ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University softball program is heading into one of their biggest weekends of the 2016 season. The Wildcats will host the 20 time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) softball champion University of St. Thomas on Saturday at St. Kate's field before hitting the road Sunday to take on reigning MIAC champ Bethel University.

After starting the season 13-0, St. Kate's has split their last two series against MIAC opponents. In their conference opener against Saint Mary's, the Wildcats dropped game one 6-5 before coming back to win game two 3-0. Against St. Olaf on Wednesday, St. Kate's opened with an offensive 9-1 win before falling 4-3 in the final innings of game two.

There are plenty of important facts and number to know for St. Kate's two big showdowns between the 2014 (UST) and 2015 (BU) MIAC Champs:

1^st – For the first time in program history, the St. Kate's and St. Thomas softball teams will both be ranked in the top-25 when they play each other this weekend. The Wildcats were ranked No. 17 in the latest NFCA Coaches Poll while the Tommies rose to the No. 20 slot.

7^th – Last season, St. Kate's put together a dramatic, come from behind win in game one to beat St. Thomas for the first time in program history. Down 6-3 in the bottom of the seventh, Robyn Rohr (Lakeville, Minn. / Lakeville North) singles up the middle to score Claire Woebke (Bloomington, Minn. / Jefferson) and Krista Flugstad (Bloomington, Minn. / Jefferson) to cut the Tommies lead to 6-5. Then, Donielle Kurvers (Monticello, Minn. / Monticello) hit a walk off 3-run home run to upset the then No. 12 ranked St. Thomas 8-6.

2 – The Wildcats have two of the top three pitchers in the MIAC in terms of earned run average (ERA). Megan Lindenfelser (Nowthen, Minn. / Anoka) holds the lowest record in the conference at 1.20, while Flugstad is third with an ERA of 1.38. The pitcher in the middle: St. Thomas first year Kiersten Anderson-Glass, who St. Kate's will most likely face on Saturday.

1 & 2 – The Tommies, Royals, and Wildcats are all at the top of the conference statistics in terms of home runs. St. Thomas is currently the top home run hitting team in the MIAC, as their batters have already hit 12 this season. St. Kate's and Bethel are currently tied for second. Both teams have hit 11 home runs in the first half of the season. Sammie Galvez (Gilbert Ariz. / Williams Field) leads the Wildcats with three home runs this season. 

4 – The Wildcats lost two close games to Bethel last year by four combined runs. The Royals beat St. Kate's 4-1 in the opener and 2-1 in the second.

Live stats will be available for both doubleheaders this weekend if the weather holds. Live stats against St. Thomas will be available on St. Kate's website while both live stats and video will be available against Bethel.  There will also be score updates on Twitter and weather updates should anything change throughout the next few days.