Oct. 25, 1999
Columbia, Mo. - The Missouri Tiger Softball team wrapped up their 14-game fall season Sunday with wins over UMKC and Arizona State.
The Tigers finished their fall season with a 13-1 overall record. The only loss came Saturday in a 5-3 10-inning decision against Arizona State. Arizona State advanced to the Women's College World Series laaast season and finished seventh in the final NFCA poll.
The fall season proved the pitching will be Missouri's strength for next season. There is a lot of depth in the position with three pitchers who can be counted on to get the job done. Junior Stephanie Falk finished with a 0.00 ERA and a 5-0 record. She gave up only 15 hits and struck out 38 batters in 36.2 innings. Freshman Ingrid Werner ended with a .58 ERA and a 4-1 record. She pitched the entire 10 innings against ASU on Saturday. She gave up 17 hits and three earned runs with 27 strikeouts in 36 innings. Senior Christy Caccavo finished a 4-0 record and a .77 ERA. She gave up only 20 hits and three earned runs in 27.1 innings.
The catcher position also has some depth for the Tigers. Senior Amy Farmer and sophomore Mary McGrane both finished with perfect feilding perccentages. Farmer tallied 52 putouts and three assists in nine games. McGrane tallied 35 putputs and four assists in six games. The deciding factor between the two maybe at the plate, where both had solid fall seasons. Farmer had a .273 batting average with a double, a triple and four RBI. McGrane had a .300 average with two homeruns and eight RBI.
Several other Tigers fared well at the plate as well. Sophomore Sara McNeal lead the team with a .636 average with seven hits in 11 at bats. Sophomore Erin Erickson led in at bats (45), hits (17), runs (13), doubles (8), and tied with McGrane for the lead in home runs and senior Linda Swarts in RBI (9). Senior Stacy Gemeinhardt led the team in triples with five.
Overall the Tigers had a .962 fielding percentage. Senior firstbaseman Christy Skouby led the team in putouts with 96. Shortstop Lindsey Jacoby led in assists with 30.
"It was a great fall," said head coach Jay Miller. "We progressed as the season wen ton. We are still very young in the middle infield, but that will improve with time. Our bats were good and our pitching staff is the strongest we've had here in 15 or 20 years. I feel confident if we play liek this in the spring we will be successful."