came into the game, knowing they “could definitely” come back from the three-run deficit.

“It was definitely a stressful situation,” DiNapoli added. “Between innings we kept reminding ourselves to breathe. I’d take a breath with my teammates on the mound, and we’d just like reminded each other of what we’ve been through and how much hard work we put in.”

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Colorado residents should prepare for Xcel power outages this week as fire danger surges, utility says

Published

9 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Colorado residents should prepare for Xcel power outages this week as fire danger surges, utility says

Xcel Energy is warning its customers along the Front Range to be prepared for possible power outages this week as the risk of wildfire surges due to hot and dry weather.

“Due to the elevated risk of wildfire, enhanced powerline safety settings are active across out Front Range service territory,” according to a social media post from the utility. The settings make the powerlines more sensitive and prompt a line to stop the flow of electricity if an object touches a line.

The highest risk for wildfire danger will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday, when strong gusty winds are forecasted, according to the National Weather Service.

Humidity could be as low as 10% and winds may top 25 mph, leading to critical and extremely critical fire weather between Thursday and Saturday, forecasters said.

Tens of thousands of customers have lost power in recent months from planned outages during fire danger and powerline damage from high winds.

In December, 86,040 Xcel customers lost power because of a mix of planned shutoffs and downed powerlines from high winds. The decision led some customers to criticize the utility, asking it to fine-tune its weather responses.

Some schools in northern Colorado schools preemptively canceled classes in January after Xcel announced a planned power shutoff for 9,000 customers in the area.

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An Evening Against Edmonton | Colorado Avalanche

Published

21 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

An Evening Against Edmonton | Colorado Avalanche

Edmonton Oilers (31-25-8) @ Colorado Avalanche (43-10-9)

8 p.m. MT | Ball Arena | Watch: TNT, truTV, HBO Max | Listen: Altitude Sports Radio (92.5 FM)

After back-to-back shootout victories, the Avalanche concludes its two-game homestand on Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers. This game is an Avalanche Cup Classic, presented by KeyBank, which will honor the 2022 Avs team that won the Stanley Cup and defeated the Oilers in the Western Conference Final. Tuesday’s game is the second of three regular-season meetings between the teams, as the Avalanche won 9-1 in Edmonton on November 8th, and they’ll play in Alberta on April 13th.

Sunday Success

The Avalanche defeated the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in a shootout on Sunday at Ball Arena. Nathan MacKinnon and Nicolas Roy both scored for Colorado while Nazem Kadri posted an assist in his second Avs debut. In net for Colorado, Scott Wedgewood stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced. MacKinnon opened the scoring at 12:19 of the second period with his 43rd goal of the season via a right-circle one-timer set up by Kadri, who began the play with an interception below the offensive-zone goal line. Kirill Kaprizov tied the game for Minnesota with a power-play goal at 4:17 of the third period when his pass from the right circle deflected into the net. The Wild took a 2-1 lead at 7:01 of the third period when Nico Sturm scored a shorthanded breakaway. Colorado tied the game at 12:39 of the third period when Nicolas Roy scored his first goal as an Av and sixth of the season via a net-front deflection on Brett Kulak’s slap shot. In the shootout, Valeri Nichushkin scored for Colorado in the first round, Matt Boldy scored for Minnesota in the second round and MacKinnon tallied the winner in the fourth round.

Leading the Way

Nate the Great

MacKinnon leads the NHL in goals (43) while ranking second in points (104) and third in assists (61).

All Hail Cale

Among NHL defensemen, Cale Makar is tied for second in points (66) while ranking fourth in goals (19) and assists (47).

Marty Party

Martin Necas is tied for seventh in the NHL in points (76).

Series History

In 135 regular-season games against the Oilers, the Avalanche has a record of 74-49-6-6. The teams have met three times in the playoffs, with the Avs winning the 1997 Western Conference Semifinals in five games and the 2022 Western Conference Final in four contests.

Sunday in Sin City

The Oilers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday. In the second period, Trent Frederic opened the scoring for Edmonton at 3:21 before Vegas’ Noah Hanifin tied the game at 13:09. The Oilers took a 3-1 third-period lead after goals from Vasily Podkolzin at 2:34 and Leon Draisaitl at 11:53. Jack Eichel cut the Golden Knights’ deficit to one with a shorthanded goal at 16:43 of the third period. Edmonton took a 4-2 lead when Kasperi Kapanen scored an empty-net goal at 18:03 of the third period.

Producing Offense Against the Oilers

MacKinnon has posted 39 points (13g/26a) in 29 regular-season games against the Oilers, in addition to five points (3g/2a) in four playoff contests.

Makar has registered 13 points (5g/8a) in 13 regular-season contests against Edmonton, in addition to nine points (2g/7a) in four playoff games.

Kadri has recorded 25 points (12g/13a) in 30 regular-season games against the Oilers, in addition to four points (1g/3a) in three playoff contests.

Edmonton’s Elite

Connor McDavid leads the Oilers in points (108), goals (35) and assists (73).

Draisaitl is second on the Oilers in points (92), goals (34) and assists (58).

Evan Bouchard is third on the Oilers in points (73) and assists (55) while ranking fourth in goals (18).

A Numbers Game

34

The Avalanche are 34-0-0 when leading after the second period this season.

85

Colorado leads the NHL with 85 second-period goals this campaign.

.806

The Avalanche’s .806 points percentage at home this season is the best in the NHL.

Quote That Left a Mark

“Emotional seeing the support I get here. It’s absolutely incredible. It makes me want to play harder for these fans and this team.”

— Nazem Kadri on the support he received from Avalanche fans at Sunday’s game

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Colorado Rockies spring training game no. 17 thread: Kyle Freeland vs. Jedisxson Paez

Published

1 day ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Colorado Rockies spring training game no. 17 thread: Kyle Freeland vs. Jedisxson Paez

In his first spring training action of 2026, Kyle Freeland faced the daunting task of pitching against Team USA in an exhibition game on March 4. He gave up a solo homer to Aaron Judge in a two-hit, one-strikeout performance in one inning.

Today, Freeland and the Rockies (8-6-1) will take part in his first Cactus League action against the White Sox (10-7) at Camelback Ranch. The Rockies are 5-2 on the road this spring vs. 3-5-1, including the showdown vs. Team USA, at Salt River Fields.

Today’s game represents a rematch of a Feb. 23 showdown where the Rockies beat the White Sox 5-4. Chicago will send Jedisxson Paez to the mound to start the game. The 22-year-old RHP will be making his third spring appearance. He’s posted a 23.14 ERA in 2 1/3 innings over two starts with six earned runs, six hits, including one homer, three strikeouts and one walk. Former Rockie Drew Romo will be starting at catcher for the White Sox.

On Sunday, four pitchers combined to throw five scoreless innings and Kyle Karros and Tyler Freeman each had two-hit performances in the Rockies 4-4 tie with Cleveland. Even though it’s only spring training, the Rockies offense has been much improved thus far. The Rockies rank among all Major League teams this Spring in: on-base percentage (.381, T-1st), home runs (23, T-4th), average (.287, 3rd), HBP (14, T-2nd), slugging (.492, 3rd), OPS (.871, 3rd), runs scored (98, 5th), RBI (91, 6th) and total bases (254, 6th).

Earlier on Monday, the Rockies released a new motto for the 2026 campaign: “New era. At altitude. We are here for the climb.”

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